Below is the "This Week" transcript for March 1, 2015. It is a rush transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
MARTHA RADDATZ, HOST: Secretary Kerry, thanks for joining us.
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: Glad to be with you.
Thank you.
RADDATZ: Mr. Secretary, I have seen this threat firsthand over the last month in this region, walking along the Syrian border this weekend. And the situation really seems bleak. In fact, the "New York Times" described it this way. "The reports are like something out of a distant era of ancient conquest. Entire villages emptied, with hundreds taken prisoner, others kept as slaves, the destruction of irreplaceable works of art, a rampage reminiscent of Tamerlane or Genghis Khan."
And these were actions by ISIS just this week.
So do you stand by your recent comment that we're on the road to beating ISIS?
KERRY: What I said was we're on the road to success. And that begins in Iraq. And, yes, I stand by it. We are growing in the capacity on the ground, Martha. Each time the Iraqis have now gone forward in an offensive effort, together with allies, the coalition, we have routed ISIL.
And the fact is that in Iraq, they have gained back a -- a fixed, significant percentage of the area that ISIL was controlling.
Now Syria is a different matter. Syria is a bigger challenge. We will need people on the ground. It will not be American forces, but we are working on that. There's training and equipping of the opposition that begins this month. Arab countries in the region are stepping up their efforts. I have meetings this week with all of the GCC. I'll be meeting with King Salman of Saudi Arabia. There's a great deal of energy and effort being put into this and I am confident that over time, we will beat, we will, indeed, degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL, yes.
RADDATZ: Let me read you a few comments from this week.
A top FBI official testified we're losing the battle in countering ISIS online.
The director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, says this has been the most lethal year for global terrorism and the latest figures show more foreign fighters have joined ISIS in the past six months than have been killed.
You said this week to Congress that we're living in a period of less daily threat to Americans, with fewer violent deaths than any time in the last century.
Can you understand why the American people just aren't feeling that?
KERRY: Well, I understand. Of course I understand it, Martha, because people are thinking about the day to day vision of what is happening on the ground in Syria, in Libya, where 21 Coptic Christians had their heads cut off, where a soldier is burned and a pilot in a cage, where American journalists have been beheaded publicly. We understand that.
But I still stand by what I said, which is in long terms, compared to the last century, there are, in fact, fewer people dying of the means -- that you look at, by state war, violence, health, etc.
But that's not what's important. What's important right now is what James Clapper said. There is an uptick in the level of terrorism and specific incidents of people being killed. And that threat is very, very real. Nobody is trying to minimize it.
President Obama has put together a coalition of countries that have come together. We're all super focused on this. And we are focused on the Internet cyberspace battle also.
We have a center that is being stood up in Abu Dhabi.
RADDATZ: Let -- let...
KERRY: It will be...
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