President Donald Trump today told his supporters that the US along with its allies would "eradicate" the evil of ISIS from the face of the earth as he vowed to "substantially upgrade" the country's military.
"As part of my pledge to restore safety for the American people, I have also directed the defence community to develop a plan to totally obliterate ISIS. Working with our allies, we will eradicate this evil from the face of the Earth," Trump told his cheering supporters at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) here.
US Defence Secretary Gen (retd) James Mattis is scheduled to submit his plan to defeat ISIS soon.
Trump said his administration is requesting the Congress a "massive budget" for the military.
"We will be substantially upgrading all of our military, all of our military, offensive, defensive, everything, bigger and better and stronger than ever before. And hopefully, we'll never have to use it, but nobody's gonna mess with us, folks, nobody," he said.
Trump asserted that this will "be one of the greatest military build-ups" in American history.
"No one will dare question as they have been because we're very depleted, very, very depleted. Nobody will dare question our military might again. We believe in peace through strength and that's what we will have," he said.
Referring to the series of terrorist strikes in various parts of the world, particularly in Europe, Trump said such a situation cannot be allowed inside the United States.
"Take a look at what's happening to our world, folks. And we have to be smart. We have to be smart. We can't let it happen to us. So let me state this as clearly as I can, we are going to keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country," he said amidst applause from the audience.
"We will not be deterred from this course, and in a matter of days, we will be taking brand-new action to protect our people and keep America safe, you will see the action. I will never ever apologise for protecting the safety and security of the American people, I won't do it," he said.
"Even if this means bad press, if it means people speak badly of me, it is OK. Doesn't bother me. The security of our people is number one, is number one," he said.
