washington<u+2014>the u.s. publicly detailed its intent to attack the two biggest cities that islamic state controls to show the extremist group and its sympathizers that a self-declared caliphate will be stamped out, secretary of defense ash carter said. mr. carter<u+2019>s comments come a day after u.s. president-elect donald trump criticized the pentagon for announcing its assault on mosul, the capital of islamic state<u+2019>s self-declared caliphate in iraq, months before the campaign to retake the city began. the pentagon has also announced the commencement of a campaign by u.s.-backed forces to retake the syrian city of raqqa from islamic state. mr. trump maintains that the u.s. should keep its plans secret to use the element of surprise against the extremists. mr. carter, answering questions at an event in washington organized by the atlantic magazine, countered the president-elect<u+2019>s view. <u+201c>there are secret tactics involved, but the fact that we<u+2019>re going to mosul and raqqa is clear because they<u+2019>re the two biggest cities,<u+201d> mr. carter said. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s actually important that the enemy know and that (islamic state) everywhere else know that we intend (to) and will destroy them.<u+201d> mr. carter said it was important to destroy islamic state in iraq and syria to debase the <u+201c>inspiration factor<u+201d> for supporters and undercut the idea of a caliphate, <u+201c>so that people know that this is not a happening thing, this is something that is going to be stamped out.<u+201d> mr. trump declined to detail his plan to destroy islamic state in his interview with <u+201c>60 minutes<u+201d> that aired sunday night. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t want to tell anybody anything,<u+201d> he said. mr. carter, who became president barack obama <u+2019>s secretary of defense in early 2015, said mr. trump<u+2019>s transition team had yet to arrive at the pentagon but likely would come this week. he said his staff stood ready to welcome them and help the team get started. the outgoing defense secretary also urged the u.s.<u+2019>s north atlantic treaty organization allies to engage with the incoming trump administration, even though the president-elect questioned the north atlantic treaty organization<u+2019>s value on the campaign trail. <u+201c>engage with the new administration, work with them, stay committed to the values and the principles that we have stood for,<u+201d> mr. carter said to the u.s.<u+2019>s nato allies. <u+201c>remember that we have a lot of people who are trying to attack all of us collectively, and we<u+2019>re much better at protecting ourselves if we can find a way to work together.<u+201d> at a news conference monday, mr. obama said that during his meeting with mr. trump last week, the incoming u.s. leader voiced support for key american alliances, including nato. write to paul sonne at paul.sonne@wsj.com
carter takes exception to trump criticism of islamic state strategy - wsj
paul sonne