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Obama to Liken ISIS Fight to Campaigns in Yemen and Somalia Obama to Liken ISIS Fight to Campaigns in Yemen and Somalia
(34 minutes later)
WASHINGTON — President Obama will tell the nation on Wednesday night that America is prepared to wage a sustained air campaign against Islamic militants “wherever they exist,” much the same way the administration has for years targeted terrorists in Yemen and Somalia, according to excerpts from the president’s speech released by the White House.WASHINGTON — President Obama will tell the nation on Wednesday night that America is prepared to wage a sustained air campaign against Islamic militants “wherever they exist,” much the same way the administration has for years targeted terrorists in Yemen and Somalia, according to excerpts from the president’s speech released by the White House.
Ahead of the prime-time address, administration officials have signaled that Mr. Obama is ready to order airstrikes inside Syria against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. They have said a military air and drone campaign to degrade and destroy the militant group could take years of sustained effort. Ahead of the prime-time address, administration officials have signaled that Mr. Obama is ready to order airstrikes inside Syria against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. They have said a military campaign with manned and drone aircraft to degrade and destroy the militant group could take years of sustained effort.
According to the brief excerpts, the president will promise to “ultimately destroy” the militant groups, but he will seek to draw a clear distinction between the military action he is preparing to put in motion and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that were begun by his predecessors. According to the brief excerpts, the president will promise to “ultimately destroy” the militant groups, but he will seek to draw a clear distinction between the military action he is preparing to put in motion and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that were begun by his predecessor.
“It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil,” Mr. Obama plans to say in the televised speech from the White House. “This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground.” “It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil,” Mr. Obama plans to say in the televised speech from the White House. “This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground.” ISIL is an alternative name for ISIS.
Mr. Obama was harshly criticized for acknowledging last month that his administration did not yet have a strategy for military strikes against the militants in Syria. In the speech, the president will seek to demonstrate a concrete plan of action for countering the immediate threat and defeating the militant group in the long run.Mr. Obama was harshly criticized for acknowledging last month that his administration did not yet have a strategy for military strikes against the militants in Syria. In the speech, the president will seek to demonstrate a concrete plan of action for countering the immediate threat and defeating the militant group in the long run.
“Our objective is clear,” Mr. Obama said in advance excerpts from his remarks provided by the White House. “We will degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy.” “Our objective is clear,” Mr. Obama said in the excerpts. “We will degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy.”
Mr. Obama’s remarks, on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, will thrust the United States into a civil war in Syria that the president had long sought to avoid, and greatly expand its military involvement in Iraq, where Mr. Obama withdrew the last American combat soldiers at the end of 2011.Mr. Obama’s remarks, on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, will thrust the United States into a civil war in Syria that the president had long sought to avoid, and greatly expand its military involvement in Iraq, where Mr. Obama withdrew the last American combat soldiers at the end of 2011.
It is a striking acknowledgment of the threat posed by ISIS, a band of Sunni militants whose lightning rampage through Iraq and Syria and videotaped beheading of two young Americans has reawakened fears of a terrorist threat to this country. It is a striking acknowledgment of the threat posed by ISIS, a band of Sunni militants whose lightning rampage through Iraq and Syria and videotaped beheading of two young Americans have reawakened fears of a terrorist threat to this country.
The president is to speak just hours after Senate Democratic leaders prepared legislation to expressly authorize the United States military to train Syrian rebels to help battle the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and House Republicans appeared ready to follow their lead. Bolstering the moderate Syrian rebels as a counterweight to ISIS is a key element of the strategy, and the White House has asked Congress to authorize a plan for the Pentagon to train and equip rebels — something the Central Intelligence Agency has done covertly and on a smaller scale.
Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House majority leader, abruptly called off a vote on a stopgap spending bill that was planned for Thursday to reconsider President Obama’s request that training language be included. The president called the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Representative Harold Rogers of Kentucky, to plead his case. The White House was unlikely to request any additional authority from Congress to conduct these operations. On Tuesday, Mr. Obama told congressional leaders that he had the necessary authority to expand the campaign, but that he would welcome some form of “buy-in” from Capitol Hill.
The president’s speech comes after a frenzied effort to line up the support of partners worldwide to combat ISIS. Earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Obama called King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to enlist his support for a plan to bolster the training and equipping of moderate Syrian rebels.
“The president and the king agreed on the need for increased training and equipping of the moderate Syrian opposition,” the White House said in an unusually extensive briefing for reporters about the call. “President Obama welcomed Saudi Arabia’s support for this program.”
Mr. Obama is acting against a backdrop of rapidly shifting public opinion as polls show that a large majority of Americans now favor military action against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, even as they express deep misgivings about the president’s leadership on the world stage.
Mr. Obama is also facing political challenges on Capitol Hill, where Republicans lawmakers, initially reluctant to demand congressional authorization of military action, have begun agitating for a vote at the same time that some Democrats are warning of a stampede to war.
But Senate Democratic leaders on Wednesday prepared legislation to expressly authorize the American military to train Syrian rebels. House Republicans appeared ready to follow their lead.
Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House majority leader, abruptly called off a vote on a stopgap spending bill that was planned for Thursday to reconsider Mr. Obama’s request that language be included authorizing the training of the rebels. The president called the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Representative Harold Rogers of Kentucky, to plead his case.
The flurry of activity means that Congress is likely to weigh in on the looming military action before the midterm elections in eight weeks. House Republicans have called an emergency meeting for Thursday morning to discuss their options, and leaders are leaning toward a vote to express some support for a broader campaign against ISIS.The flurry of activity means that Congress is likely to weigh in on the looming military action before the midterm elections in eight weeks. House Republicans have called an emergency meeting for Thursday morning to discuss their options, and leaders are leaning toward a vote to express some support for a broader campaign against ISIS.
But both sides still have misgivings. Although the ground forces being trained would not be American, the trainers would be a “boots on the ground” prospect that have Republican and Democratic members nervous. No money is likely to be attached to the measures under consideration, but a request for around $500 million might come later this fall, Senate Democratic aides said. The political atmosphere on Capitol Hill was further roiled by the sudden reappearance of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who implored Republicans to support military action and attributed the chaos in Iraq to what he called an “arbitrary and hasty” withdrawal in 2011 by Mr. Obama.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, embraced the proposal on Wednesday, even as he expressed strong opposition to deploying American ground troops. Senator Richard J. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and a close political ally of Mr. Obama, rejected Mr. Cheney’s critique as an unwelcome echo of the Iraq war, saying, “I think we want to be careful that we don’t engage ourselves for a long period of time in a long-term war involving the vulnerability of our troops for a long period of time.”
For Mr. Obama, the speech will amount to a strategy for a problem he has long said would defy an American remedy: sectarian strife between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in neighboring countries with deeply disaffected minorities and no history of democratic governance.
Among the difficult challenges to the strategy: How will the United States and its allies reinvigorate a moderate Syrian opposition that has been fractured, depleted and marginalized by more extremist forces? How can the United States act against ISIS in Syria without benefiting President Bashar al-Assad, who is also at war with the militants?
Perhaps most difficult, how can the United States wage a lengthy military campaign against a Sunni militant organization without stirring up new terrorist threats in this volatile region?
In his remarks, Mr. Obama was unlikely to allay those concerns, warning that the United States was embarking on a long-term campaign of heightened military activity.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, embraced Mr. Obama’s plan for military training on Wednesday, even as he expressed strong opposition to deploying American ground troops.
“It’s clear to me that we need to train and equip Syrian rebels and other groups in the Middle East that need some help,” Mr. Reid said. “The president has tried to get that from us, and we should give it to them.”“It’s clear to me that we need to train and equip Syrian rebels and other groups in the Middle East that need some help,” Mr. Reid said. “The president has tried to get that from us, and we should give it to them.”
In a prime-time address on Wednesday evening, Mr. Obama is to explain to Americans his strategy for “degrading and ultimately destroying the terrorist group,” the White House said in a statement. People briefed on the president’s plans described a long-term campaign far more complex than the targeted strikes the United States has used against Al Qaeda in Yemen, Pakistan and elsewhere. Ahead of the president’s speech to the nation Wednesday night, the prospect of expanding the war on ISIS had already become political fodder. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, took to the Senate floor to denounce what he called Mr. Obama’s weak and failed foreign policy. But he will be hard-pressed to oppose the pending vote, which could come as soon as this week.
Mr. Obama is also prepared to authorize airstrikes in Syria, a senior administration official said on Tuesday, taking the military campaign against ISIS into new and unpredictable terrain. The president is still wrestling with a series of challenges, including how to intervene without aiding President Bashar al-Assad, and how to enlist potentially reluctant partners like Turkey and Saudi Arabia. “The president has now declared that defeating ISIL is his objective,” Mr. McConnell said. “That’s a good start. But Americans don’t want a lecture. They want a plan — a credible, comprehensive plan to deal with this menace that clearly wants to harm us here at home, and that is only becoming stronger by the day.”
Ahead of the president’s speech to the nation Wednesday night, the prospect of expanding the war on ISIS has already become political fodder. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, took to the Senate floor to denounce what he called Mr. Obama’s weak and failed foreign policy, but he will be hard-pressed to oppose the pending vote, which could come as soon as this week.
“The president has now declared that defeating ISIL is his objective,” he said. “That’s a good start. But Americans don’t want a lecture. They want a plan — a credible, comprehensive plan to deal with this menace that clearly wants to harm us here at home, and that is only becoming stronger by the day.”
The White House quietly asked for the authority on Tuesday afternoon in a House stopgap spending bill that should receive a vote on Thursday, but Republican leaders did not initially include it. Jennifer Hing, a spokeswoman for the House Appropriations Committee, said that the request came just minutes before the spending bill was being officially introduced, and that it was seeking “a substantial and controversial change in U.S. foreign policy” that needed fuller consideration.
Mr. Obama has resisted military engagement in Syria for more than three years, out of fear early on that arming the rebels who oppose Mr. Assad would fail to alter the balance in the civil war, while more direct military intervention could have spillover effects in the volatile region.
When he threatened Syria with a missile strike last year after Mr. Assad’s forces used chemical weapons, implacable opposition in Congress led him to shelve the plan. Now, however, the threat from ISIS has changed both the American political climate and his calculations.
On Tuesday, the president briefed Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and the Senate about his plans. Mr. Obama told them he believed he had the authority needed to order an expanded operation, though he would “welcome action by the Congress that would aid the overall effort,” the White House statement said.
Mr. Obama’s speech to the nation, on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is the culmination of weeks of anguished internal deliberations, followed by days of intense lobbying of allies by the president — at a NATO meeting in Wales, with Congress, and even over a three-hour dinner Monday night with members of the Democratic and Republican foreign policy establishment.
The White House has been galvanized by the beheadings of two American journalists, James Foley and Steven J. Sotloff, each by a masked ISIS fighter. The harrowing images, captured on video and circulated around the world, have turned American public opinion in favor of military action against the militants, recent polls show, and appear to have moved a president who had long resisted military engagement in Syria. And the United States has conducted airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq.
But Mr. Obama is facing complications as he works to assemble support at home and a coalition abroad. The Turkish government, for example, has been fearful of an aggressive retaliation against ISIS because of concerns that the group would harm the 49 Turkish citizens it is holding, including its consul general, after ISIS raided the Turkish Consulate in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
The White House sent Secretary of State John Kerry to Iraq on Wednesday for top-level talks to forge a coalition against the Sunni militants who have seized control of much of northern and western Iraq and to show support for Iraq’s new government. He will travel to Saudi Arabia this week to enlist the Saudis, who have been a vital source of funding to groups opposing the Assad government. Saudi Arabia, while supportive of the United States, worries that going to war with ISIS could provoke a backlash among Sunni extremists in its own population.
Mr. McConnell said he favored congressional approval of military action. But, he added, it is up to the president to present Congress with a clear plan to defeat ISIS before any authorization vote should be taken.
A spokesman for Speaker John A. Boehner said he would support the deployment of American military forces “to help train and play an advisory role for the Iraqi security forces and assist with lethal targeting” of ISIS leaders. But he made no mention of a House vote.
On Wednesday, before the speech, the White House was to send a delegation to meet with senators in a classified briefing. Among those scheduled to go to the Capitol were the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey; the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Matthew Olsen; and the deputy national security adviser, Antony J. Blinken.
The brewing confrontation is already proving to be a dividing line between the interventionist wing of the Republican Party and a resurgent isolationism.