Obama to visit Pentagon, two months after airstrikes in Iraq began
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Version 0 of 1. Wednesday marks two months since U.S. airstrikes in Iraq against the Islamic State began Aug. 8. More than 260 have been launched there and the attacks have since expanded into Syria, with more than 95 strikes, beginning Sept. 23. With that as the backdrop, President Obama will visit the Pentagon on Wednesday, meeting with top commanders to receive an update on both the military campaign against the Islamic State and the U.S. military’s role in the effort to end the Ebola health crisis in West Africa, said Caitlin Hayden, a White House spokesperson. The president also will meet with his National Security Council to discuss operations against the Islamic State, U.S. efforts to bolster Iraqi security forces and equip rebels who are fighting against both the Islamic State and the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He will also review cooperation among the 60 other countries that have agreed to offer some form of assistance in the fight against the Islamist militant group, Hayden added. The president also will meet with members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Col. Edward Thomas, a spokesman for Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. The Obama administration has taken heat in the last few days for its handling of the crisis in Iraq and Syria, especially as the key border town of Kobane in northern Syria, near Turkey, faces a fierce assault from the Islamic State. The United States stepped up its airstrikes around Kobane on Tuesday, preventing militants from seizing the town. It is still uncertain, however, if it will be enough to prevent the fall of Kobane. |