Steeling the nation for a
long fight, President Barack Obama vowed Wednesday to take out the
militants of ISIS with U.S. air power and help from the world — but
without American combat troops.
He said that the
campaign would be steady and relentless, and said he would not hesitate
to strike ISIS inside Syria.
But he stressed that it would be different
from the years-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He compared it instead
to targeted American strikes to wipe out terrorists in Yemen and
Somalia.
“We took out Osama bin Laden,” the president said — with the clear message that ISIS would be next.
“I have made it clear
that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever
they are,” he said. “This is a core principle of my presidency: If you
threaten America, you will find no safe haven.”
Speaking from the White
House, one day before the Sept. 11 anniversary and days after ISIS
militants beheaded two Americans, the president promised to “lead a
broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat.”
U.S. role
Obama
announced that an additional 475 American military personnel would be
deployed to help Iraqi and Kurdish forces with training and
intelligence. Of those, 150 will be embedded with the Iraqi military,
serving as advisers but not engaging in combat themselves, defense
officials told NBC News after the speech.
Once those 475 have arrived, the Pentagon said, the United States contingent in Iraq will number 1,600.
In his address, Obama stressed that the American military presence would not be for combat.
“We will not get dragged into another ground war in Iraq,” he said.
In an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll
released this week, 40 percent of respondents said that U.S. military
action against ISIS should be limited to airstrikes. Another 34 percent
say it should include airstrikes and combat troops. And 15 percent say
military action should not be taken.
The coalition
Obama pledged to build
an international coalition to defeat ISIS. Secretary of State John Kerry
was in Iraq on Wednesday and will travel to Saudi Arabia on Thursday to
meet with Middle Eastern allies.
Obama said the United
States needs more partners, making special note of Arab nations who can
mobilize Sunnis in Iraq and Syria to drive ISIS fighters from their
lands.
“We stand with people
who fight for their own freedom, and we rally other nations on behalf of
our common security and common humanity,” he said. American leadership,
Obama said, was “the one constant in an uncertain world.”
The stakes
The president said that the United States had not detected “specific plotting against our homeland.”
But he noted that
thousands of foreigners, including Europeans and Americans, have joined
ISIS, and he said that ISIS fighters could one day return to their
countries and try to stage attacks.
“I know many Americans
are concerned about these threats,” he said. “Tonight, I want you to
know that the United States of America is meeting them with strength and
resolve.”
He mentioned the more
than 150 airstrikes carried out already by the United States to fight
ISIS in Iraq, including some that helped break the siege on an Iraqi
mountain where thousands of religious minorities were trapped.
Signaling
an expansion of the campaign, Obama said: “I will not hesitate to take
action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq.” ISIL is alternative name
for ISIS. Obama vowed that the United States would “hunt down
terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are.”
Obama said it was
imperative to strengthen opposition fighters in Syria — who are battling
both ISIS and the regime of President Bashar Assad. He said the rebels
would be “the best counterweight” to ISIS.
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