What to do about the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria?
President Barack Obama is trying to answer this query and addressed the nation Sept. 10 in a televised speech with his solution - a major military campaign to eliminate the threat of ISIS.
Obama said he will authorize American airstrikes in Syria and deploy 475 more military advisers to Iraq.
The 14-minute address from the State Floor of the White House included the president calling for a global coalition to "eradicate the cancer" that is the terrorist organization.
“We will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are,” Obama said. “That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq."
Just two weeks ago, the president was facing criticism for remarks that there was no plan in place to ward of ISIS, according to The New York Times. This new initiative by the White House would include more American training and arming of Syrian rebels, which would require Congress' support.
Even a divided House of Representatives is on the same page about the threat of this terrorist organization. Members voted Sept. 17 to back the president's plan to spend nearly $500 million to supply the Free Syrian Army, reported the Huffington Post.
A week earlier, reactions in Congress to the president's address was mixed. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., supported the plan, and said in a statement that Obama "got some key things right."
But Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the president is "exercising poor judgment by not explicitly seeking an authorization from Congress where consensus can be reached around a substantive plan of action and support can be built for an operation that he has described will take several years."
Some members are alarmed at the prospect of returning back to Iraq after a seven-year war, but Obama said during his evening address that he was not repeating the mistakes of his predecessor, George W. Bush.
The last time the U.S. had an active combat presence in Iraq, around 4,500 American troops were killed and 32,000 were injured. Iraqi civilian casualties estimates range from 100,000 to 600,000.
U.S. troops were officially pulled out of Iraq in 2011. Obama announced plans in May to withdraw American troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2016, but there has no comment made by the White House if this will be altered with the looming ISIS threat.
There is no evidence to believe that ISIS will attack the U.S., Obama said, but the rise of violence has sparked outrage and action from the international community. The terrorist group, which is considered a splinter sect of al-Qaeda, is known for committing mass killings in north and west Iraq.
Map of ISIS control in Iraq and Syria (The New York Times)
Recent beheadings of American and British citizens held hostage by ISIS has prompted more immediate response from the U.S. government. Militants posted videos of the killings and threatened more destruction in the coming weeks.
Airstrikes in Syria to target the organization could still be weeks away, Obama said.
“What we can do is systematically roll back the organization, shrink the territory where they’re operating, decimate its ranks, cut off its sources of support in terms of funding and equipment, and have the threat methodically and relentlessly reduced,” he said.
The 14-minute address from the State Floor of the White House included the president calling for a global coalition to "eradicate the cancer" that is the terrorist organization.
“We will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are,” Obama said. “That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq."
Just two weeks ago, the president was facing criticism for remarks that there was no plan in place to ward of ISIS, according to The New York Times. This new initiative by the White House would include more American training and arming of Syrian rebels, which would require Congress' support.
Even a divided House of Representatives is on the same page about the threat of this terrorist organization. Members voted Sept. 17 to back the president's plan to spend nearly $500 million to supply the Free Syrian Army, reported the Huffington Post.
A week earlier, reactions in Congress to the president's address was mixed. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., supported the plan, and said in a statement that Obama "got some key things right."
But Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the president is "exercising poor judgment by not explicitly seeking an authorization from Congress where consensus can be reached around a substantive plan of action and support can be built for an operation that he has described will take several years."
Some members are alarmed at the prospect of returning back to Iraq after a seven-year war, but Obama said during his evening address that he was not repeating the mistakes of his predecessor, George W. Bush.
The last time the U.S. had an active combat presence in Iraq, around 4,500 American troops were killed and 32,000 were injured. Iraqi civilian casualties estimates range from 100,000 to 600,000.
U.S. troops were officially pulled out of Iraq in 2011. Obama announced plans in May to withdraw American troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2016, but there has no comment made by the White House if this will be altered with the looming ISIS threat.
There is no evidence to believe that ISIS will attack the U.S., Obama said, but the rise of violence has sparked outrage and action from the international community. The terrorist group, which is considered a splinter sect of al-Qaeda, is known for committing mass killings in north and west Iraq.
Map of ISIS control in Iraq and Syria (The New York Times)
Recent beheadings of American and British citizens held hostage by ISIS has prompted more immediate response from the U.S. government. Militants posted videos of the killings and threatened more destruction in the coming weeks.
Airstrikes in Syria to target the organization could still be weeks away, Obama said.
“What we can do is systematically roll back the organization, shrink the territory where they’re operating, decimate its ranks, cut off its sources of support in terms of funding and equipment, and have the threat methodically and relentlessly reduced,” he said.
(Photo from the Associated Press)
