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| President Barack Obama addresses the nation from the Cross Hall in the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014. In a major reversal, Obama ordered the United States into a broad military campaign to “degrade and ultimately destroy” militants in two volatile Middle East nations, authorizing airstrikes inside Syria for the first time, as well as an expansion of strikes in Iraq. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Opening a new military front in the Middle East, President
Barack Obama authorized U.S. airstrikes inside Syria for the first time
Wednesday night, along with expanded strikes in Iraq as part of "a
steady, relentless effort" to root out Islamic State extremists and
their spreading reign of terror.
"We will hunt
down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are," Obama
declared in a prime-time address to the nation from the White House.
"This is a core principle of my presidency: If you threaten
America, you
will find no safe haven."
Obama announced
that he was dispatching nearly 500 more U.S. troops to advise and assist
Iraqi security forces, as well as conduct intelligence and
reconnaissance flights, bringing the total number of American forces
sent there this summer to more than 1,500. He also urged Congress anew
to authorize a program to train and arm Syrian rebels who are fighting
both the Islamic State militants and Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Obama's
plans amounted to a striking shift for a president who rose to
political prominence in part because of his early opposition to the Iraq
war. While in office, he has steadfastly sought to wind down American
military campaigns in the Middle East and avoid new wars - particularly
in Syria, a country where the chaos of an intractable civil war has
given the Islamic State space to thrive and move freely across the
border with Iraq.
Speaking on the eve of the
anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Obama's plans were also an
admission that years of American-led war in the Middle East have not
quelled the terror threat emanating from the region.
Obama
insisted that his plan to "degrade and ultimately destroy" the Islamic
State militants would not involve returning U.S. combat troops to the
Middle East. Even so, he acknowledged that "any time we take military
action, there are risks involved, especially to the servicemen and women
who carry out these missions."
"But I want
the American people to understand how this effort will be different from
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat
troops fighting on foreign soil," he added.
The
president's speech, which lasted about 15 minutes, followed a summer of
deliberation at the White House over how to respond to the violent
Islamic State militants. While administration officials have said they
are not aware of a credible threat of a potential attack by the
militants in the U.S., they say the group poses risks to Americans and
interests across the Middle East. Officials are also concerned about the
prospect that Westerners, including Americans, who have joined the
militant group could return to their home countries to launch attacks.
In
recent weeks, the militants have released videos depicting the
beheading of two American journalists in Syria. The violent images
appear to have had an impact on a formerly war-weary public, with
multiple polls in recent days showing that the majority of Americans
support airstrikes in both Iraq and Syria.
The
U.S. began launching limited airstrikes against Islamic State targets
in Iraq earlier this summer at the request of that country's former
prime minister. But Obama vowed that he would not commit the U.S. to a
deeper military campaign until Iraq formed a new government that allowed
greater participation from all sects, a step Iraqi leaders took
Tuesday.
Officials said Obama plans to proceed
with both the broader airstrikes in Iraq and the strikes in Syria
without seeking new authorization from Congress. Instead, he is to act
under a use-of-force authorization Congress passed in the days after
9/11 to give President George W. Bush the ability to go after those who
perpetrated the terror attacks. Obama has previously called for that
authorization to be repealed, but he has also used it as support for
strikes against terror targets in Yemen and Somalia.
Obama
said his approach in Syria is modeled after those long-running U.S.
counterterrorism campaigns. But it is different in important ways,
starting with the fact that it marks the first time since 9/11 that a
U.S. president has authorized the bombing of terror targets in another
nation without seeking permission or at least notifying it in advance.
House
Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, praised Obama for acknowledging the
"grave and growing threat" that Islamic extremists pose, but he said
Obama was coming to that conclusion far too late.
"He
has finally begun to make the case the nation has needed him to make
for quite some time: that destroying this terrorist threat requires
decisive action and must be the highest priority for the United States
and other nations of the free world," Boehner said.
As
if to answer the criticism that he has been too cautious, Obama
declared of his plan: "This is American leadership at its best."
Obama
is seeking authorization from Congress for a Pentagon-led effort to
train and arm more moderate elements of the Syrian opposition. Even
before his remarks, congressional leaders were grappling with whether to
support that request and if so, how to get such a measure through the
fractured legislature before the November elections.
The
White House wants Congress to include the authorization in a temporary
funding measure lawmakers are expected to vote on before adjourning
later this month. Republicans have made no commitment to support the
request and the House GOP has so far not included the measure in the
funding legislation.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Nevada Democrat might opt to seek separate legislation.
While
the CIA currently runs a small program to arm the rebels, the new
version would be more robust. Obama asked Congress earlier this year to
approve a $500 million program to expand the effort and put it under
Pentagon control, but the request stalled on Capitol Hill.
Some
of Obama's own advisers, including former Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton, pressed him to arm the rebels early in their fight
against Assad. But Obama resisted, arguing that there was too much
uncertainty about the composition of the rebel forces. He also expressed
concern about adding more firepower to an already bloody civil war.
The
White House announced Wednesday that it was also providing $25 million
in immediate military assistance to the Iraqi government as part of
efforts to combat the Islamic State.
The
Treasury Department will also step up efforts to undermine the Islamic
State group's finances. David Cohen, Treasury's undersecretary for
terrorism and financial intelligence, wrote in a blog post that the U.S.
would be working with other countries, especially Gulf states, to cut
off the group's external funding networks and its access to the global
financial system.
The U.S. has been pressing allies in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere to help with efforts to degrade the terror group.
France's
foreign minister said Wednesday that his country was ready to take part
in airstrikes against extremist fighters in Iraq if needed. And the
German government announced that it was sending assault rifles,
ammunition, anti-tank weapons and armored vehicles to Kurdish forces in
Iraq fighting, breaking with Berlin's previous reluctance to send
weapons into conflicts.
Secretary of State
John Kerry, who met with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad Wednesday, was also
scheduled to attend a conference with Arab leaders Thursday to discuss
their role in confronting the militants.
