Sunday, 7 September 2014

Obama to set out plan

 Obama to set out plan to go on offensive against Islamic State


                        President Barack Obama will deliver a speech to Americans and consult with

lawmakers this week to sell his plan to go on the offensive against Islamic State militants,

but is trying to head off public concern about another big military escapade.

                      Obama said that in his remarks on Wednesday he would "describe what our

game plan's going to be." He will meet congressional leaders on Tuesday to seek their

support for his strategy to halt the militant Islamist group.

                    Obama indicated he did not believe he needed additional authorization from

Congress to carry out the plan, although he intends to consult with lawmakers and might

seek approval for additional funds."I'm confident that I have the authorization that I need to

protect the American people," Obama said. "But I do think it's important for Congress to

understand what the plan is, to have 'buy in,' to debate it."

                   The president, who campaigned for the White House in 2008 on getting U.S.

troops out of Iraq, has struggled to articulate how he wants to address Islamic State, telling

reporters last month that "we don't have a strategy yet" to tackle the group."I'm preparing

the country to make sure that we deal with a threat from ISIL,"

                  Obama said in an interview aired on Sunday with NBC's "Meet the Press"

program, using an acronym for Islamic State. "The next phase is now to start going on

some offense," he added, promising to "defeat" the group.Obama's comments also seemed

tailored to head off the fears of some Americans and anti-war members of his own party of

another full-scale war. For example, he ruled out sending U.S. ground troops to fight the

militants in Iraq or Syria.

                 "This is not the equivalent of the Iraq war," Obama added. "What this is, is similar

to the kinds of counterterrorism campaigns that we've been engaging in consistently over

the last five, six, seven years.The speech underscores the degree to which Islamic State

has become an urgent issue for the United States.The Sunni militants have seized territory

in northern Iraq and eastern Syria, declared a border-blurring Islamic caliphate and

released grisly videos of the beheading of two US journalists it had held hostage. more >>


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