President Obama will detail the next phase in the U.S. strategy to combat ISIS in a speech on Wednesday.
“The next phase is now to start going on some offense. We have to get an Iraqi government in place. And I’m optimistic that next week, we should be able to get that done,” Obama said on “Meet the Press” Sunday, after explaining that the U.S. has already made moves to protect American personnel and shifter intelligence resources.
While Obama said that next steps would include he military, he insisted that there won’t be any boots on the ground.
“But this is not going to be an announcement about U.S. ground troops. This is not the equivalent of the Iraq war. 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,” he said.
The president added that ISIS does not yet pose a direct threat to the U.S.
“I want everybody to understand that we have not seen any immediate intelligence about threats to the homeland from ISIL. That’s not what this is about,” he said. “What it’s about is an organization that, if allowed to control significant amounts of territory, to amass more resources, more arms to attract more foreign fighters, including from areas like Europe, who have Europeans who have visas and then can travel to the United States unimpeded, that over time, that can be a serious threat to the homeland.”
Obama said that if any military intervenes in Syria, it will be Iraqi soldiers.
“But you also cannot, over the long term or even the medium term, deal with this problem by having the United States serially occupy various countries all around the Middle East,” he said. “We don’t have the resources. It puts enormous strains on our military. And at some point, we leave. And then things blow up again.”
Obama will also meet with congressional leaders on Tuesday.
Sometimes not having a strategy is a viable strategy. So sorry that his detractors are unable or unwilling to see that as they stampede over the cliff.
It’s been almost comical but also sad to listen to the squawks from the right and also from the far left as the adult in the Oval Office let’s this play out.
We all need to check expectations when it comes to the ME. It is time for regional players to step up to the plate. Isn’t it abundantly clear that neocon idealism is not a strategy?
The knowledgeable and disinterested observers I’ve read all say there are no good choices regarding ISIS in Iraq and especially in Syria. Everything you could do is fraught with potential problems and it’s nearly impossible to envision good outcomes for years to come. But it would take an unusual degree of honesty for anyone in politics to say so. And as you say, that leaves Obama as the adult grappling with what you could fairly call actual responsibilities while everyone else in Washington postures about it. How he doesn’t publicly explode with rage a dozen times a day is beyond me.
For a group like ISIS to control a population long term requires two things. Food and water for that population. They are currently in the business of selling oil and brutalizing people. These endeavors will not result in the caliphate they desire. It will result in their end. I hope.
The republicans and talking head “pundits” certainly deserve a series of public beyatch slaps. In my opinion.