Video Credit By Christian Roman and Carrie Halperin on Publish Date September 5, 2014. Image CreditPool photo by Wpa
President Obama escalated the U.S. response to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, recruiting at least nine allies to help crush the organization and offering the outlines of a strategy that echoes the war on terror.
Secretary of State John Kerry said there's a need to "bolster the Iraqi security forces and others in the region who are prepared to take them on, without committing troops of our own," he said. "Obviously I think that's a red line for everybody here: no boots on the ground."
In his most expansive comments to date about how the United States and its friends could defeat ISIS, a once-obscure group of Sunni militants that has now upended the Middle East and overshadowed Al Qaeda, Mr. Obama said the effort would rely on American airstrikes against its leaders and positions, strengthen the moderate Syrian rebel groups to reclaim ground lost to ISIS, and enlist friendly governments in the region to join the fight.
While the president’s aides maintained that he has not yet decided to authorize airstrikes in Syria — which he has already done on a limited basis in Iraq — Mr. Obama likened his developing strategy on ISIS to the American effort against Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal regions, which has relied heavily on airstrikes.