Obama and his administration have come under mounting pressure amid signs the anti-ISIS coalition has stalled or at least failed to turn the tide against the militants – including the recent Pentagon decision to abandon a failed program to train and equip Syrian rebels. There’s only one way we’re going to diminish them and that is by taking them out because they are growing. “All of them are terrorists for us – no matter what flag they carry”, the Ambassador strongly asserted, reiterating that the worldwide community should join a broad anti-terrorist front that will closely coordinate and work together against ISIS and prevent the Syrian crisis from escalating.
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While France will ramp up its military attacks against ISIS in Syria as a result of the deadly terror attacks in Paris, it is likely that the US will not increase the number of aircraft targeting ISIS or insert more troops into Iraq and Syria.
Although analysts say the attacks in Paris would be one of the most sophisticated ever committed by ISIS, the group has already demonstrated an ability to inflict violence across a broad area.
Obama noted in Turkey that it’s the ideology ISIS touts, more than its weapons, that makes it so risky. His tone also contrasted with that of French President Francois Hollande, who was speaking at the same time in France.
According to CNN, he asked lawmakers to extend for three months the nation’s state of emergency.
Mr Obama said most of differences among his political opponents on how to fight IS is about tone not tactics. He said most of his critics are simply “talking as if they’re tough” and offering no real ideas.
“The values that we’re fighting against ISIL for”, he said, “are precisely that we don’t discriminate against people due to their faith”. “If they think that somehow their advisers are better than the chairman of my Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the folks who are actually on the ground, I want to meet them”.
ISIS might be the “face of evil”, but President Barack Obama is determined that it will not deprive him of his chosen place in history. He said the USA should continue its strategy of assisting local defense forces, with air support and intelligence assistance.
“I’m not aware of anything that was specific in the sense that would’ve given a premonition about a particular action in Paris that would allow for law enforcement or military actions to disrupt”, he said. We’re streamlining the process with which we share intelligence and operational military information with France.
“They just put out a video saying it is their intent to attack this country”, added Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, who pronounced herself more concerned than ever about the group.
The fruits of that cooperation were borne Sunday night, when French jets began a bombardment of Raqqa, the Syrian headquarters of ISIS.
Still, there is much the USA can do before resorting to putting our servicemen and women in direct conflict.
Republican critics have offered few concrete alternatives, he said, with the exceptions of sending in ground forces or establishing no-fly zones, moves that open up a “whole set of questions that have to be answered”.
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The president, who at times sounded combative, has come under intense scrutiny for commenting in an interview broadcast the day of the Paris killings that ISIS has been “contained”. The Russian charter plane explosion, for which ISIS claimed responsibility, may be a turning point for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
