President Barack Obama today conceded that the Paris terror attacks were a “terrible and sickening setback” in the fight against the Islamic State, but forcefully dismissed critics who have called for the USA to change or expand its military campaign against the extremists.
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In a role reversal from the 2003 USA war against Iraq, which France opposed, Hollande told French lawmakers he is committed to “destroying” ISIS, “a result that has been too long in coming”.
Speaking at a rare joint session of Parliament at the Palace of Versailles, Hollande said that he wanted to create “a union of all who can fight this terrorist army in a single coalition”.
“I’m not aware of anything that was specific”, he said.
Mindful of the difficulties that the United States had in controlling Iraq after its invasion in 2003, Obama is very reluctant to commit American ground forces to Middle East conflict zones.
Responding to a reporter who asked, “Why can’t we take out these bastards?”
Obama says the danger of the group is the reason the U.S.is operating in Iraq and Syria, and why it has mobilized 65 countries to go after IS.
The terrorist attacks in Paris last Friday, which left at least 129 dead and more than 300 wounded, dominated the meeting of leaders from the world’s 20 biggest economies in Antalya, Turkey.
“Some of those are people I’ve ordered into battle”, he said.
The US has accepted only 1,500 refugees from Syria since 2011, but the White House said in September that 10,000 would be allowed entry next year.
Prior to the meeting, Obama and Putin shook hands and chatted briefly when they were joining other G20 leaders for a “family photo”, which was followed by a working lunch and a G20 working session.
But Obama did announce that the United States would begin a new “streamlined” process of sharing intelligence with France.
They’ve also brought new scrutiny to the flood of refugees from Syria, which Obama has said must prompt new measures by European nations to accommodate those fleeing their country’s civil war.
Obama said had “some degree of hope” that the latest round of discussions on Syria’s future might succeed.
He also used the charge to indirectly attack Republican 2016 presidential candidates.
“What I’m not interested in doing is posing or pursuing a few notion of “American leadership” or ‘America winning, ‘ or whatever other slogans they come up with, that have no relationship to what is actually going to work to protect the American people and to protect people in the region who are getting killed and to protect our allies”, Obama said.
The president found common cause with his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, in also arguing against a “religious test” that he said a few present-day Republicans have suggested in response to the Syrian refugee crisis. He called suggestions by a few Republicans that the USA accept only Christian refugees “shameful”.
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He offered assurances that the refugees allowed into the US are accepted “only after subjecting them to rigorous screening and security checks”.
