In just the past two weeks, ISIS massacred 224 civilians by downing a Russian Metrojet over Egypt, along with killings of 41 in Beirut and 19 in Baghdad – and now 132 in Paris, which Obama on Monday called a “setback”.
Advertisement
Well I don’t think [ISIS is] gaining strength. “I’m too busy for that”. And that’s what we did with Al Qaida.
At a sometimes tense news conference at the end of an global summit meeting here, Obama said he would intensify targeted airstrikes and assistance to local ground forces in Syria and Iraq, but it will take time to cripple the terrorist group.
A pall of gloom hovers above the “City of Light” as people the world over mourn with the French who have just been subjected to the worst terror attack ever been seen in Europe in the last decade. And, some of those people I have ordered into battle. I’ve been on plenty of times with you from Iraq and other places.
“Here at the G-20, our nations have sent an unmistakable message, that we are united against this threat”, Obama said.
The U.S. has many tools in its kit short of a conventional ground assault in Syria, and the president must now employ more of them.
The agreement would allow USA personnel to pass threat information, including on ISIS jihadists to France “even more quickly and more often” Mr Obama added.
A major philosophical disagreement between Obama and his critics is over whether to treat Isis as a conventional state enemy or a terrorist network.
“That’s not American”, he said. This “ISIS “caliphate” will never recognize global law, state borders and values of modern civilization that seem inviolable to us. That’s not what’s going on here”.
The Iraqis also claimed that the Paris attack was planned in ISIS’s stronghold in Raqqa, Syria and carried out by 24 people: 19 attackers and five logistics specialists – a much larger team than European authorities said they believe were responsible for the attack. Meanwhile, some Republican presidential candidates suggest only christian refugees facing slaughter by ISIS should be let in.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called Obama’s statements “excuse-laden and defensive”. “We don’t have religious tests to our compassion”. It is very important that we do not close out hearts to those victims of such violence. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said that the United States can not be the leader in the fight against ISIL, “Muslim countries are going to have to lead the effort, and they are not doing it now”.
Republican opposition to accepting more refugees from Syria has become more strident since it emerged that a Syrian passport, bearing the name Ahmed Almuhamed, was found near the remains of a suicide bomber at Paris’ Stade de France on Friday night.
The president also said the attacks in Paris should not stop USA plans to accept refugees from Syria, many of whom are trying to flee the horrors of the Islamic State. A solution to the crisis, which is firmly rooted in the Syrian civil war, continues to be elusive. They are parents. They are children. “And we can have that debate”. “But…it is going to take time”.
“We’re working closely with our French partners as they pursue their investigations and track down suspects”, the president said during a news conference. Officials said the US was already using intelligence to help France identify targets for the airstrikes.
Advertisement
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said earlier this year that the US government were “blinded by their own ideology”.
