ISIL - The Campaign Against

"U.S. and allies prepare new campaign against Islamic State" PBS NewsHour 9/8/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Now to the next phase for the United States and partners in going after the Islamic State group.  Many in the region and this county are anxiously awaiting more details as the president prepares for a national address Wednesday on his strategy in dealing with the militant group that has brought death and destruction to large swathes of Iraq and Syria.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  We are going to systematically degrade their capabilities.  We’re going shrink the territory that they control, and, ultimately, we’re going to defeat them.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  The president outlined a multi-step campaign in a lengthy interview seen Sunday on NBC.  It elaborated on his statement last week in Estonia regarding the Islamic State group, also known as ISIL.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  So, the bottom line is this: Our objective is clear, and that is to degrade and destroy ISIL, so that it is no longer a threat, not just to Iraq, but also to the region and to the United States.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  It was widely reported today that the president’s expanded air offensive could last years.  But in the NBC interview, he again made clear the effort won’t include combat troops.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  We’re not looking at sending in 100,000 American troops.  We are going to be, as part of an international coalition, carrying out airstrikes in support of work on the ground by Iraqi troops, Kurdish troops.  We are going to be helping to put together a plan for them, so that they can start retaking territory that ISIL had taken over.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Airstrikes have already been under way for four weeks, nearly 150 to date.  They have helped Kurdish forces, plus Iraqi troops and Iranian-backed Shiite militia push back the Sunni extremists of Islamic State.

Over the weekend, the air campaign reached into Anbar province, striking targets around Haditha dam.  The predominantly Sunni region west of Baghdad is largely under Islamic State control. It remained unclear if an expanded air war would extend into Syria.

"Can the Islamic State group be destroyed?" PBS NewsHour 9/8/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  President Obama announced a multi-step campaign to work with regional partners to destroy the Islamic State.  How realistic is that goal?  Judy Woodruff discusses the details and feasibility with Feisal Istrabadi of Indiana University, Frederic Wehrey of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Hussein Ibish of the American Task Force on Palestine.

"Senators debate the president’s power to launch fight against the Islamic State" PBS NewsHour 9/9/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  President Obama has consulted key lawmakers on his strategy against the Islamic State group and polls show the American public supports action.  But the president has not sought formal congressional approval for an expanded military campaign.  Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., join Gwen Ifill to offer their views on the possible mission against the militant group.