President Obama makes his policy against ISIS clearer - even to a rude moderater
There have been many threads on DU, where Obama is accused of wanting to take us into war or of being weak. In addition, the media has repeatedly complained that he has not explained his vision. They ignore that the actions and words that Obama and his team have spoken are completely consistent with his vision speech given at West Point. The main topic is about how the US should deal with terrorists -- hint it is not by invading and occupying countries.
Link to transcript - http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/05/28/remarks-president-united-states-military-academy-commencement-ceremony
Over the summer, the actions taken by his administration were what he said he would do when he addressed the country on ISIS. If you look at what he spoke of wanting to do, you will see that it was consistent with what had been done. Link - http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/13/us/iraq-us/
Note the consistency between what Obama spoke to do here and the speech. Note also that CNN obviously might have preferred a John McCain type decision.
Earlier this week, Kerry and Hagel put out a statement on the strategy that they are helping Obama develop. Link - http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014888789 Note that it too is consistent with the West Point speech.
On today's meet the press, Obama spoke of the strategy that they have been working on.
Obama emphasized he will not advocate for the deployment of U.S. ground troops in the region, saying it would be “a profound mistake” to put American boots on the ground in Syria as some critics have suggested.
“This is not the equivalent of the Iraq war,” he said, stressing that the United States will work with “regional partners” like Iraqi and Kurdish forces and Syrian rebel troops to degrade the terror group’s capacities.
<snip>
“Our goal should not be to think that we can occupy every country where there's a terrorist organization,” he added during the Saturday interview, referencing his remarks at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in May. “Our goal has to be to partner more effectively with governments that are committed to pushing back against the kind of extremism that [ISIS] represents.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/exclusive-obama-deliver-major-address-isis-vows-hunt-down-extremists-n197456
The President also announced that he will address the nation on Wednesday.
President Obama will use a speech to the nation on Wednesday to make his case for launching a United States-led offensive against Sunni militants gaining ground in the Middle East, seeking to rally support for a broad military mission while reassuring the public he is not plunging American forces into another Iraq war.
“I’m preparing the country to make sure that we deal with a threat from” the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, Mr. Obama said in an interview broadcast Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“What I want people to understand,” he said, “is that over the course of months, we are going to be able to not just blunt the momentum” of the militants. “We are going to systematically degrade their capabilities; we’re going to shrink the territory that they control; and, ultimately, we’re going to defeat them,” he added.
The president was adamant that he had no intention of sending American combat troops to go after ISIS, repeating no fewer than three times during the interview that he would not do so, and calling the idea of putting United States boots on the ground “a profound mistake.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/08/us/politics/obama-to-present-case-for-broader-us-mission-against-militants.html
Also today, there is some sign that the coalition that will be pulled together will have significant regional support is this report that the Arab League is set to endorse the action that Obama is leading. http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014890415
To me the significance of the West Point speech was it sounded like a very major turning point in how we will deal with non state terrorists. The approach was international coalitions, intelligence, and working with countries in the regions. Other than a faction of DU which really is isolationist, I would assume that THIS is what we wanted our government to do as we protested what Bush did. If so, we need to really have Obama's back now. This is a rational sane attempt to deal with a huge mess and he is being attacked by forces wanting him to do what GWB would have done and by forces angry that he would take any military action.
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I should not be surprised that people are more interested in whether Todd was as polite as he should have been than what the President actually said. This in spite o his comments today making many things - that they bashed Obama for when they thought he might do them.
At least I now have many of these links in one place where I can find them.
