Friday, August 29, 2014
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama tamped down the prospect of imminent U.S. military action in Syria on Thursday, saying “we don’t have a strategy yet” for degrading the violent militant group seeking to establish a caliphate in the Middle East.
The president spoke shortly before convening a meeting of his national- security advisers to discuss a range of Pentagon options for confronting the Islamic State group. The U.S. already is striking militant targets in Iraq, and administration officials have said the president was considering similar action in neighboring Syria.
Obama’s decision to speak on the matter Thursday appeared aimed at clarifying the speed with which he planned to decide on expanding the U.S. military response. Though some officials have indicated the process would be fast-moving, the president suggested a longer time line Thursday.
“We don’t have a strategy yet,” the president said. “I think that’s not just my assessment, but the assessment of our military, as well. We need to make sure that we’ve got clear plans, that we’re developing them.”
The statement appeared certain to open up Obama to criticism from Republicans who have complained for months that the president lacked a broad strategy for confronting militants in Iraq and Syria. White House officials quickly sought to clean up after the president, insisting that he was talking only about a lack of a clear military strategy in Syria, not a more wide-ranging approach to degrading the Islamic State.
But Obama’s critics said it was both shocking and concerning to hear the president equivocate. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said the lack of urgency demonstrated that Obama still doesn’t understand the extent of the threat posed by the Islamic State.
“It just confirmed what we’ve been talking about really for almost two years: There has been no real strategy,” Rogers said.
Obama outlined the beginnings of what he called a “regional strategy” that could involve other nations and focus on political as well as military solutions. In blunt terms, the president said it was time for Middle Eastern nations to “stop being ambivalent” about the aims of extremist groups such as the Islamic State.
“They have no ideology beyond violence and chaos and the slaughter of innocent people,” Obama said, alluding to the group’s announcement last week that it had killed American journalist James Foley. The militants also have threatened to kill other U.S. hostages in Syria.
The president said he was dispatching Secretary of State John Kerry to the Middle East soon to discuss the matter with regional partners. Obama also will meet with world leaders in Europe next week during a NATO summit.
The heightened threat from the Islamic State comes at a time of instability elsewhere in the world that has challenged Obama’s desire to keep the U.S. out of military conflicts. Russia has escalated its threatening moves in Ukraine, with Ukrainian officials accusing Russia on Thursday of entering its territory with tanks, artillery and troops.
Despite the increased tensions, Obama ruled out any military options in Ukraine and proposed no shift in an American-led strategy that has yet to persuade Moscow to halt operations against its far weaker neighbor.