President Obama’s speech on Wednesday night promising to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State, through airstrikes and additional US forces in Iraq and through aerial operations and support of “moderate” insurgents in Syria:
See Iraq Daily, Sept 11: Obama Deploys More Forces for “Eradicating Cancer” of Islamic State
Syria Daily, Sept 11: Obama Authorizes Airstrikes on Islamic State
PRESIDENT OBAMA: My fellow Americans, tonight I want to speak to you about what the United States will do with our friends and allies to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIL.
As commander in chief, my highest priority is the security of the American people. Over the last several years, we have consistently taken the fight to terrorists who threaten our country. We took out Osama bin Laden and much of al-Qaida’s leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We’ve targeted al-Qaida’s affiliate in Yemen and recently eliminated the top commander of its affiliate in Somalia. We’ve done so while bringing more than 140,000 American troops home from Iraq and drawing down our forces in Afghanistan, where our combat mission will end later this year. Thanks to our military and counterterrorism professionals, America is safer.
Still, we continue to face a terrorist threat. We can’t erase every trace of evil from the world and small groups of killers have the capacity to do great harm. That was the case before 9/11, and that remains true today. And that’s why we must remain vigilant as threats emerge. At this moment the greatest threats come from the Middle East and North Africa, where radical groups exploit grievances for their own gain. And one of those groups is ISIL — which calls itself the Islamic State.
