Obama Pushes U.S.

Deeper Into Middle East to Fight Islamic State

President Authorizes Start of Airstrikes in Syria, Expands Bombing Campaign in Iraq
By
CAROL E. LEE and
JULIAN E. BARNES
Updated Sept. 11, 2014 3:53 a.m. ET
WASHINGTONPresident Barack Obama authorized the start of U.S. airstrikes in Syria and expanded a month long
bombing campaign in Iraq to "degrade and ultimately destroy" Islamic militants who recently beheaded two Americans.
The decisions, outlined Wednesday in a prime-time address to the nation on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the
Sept. 11 terror attacks, considerably deepen U.S. military involvement in the Middle East.
Obama's plan mainly centers around air strikes in an effort to protect American's on the ground and to provide training to
troops fighting against ISIS. "America will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat," Mr. Obama said in
remarks from the White House. "I will not hesitate to take action against ISIS in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core
principle of my presidency: If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven."

Saudi Arabia has volunteered its country to host a US training camp there to train up to 10,000 troops at a time in an effort
to fend off ISIS. The US is looking in the neighborhood of 500 Million dollars to make this effort happen. They will also
be targeting the ISIS leaders through airstrikes using unmanned drones from the air force and Navy.
Secretary of State John Kerry, meanwhile, arrived in Baghdad Wednesday as he began a sweep through the
Middle East aimed at building Arab support for Mr. Obama's strategy. Mr. Kerry, meeting with Iraq's new political
leadership, praised Iraqi politicians for forming a Shiite-led government the U.S. believes will be more acceptable to Iraq's
Sunni and Kurdish communities.
President Obama Stated "We will not get dragged into another ground war in Iraq," he has been very hesitant when it
comes to deploying troops into another conflict.

To improve coordination with Iraqi forces, Mr. Obama intends to send as many as 475 additional troops into Iraq. That
will include two division headquarters of about 200 soldiers' total, to help coordinate operations with Iraqi forces and help
oversee training efforts by the U.S. and its partners. In addition, 175 more advisers will be sent to Iraq to assist Iraqi
brigades.

I chose this article because I wrote on this subject just a few weeks ago with the same kind of plan to help the
inexperienced Iraqi troops. My article was about the troops that were trained for 3 days then flown into combat. Its great

to see that we will not be going into Iraq with combat troops but rather advisors and establishing training camps for our
allies. I think they are doing the right thing by keeping our combat troops out but instead teaching them to be self
sufficient.