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 Qaeda’s leadership in
Afghanistan and Pakistan. We’ve targeted al Qaeda’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.”
Now let’s make two things clear: ISIL is not “Islamic.”
No religion condones the killing of innocents. And the vast majority of
ISIL’s victims have been Muslim. And ISIL is certainly not a state.
It was formerly al Qaeda’s affiliate in Iraq, and has taken advantage of
sectarian strife and Syria’s civil war to gain territory on both sides
of the Iraq-Syrian border. It is recognized by no government, nor by
the people it subjugates. ISIL is a terrorist organization, pure and
simple. And it has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand
in its way.
In a region that has known so much bloodshed, these
terrorists are unique in their brutality. They execute captured
prisoners. They kill children. They enslave, rape, and force women
into marriage. They threatened a religious minority with genocide. And
in acts of barbarism, they took the lives of two American journalists
-- Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff.
So ISIL poses a threat to the people of Iraq and Syria,
and the broader Middle East -- including American citizens, personnel
and facilities. If left unchecked, these terrorists could pose a
growing threat beyond that region, including to the United States.
While we have not yet detected specific plotting against our homeland,
ISIL leaders have threatened America and our allies. Our Intelligence
Community believes that thousands of foreigners -– including Europeans
and some Americans –- have joined them in Syria and Iraq. Trained and
battle-hardened, these fighters could try to return to their home
countries and carry out deadly attacks.
I know many Americans are concerned about these threats.
Tonight, I want you to know that the United States of America is meeting
them with strength and resolve. Last month, I ordered our military to
take targeted action against ISIL to stop its advances. Since then,
we’ve conducted more than 150 successful airstrikes in Iraq. These
strikes have protected American personnel and facilities, killed ISIL
fighters, destroyed weapons, and given space for Iraqi and Kurdish
forces to reclaim key territory. These strikes have also helped save
the lives of thousands of innocent men, women and children.
But this is not our fight alone. American power can make a
decisive difference, but we cannot do for Iraqis what they must do for
themselves, nor can we take the place of Arab partners in securing their
region. And that’s why I’ve insisted that additional U.S. action
depended upon Iraqis forming an inclusive government, which they have
now done in recent days. So tonight, with a new Iraqi government in
place, and following consultations with allies abroad and Congress at
home, I can announce that America will lead a broad coalition to roll
back this terrorist threat.
Our objective is clear: We will degrade, and ultimately
destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism
strategy.
First, we will conduct a systematic campaign of airstrikes
against these terrorists. Working with the Iraqi government, we will
expand our efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian
missions, so that we’re hitting ISIL targets as Iraqi forces go on
offense. Moreover, I have made it clear that we will hunt down
terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are. That means I
will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as
Iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency: If you threaten
America, you will find no safe haven.
Second, we will increase our support to forces fighting
these terrorists on the ground. In June, I deployed several hundred
American servicemembers to Iraq to assess how we can best support Iraqi
security forces. Now that those teams have completed their work –- and
Iraq has formed a government –- we will send an additional 475
servicemembers to Iraq. As I have said before, these American forces
will not have a combat mission –- we will not get dragged into another
ground war in Iraq. But they are needed to support Iraqi and Kurdish
forces with training, intelligence and equipment. We’ll also support
Iraq’s efforts to stand up National Guard Units to help Sunni
communities secure their own freedom from ISIL’s control.
Across the border, in Syria, we have ramped up our
military assistance to the Syrian opposition. Tonight, I call on
Congress again to give us additional authorities and resources to train
and equip these fighters. In the fight against ISIL, we cannot rely on
an Assad regime that terrorizes its own people -- a regime that will
never regain the legitimacy it has lost. Instead, we must strengthen
the opposition as the best counterweight to extremists like ISIL, while
pursuing the political solution necessary to solve Syria’s crisis once
and for all.
Third, we will continue to draw on our substantial
counterterrorism capabilities to prevent ISIL attacks. Working with our
partners, we will redouble our efforts to cut off its funding; improve
our intelligence; strengthen our defenses; counter its warped ideology;
and stem the flow of foreign fighters into and out of the Middle East.
And in two weeks, I will chair a meeting of the U.N. Security Council to
further mobilize the international community around this effort.
Fourth, we will continue to provide humanitarian
assistance to innocent civilians who have been displaced by this
terrorist organization. This includes Sunni and Shia Muslims who are at
grave risk, as well as tens of thousands of Christians and other
religious minorities. We cannot allow these communities to be driven
from their ancient homelands.
So this is our strategy. And in each of these four parts
of our strategy, America will be joined by a broad coalition of
partners. Already, allies are flying planes with us over Iraq; sending
arms and assistance to Iraqi security forces and the Syrian opposition;
sharing intelligence; and providing billions of dollars in humanitarian
aid. Secretary Kerry was in Iraq today meeting with the new government
and supporting their efforts to promote unity. And in the coming days
he will travel across the Middle East and Europe to enlist more partners
in this fight, especially Arab nations who can help mobilize Sunni
communities in Iraq and Syria, to drive these terrorists from their
lands. This is American leadership at its best: We stand with people
who fight for their own freedom, and we rally other nations on behalf of
our common security and common humanity.
My administration has also secured bipartisan support for
this approach here at home. I have the authority to address the threat
from ISIL, but I believe we are strongest as a nation when the President
and Congress work together. So I welcome congressional support for
this effort in order to show the world that Americans are united in
confronting this danger.
Now, it will take time to eradicate a cancer like ISIL.
And any time we take military action, there are risks involved –-
especially to the servicemen and women who carry out these missions.
But I want the American people to understand how this effort will be
different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve
American combat troops fighting on foreign soil.
This counterterrorism
campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out
ISIL wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for
partner forces on the ground. This strategy of taking out terrorists
who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one
that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years. And
it is consistent with the approach I outlined earlier this year: to use
force against anyone who threatens America’s core interests, but to
mobilize partners wherever possible to address broader challenges to
international order.
My fellow Americans, we live in a time of great change.
Tomorrow marks 13 years since our country was attacked. Next week marks
six years since our economy suffered its worst setback since the Great
Depression. Yet despite these shocks, through the pain we have felt and
the grueling work required to bounce back, America is better positioned
today to seize the future than any other nation on Earth.
Our technology companies and universities are unmatched.
Our manufacturing and auto industries are thriving. Energy independence
is closer than it’s been in decades. For all the work that remains,
our businesses are in the longest uninterrupted stretch of job creation
in our history. Despite all the divisions and discord within our
democracy, I see the grit and determination and common goodness of the
American people every single day –- and that makes me more confident
than ever about our country’s future.
Abroad, American leadership is the one constant in an
uncertain world. It is America that has the capacity and the will to
mobilize the world against terrorists. It is America that has rallied
the world against Russian aggression, and in support of the Ukrainian
peoples’ right to determine their own destiny. It is America –- our
scientists, our doctors, our know-how –- that can help contain and cure
the outbreak of Ebola. It is America that helped remove and destroy
Syria’s declared chemical weapons so that they can’t pose a threat to
the Syrian people or the world again. And it is America that is helping
Muslim communities around the world not just in the fight against
terrorism, but in the fight for opportunity, and tolerance, and a more
hopeful future.
America, our endless blessings bestow an enduring burden.
But as Americans, we welcome our responsibility to lead. From Europe
to Asia, from the far reaches of Africa to war-torn capitals of the
Middle East, we stand for freedom, for justice, for dignity. These are
values that have guided our nation since its founding.
Tonight, I ask for your support in carrying that
leadership forward. I do so as a Commander-in-Chief who could not be
prouder of our men and women in uniform –- pilots who bravely fly in the
face of danger above the Middle East, and servicemembers who support
our partners on the ground.
When we helped prevent the massacre of civilians trapped
on a distant mountain, here’s what one of them said: “We owe our
American friends our lives. Our children will always remember that
there was someone who felt our struggle and made a long journey to
protect innocent people.”
That is the difference we make in the world. And our own
safety, our own security, depends upon our willingness to do what it
takes to defend this nation and uphold the values that we stand for –-
timeless ideals that will endure long after those who offer only hate
and destruction have been vanquished from the Earth.
May God bless our troops, and may God bless the United States of America.
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