ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD

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The Times’s Baghdad Bureau Chief Answers Questions on Iraq:

Tim Arango, The New York Times’s Baghdad bureau chief since 2010, answered questions on the popular “Ask Me Anything” section of the social site Reddit. Mr. Arango’s recent coverage has focused on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, as the Sunni militant group has seized territory across the region. He reported last week on the only known survivor of an ISIS massacre that took place in June.

Following are excerprts from the Reddit discussion, condensed and edited:

Q. What will it actually take to restore Iraq to a suitable state again? — FLaty

That is going to be a long project. It’s going to take peace in Syria, and within Iraq the first step is for Sunnis to push out ISIS from their communities. But more importantly, Iraq, if it is ever to achieve peace and prosperity, will need a serious reconciliation effort. There may be no more traumatized society in the world than Iraq, and it goes back decades. Iraqis will need to learn to forgive one another for the past if they are ever to move on.

Q. Do you think America’s influence in Iraq was negative? — Frajer

Yes, there is no other way to see it. Everything that is occurring in Iraq today is related to the American legacy there. The forerunner of ISIS was created to oppose the American occupation, and many of its leaders were in American detention facilities in Iraq. On the other side of the ledger, as it pertains to Iraqi politics, you see the American legacy. The U.S. basically chose Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, whose sectarian politics alienated many Sunnis, creating the fertile ground for ISIS to sweep into these areas. And many of those Maliki policies that have pushed aside the Sunnis were started by the Americans. Excluding Sunnis from political life? That has its origins in the American de-Baathification policy. Mr. Maliki’s security policy of conducting mass arrests of Sunni men in the name of fighting terrorism? The U.S. did that too. So at every turn in the Iraq story now, you see the American legacy at play.

Q. How has the current crisis affected American influence in Iraq? Is there a greater willingness now by the major Shiite parties to work with the U.S., compared to the time of the U.S. withdrawal? — matt_bp

The influence of the United States declined dramatically after the American troops left in 2011. The Iraqis were largely happy to see them go — even as they worried about what might happen without U.S. troops in the country — and the Obama administration turned its attention away from Iraq. Now, U.S. influence is stronger, because the Shia leaders see ISIS as an existential threat and they want U.S. military support. But there has always been a huge undercurrent of mistrust among the Shia toward the Americans, even though the invasion upended the old social order and put the Shia in power. This stems from the 1991 Shiite uprising after the first Gulf War, when the Americans encouraged the Iraqi Shia to rise up against Saddam Hussein and then stood by as they were slaughtered. The Shia still talk about this, and still blame the Americans.

Q. How do you rate the Obama administration’s actions in Iraq? — eragon38

It’s not my job to rate the Obama administration’s actions in Iraq. But I will tell you that after 2011, the administration basically ignored the country. And when officials spoke about what was happening there, they were often ignorant of the reality. They did not want to see what was really happening because it conflicted with their narrative that they left Iraq in reasonably good shape. In 2012, as violence was escalating, I wrote a story, citing U.N. statistics, that showed how civilian deaths from attacks were rising. Tony Blinken, who was then Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s national security guy, pushed back, even wrote a letter to the editor saying that violence was near historic lows. That was not true. Even after Falluja fell to ISIS at the end of last year, the administration would push back on stories about Mr. Maliki’s sectarian tendencies, saying they didn’t see it that way. So there was a concerted effort by the administration to not acknowledge the obvious until it became so apparent — with the fall of Mosul — that Iraq was collapsing.

Q. Could you describe the daily dynamic of The Times’s Baghdad bureau? How many other reporters are working alongside you? You spend more time in the office or out in the field? — badbatteries

For most of the last two years — until Mosul fell in June — I was the last guy covering Iraq for us, and I would go there intermittently. Now there are others coming in, and it is great to have the company. We go out quite a bit, whenever we need to, or sometimes just to go antique shopping. We usually have someone watching the daily news and others are working on enterprise stories. We try to make time for some Ping-Pong and chess everyday, too.

Q. As a reporter, do you think your safety in Iraq or how you cover the country has changed since 2010? — journo15

It has changed a great deal. When I first arrived in 2010 the entire country was open to me. I could — and did — go to Falluja for lunch on a whim. Now most of the country is off-limits. We can be in Baghdad, the south and the Kurdish region in the north. Just about everything else is a no-go.

Q. Did you or Adam B. Ellick, the videographer, talk to Ali about the risks involved in showing his face in the ISIS massacre video? How and why did he make the decision? — rebellicfish

Ali wanted to tell his story because he wanted the world to hear what happened to him, and more importantly what happened to his fellow soldiers. By the time we spoke to him, he had already appeared on a local television channel, so his decision had been made.

Q. Can you tell us more about how you found the lone survivor of the ISIS massacre? — tklapheke

We have a network of stringers around the country that we keep in touch with on a daily basis, and this came from one of our guys in southern Iraq.

Q. What is ISIS’s relation to the rebellion in Syria? — niqdisaster

The forerunner of ISIS was Al Qaeda in Iraq, but it was severely diminished after the American troop surge of 2007 and the Awakening, which was an American-led program in which insurgents were paid off to switch sides. After the Americans left Iraq, the group continued to target Iraqi Shia with almost daily attacks. And then, it saw an opportunity in the chaos of the civil war in Syria. That is what allowed the group to flourish and sweep back into Iraq in such a dramatic way this summer.

Q. Is it plausible that ISIS fighters had crossed the Syrian border to take Mosul in large convoys without being detected by Western intelligence in the region? — Imagineallthepeeps

In the days before Mosul fell, there was plenty of intelligence that suggested an imminent ISIS assault on the city. It was passed on by the Americans and the Kurds to the Iraqi government, but was largely ignored until it was too late.

Q. Is the U.S. in danger of “losing” the Kurds? — bzjaffe

The U.S. remains a strong partner with the Kurds. It was partly the threat by ISIS to the Kurdish capital of Erbil that got the American airstrikes started. And the Americans have been funneling weapons to the Kurds, and it looks like the strategy going forward will be to provide more training to the Kurds. So the U.S.-Kurdish relationship seems intact to me.

Q. Could this ISIS business actually turn out to be a good thing for the U.S. in that it allows/requires us to work/cooperate with elements in the Middle East that tend to be hostile to our presence? — LicensedFaptician

I don’t know if it’s a good thing, but it is certainly bringing together countries that have long had antagonistic relationships to confront the common threat of ISIS. The U.S. and Iran are the best examples. While they say they are not coordinating, the U.S. has been bombing from above while Iranian-backed Shiite militias, which a few years ago were killing American soldiers, have been doing the fighting on the ground, for the same cause.

Q. Can you give us a feel for what the general reaction is to ISIS among average Sunni and Shia Iraqi people? — limbodog

The Shia are horrified. Most Sunnis, too, although initially in places like Mosul, Sunnis were happy to see the Iraqi Army leave. But over time, ISIS is likely to alienate local communities with its harsh rule.

Link to article and videos:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/09/world ... .html?_r=0

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Reuters

Iraq's Shi'ite militia, Kurds use U.S. air strikes to further own agendas
By Isabel Coles

A small group of people pick through putrefying human remains laid out on plastic sheets by the side of a road in northern Iraq, searching for any trace of missing friends and relatives.

Some had brought spades to help dig up the mass grave near Suleiman Beg after the town was retaken from Sunni Islamic State militants who held the area until last week.

"They (Islamic State) slaughtered him simply because he was Shi'ite," said Jomaa Jabratollah, hauling the remnants of his friend, a truck driver, into a coffin, having identified him from the lighter in his breast pocket.

"We must take revenge".

Helped by the United States and Iran, Kurdish forces and Shi’ite militia are finally beating back Islamic State militants who overran most Sunni Arab areas in northern and central Iraq nearly three months ago.

But the aftermath illustrates the unintended consequences of the U.S. air campaign against Islamic State.

Kurdish and Shi'ite fighters have regained ground, but Sunni Muslims who fled the violence are being prevented from returning home and some have had their houses pillaged and torched.

Rather than help keep the nation together, the air strikes risk being used by different factions for their own advantage in Iraq's sectarian and ethnic conflicts.

The fallout also risks worsening grievances that helped Islamic State find support amongst Iraq's Sunnis, and allows the militant group to portray the U.S. strikes as targeting their minority sect. That may make it more difficult to bring Sunnis on side and convince them to fight the militants.

"NO WAY BACK"

The unlikely coalition of Kurdish peshmerga fighters, Shi'ite militias and the U.S. air force won a major victory when it broke a siege of the Shi’ite Turkman town of Amerli last week and drove Islamic State from 25 nearby Sunni towns and villages.

But the aftermath is far from what the Americans envisioned. Smoke now rises from those Sunni villages, where some houses have been torched by Shi'ite militia. Others are abandoned, the walls daubed with sectarian slogans.

“There is no way back for them: we will raze their homes to the ground,” said Abu Abdullah, a commander of the Shi’ite Kataib Hizbollah militia in Amerli.

The area is now held by Kurdish peshmerga and Shi’ite militia, who have become the most powerful forces on the ground, rather than the Iraqi army, whose northern divisions collapsed this summer when Islamic State attacked.

By the time IS was expelled from around Amerli, many Sunni civilians had fled, fearing for their lives. They have few places to go and are too frightened to return.

"If a regular army were holding the area we could return, but as long as the militias are there we cannot,” said a 30-year-old displaced Sunni resident of one village near Amerli, who asked to remain unnamed.

"They would slaughter us on the spot."

He admitted some villagers had supported IS, but said it was only one or two for every 70 to 80 households, and that the rest were innocent civilians who were too scared to stand against the militants or had nowhere else to go.

Sunni Turkman al-Muradli and his family left Suleiman Beg the day after it fell to Islamic State in June and moved to a Kurdish-controlled town nearby. A month later, their 21-year-old son was abducted.

The next time they saw him was in a video on the internet captioned "arrest of an Islamic State member", which appears to show their son being beheaded by Shi'ite militia fighters.

His weeping mother insisted he was an innocent student and said her son's killers had phoned her demanding $2,000 to return the corpse without a head, which the caller claimed to have taken to Baghdad as a trophy.

"We cannot return. Even if the Shi'ite army and militia withdraw, Islamic State will come back and the same will happen all over again," said the mother.

The mayor of Tuz Khurmato confirmed the account and said at least four other Sunnis had been abducted in the area in recent weeks, presumably by Shi'ite militia. At least one other video has circulated online of Shi'ite militiamen brandishing the heads of alleged Islamic State fighters.

Pictures online, also allegedly from Amerli, show two militia fighters posing with a pair of charred corpses.

A 42-year-old Shi'ite volunteer said it would eventually be safe for Sunnis to return and that no more than ten houses of known Islamic State members had been deliberately destroyed.

"The Sunnis will come back to their villages but not now: after a few months," he said.

"Since there is no confidence between Sunni and Shi’ite any more, they need guarantees from a third party, maybe the Kurds, then we can live peacefully together again, as we were."

ETHNIC TENSIONS

Sunni Arabs are also feeling a backlash in villages where they used to live alongside Kurds, who accuse them of collaborating with Islamic State.

Kurds, who are also mostly Sunni but identify first and foremost with their ethnicity, have taken back at least 127 villages since the start of the U.S. air campaign, some of which were home to Arabs too.

In one such village, returning Kurds have sprayed over the word "apostate" on the walls of houses and written "Kurdish home" instead. Arab households remain empty.

Kurds in the Makhmour area, from which IS was pushed out in August, say they no longer trust Arabs enough to live with them.

"All my neighbors were Arabs. Now most of them are with Islamic State," said Abdul Rahman Ahmed Abdullah, a member of the Kurdish security services from the village of Baqirta, south of Arbil. "We cannot be mixed together. The only solution is for them to leave."

SOLIDARITY SHORT-LIVED

During the operation to reach Amerli, Kurds gave passage to Shi'ite militia through territory they control and allowed them to use their bases, where they fired artillery at IS positions side by side in an unusual show of solidarity.

"Amerli united Iraqis," said Taleb Jaafar Mohammed, a Shi'ite Turkman teacher, holding a pistol in one hand and a string of prayer beads in the other.

But even during the operation, there were cracks in the coalition: Shi'ite militia and Kurdish forces fought under their own banners and the least visible flag was that of Iraq.

Now that the common enemy has been pushed back, the alliance is unraveling. Kataib Hizbollah, which controls access to Amerli, is denying Kurds entry to the town and one peshmerga commander described the militia as the "Shi'ite IS".

The tensions reflect a struggle for territory which the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad claims, but the Kurds want as part of their autonomous region in the north of the country.

"This land is ours: they are an occupying force," said Sirwan, a Kurdish fighter, when asked about the Shi'ite militia presence. "There will be bigger problems than Islamic State in this area."

(Editing by Giles Elgood)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/ ... B820140909

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Bloomberg

Obama Speaking Tomorrow Night on Fighting Islamic State

President Barack Obama will make a televised address from the White House tomorrow night on his strategy for degrading and destroying Islamic State militants operating in Iraq and Syria.

Obama is scheduled to meet this afternoon with the House and Senate leaders of both parties to preview his thinking and gauge congressional reaction. At a private dinner last night, the president sought advice from national security officials from Democratic and Republican administrations.

Obama and administration officials have repeatedly said the president has the authority he needs for the current campaign of air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq. They have refused to say whether he’ll request additional authorization from Congress.

Obama has said his strategy won’t involve U.S. combat forces on the ground and will be similar to the counterterrorism campaigns waged in recent years.

While Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson said Congress would give Obama authority to bomb Islamic State targets in Syria, there is little sentiment in either the House or the Senate for taking a vote.

The U.S. military probably can continue with the air campaign without seeking additional money from Congress for a while, by shifting money in its $85 billion Overseas Contingency Operations account.

Expanding Airstrikes

The White House strategy may include expanding airstrikes in Iraq, and extending them into Syria. The U.S. is also trying to pull together an international coalition, including nations in the region such as Saudi Arabia to curb the spread of IS.

If Obama asks Congress for authorization, “I think there would be overwhelming support for that; if he asks for money, I think that there will be support from the Congress to do that,” U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, said today on CNN.

Nine out of 10 Americans regards Islamic State as a serious threat to U.S. interests, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released today. Sixty-five percent back extending U.S. air strikes against the Sunni extremists into Syria, according to the poll conducted Sept. 4-7, more than double the level of support from a year ago.

Last year at this time, Obama was forced to withdraw a request for authorization to conduct strikes on Syria after it became clear that he didn’t have support in Congress.

That followed the U.K. Parliament’s rejection of Prime Minister David Cameron’s proposal to participate in military action against Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.

To contact the reporter on this story: Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Steven Komarow at skomarow1@bloomberg.net Joe Sobczyk

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-0 ... state.html

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Rudaw

Peshmerga Shut Down Kirkuk Border

phpBB [video]

http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/09092014

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Rudaw

Captured Teen IS Recruit: Bombmaker, Suicide Bomber
By Hiwa Husamadin


Muetazar Zamil, the teenager who was to be a would-be bomber.

KHURMATU - At age 17, Muetazar Zamil was already an expert bomb maker and gunman for the Islamic State (IS/formerly ISIS). When he was caught last week by security forces in Khurmatu, he was driving a bomb-laden truck that his emir had promised would transport him to heaven.

In an interview with Rudaw, the teenager confessed he had in military assaults on Kurdish and Iraqi forces, and made hundreds of roadside bombs that were used to target Iraqi and Kurdish forces. Muetazar was among IS fighters who fought zealously against Peshmerga forces in the town of Sulaiman Beg.

The story of how he went from being just a religious boy in Hafriya to a radical volunteer is not atypical: he was recruited at the mosque in his village, on the outskirts of Khurmatu.

“An Islamic State emir (leader) came to our village in the hope of recruiting men for their army,” Muetazar recounted. The emir, who spoke at the mosque daily during his stay in the village, said he was looking for men who wished to become jihadists and defend the Islamic State.

The emir, who was called Abu Teiyba, “spoke to us of the paradise where ultimate happiness existed,” Muetazar recalled. “The only way to enter heaven was to battle the deviant Iraqi army and the infidel Peshmergas,” they were told.

The boy, who confessed to little real knowledge of IS at the time, decided to join. For two weeks he trained in the desert with fellow jihadis in handling machineguns and artillery.

“We were trained in concealing explosive materials, in fighting in the name of the caliph of the Islamic State and in annihilating the enemies of the IS and those who fought against it.”

Finally, the trained recruit and 80 other local men, including 20 youngsters, built a force and joined the full-scale jihad. That was when he was first promised a place in paradise.

“I was particularly promised a place in heaven by the emir,” Muetazar remembers.

He was so taken by his words, and by the zeal to serve the IS, that he escaped from home after his family locked him to prevent him from going off to join the militants. Muetazar is the only one of four brothers to become a jihadi.

After joining the IS ranks, his talent for handling explosives was noted and he was almost immediately put in a special course on making handmade explosives. He and three others were tasked only with making bombs, churning out seven dozen in two weeks’ time.

“We used the explosives to make roadside bombs, which we placed on the road between Baghdad and Khurmatu and activated through our cellphones,” Muetazar explained.

Over time, he went from bomb making to more direct combat against Iraqi and Peshmarga forces, fighting in Sulaiman Beg, where he claimed he fired only in self defense.

Then, one day, Muetazar received from the emir what was to be his final task as a jihadist. “We send you on a mission that I wish I could do myself,” the emir told him. Muetazar was meant to enter paradise before any of the others, the emir revealed.

“I asked the emir what the task was,” Muetazar recounted. He was told to drive a truck full of explosives to Khurmatu, and was reassured by the emir of a place in paradise.

The next day, he was caught driving the truck by security forces. The teenager claimed he did not know it was loaded with 300 kilograms of TNT, and that this was his suicide mission.

Now, as he waits as a prisoner for someone from his family to contact the authorities, Muetazar says he regrets his life.
“I regret that I have done these things. I want to go back to school if I’m released.”

http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/090920141

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Kurdish Patriotism Rises Amid Jihadist Threat From Islamic State
By Joe Parkinson

Threat Posed by Islamic State Spawns Surge in Morale-Boosting Propaganda



As Kurdish forces suffered bruising battlefield losses last month, Iraqi Kurdistan's most popular television network ditched its regular lineup in favor of shows glorifying Peshmerga fighters and encouraging people to enlist.

In the weeks that followed, patriotic songs made popular during the Kurdish rebellion of the 1980s swung back into heavy rotation. Huge posters proclaiming the bravery of Kurdish forces popped up in towns and cities. Tailors and traders in the bazaars have struggled to keep up with demand for military-style uniforms.

The threat posed by the Islamic State militant group has spawned a surge in morale-boosting propaganda, which has become omnipresent in this corner of northern Iraq.

The top stars on privately owned KurdMax now regularly present their shows wearing Peshmerga fatigues or draped in the tricolor flag of the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq. Two of its most popular programs—the Kurdish equivalents of "Saturday Night Live" and Martha Stewart's cooking and decorating show—have been recorded and broadcast from the front lines.

"We are a central part of the war effort. The jihadists are trying to scare and divide us and we're combating that narrative," said network chief Massoud Qadir, flicking through channels on his office TV. "Look around you, patriotism is on every channel. It is everywhere."

The media blitz comes as Iraqi Kurdish forces are being challenged along a 600-mile border by Islamic State, the group also known as ISIS or ISIL. Its advance last month threatened a decade of relative peace and prosperity in this semiautonomous region.

Suddenly, decades-old songs glorifying the Peshmerga are blaring constantly from car radios, cafes and stores. New pop music videos are emerging that star female vocalists strutting in military fatigues and waving AK47s. On social-media sites, tens of thousands of Kurds have uploaded pictures of themselves wearing Peshmerga uniforms or posing with weapons, vowing to defend Kurdistan.

Backed by a widening campaign of U.S. airstrikes, and now receiving weapons from Europe, the Kurds have in recent weeks regained strategically important territory. That has only bolstered the sense of national pride.

At the same time, the relative absence of national Iraqi symbols or motifs in the propaganda wave appears to underscore how Kurdish steps toward independence amid Iraq's political crisis could be difficult to reverse.

Displays of nationalism aren't uncommon in Iraqi Kurdistan, where the population was for decades subjugated by former dictator Saddam Hussein. The Internet and other modern technologies have amplified the latest incarnation.

"In past wars, most people only had a radio, which would play Peshmerga songs or give information about battles," said Omer Patty of Salahaddin University, who speaks regularly on Kurdish issues. "Now we have new technologies and a richer population that can access them, taking the impact of the propaganda to a new level."

Mr. Patty added that he recently went to a TV interview dressed in Peshmerga fatigues.

Technology is also helping to revive songs that mythologize resistance and war, with remastered 1980s tracks such as "Oh Mr. Peshmerga" spreading virally across social media and video-sharing websites.

Kurdish pop stars such as Loka Zahir are producing slick new videos where she performs alongside Peshmerga units, singing "we will fight until our last drop of blood."

Halkawt Zahir, the producer behind Ms. Zahir's biggest hits, says there has been an effort in the entertainment business to rally behind the troops. "Music is a very powerful tool we can use to make people feel solidarity and unity. These songs make people want to pick up the gun and defend our land," said Mr. Zahir, who isn't related to the singer.

On the streets and in the bazaars of Iraqi Kurdish cities, the effort appears to be bearing fruit. Tens of thousands of men and women have bought military clothing in solidarity with the Peshmerga, with many signing up as volunteers.

At the military market—a collection of stores selling equipment and light weapons—in the regional capital of Erbil, Omer Hussein Ahmet says demand at his store has tripled since the Islamic State advance last month.

"People from very different backgrounds are coming here," he said as one customer bought a plastic-wrapped set of desert fatigues and a shortwave radio. "Most are going to front line but others just buy it to show solidarity."

In an example of how patriotism is fueling community distrust, Mr. Ahmet said the traders at the bazaar had strict orders from the authorities not to sell to Arabs, for fear the guns or equipment could be used against Kurds.

"There are many Arab refugees here now and no one is sure if they are working for Daesh," said one customer, Halgurd Hussain, using the Arabic slang for Islamic State.

In a nearby textile bazaar, tailors and traders say Kurdish women are increasingly buying camouflage-print clothing in solidarity with male fighters or to wear on the front line themselves.

"Many ladies are having dresses or trousers made out of military material," said Ibrahim Bazaz, as customers perused rolls of brightly colored fabrics in his shop. "The war is hurting the economy but thanks to patriotism I've sold out of camouflage print and the colors of the Kurdish flag. I need to go to Dubai to buy some more."

Write to Joe Parkinson at joe.parkinson@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/articles/patrioti ... 1410304721

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Guardian

Obama to lay out plan to 'degrade and destroy' Isis threat
Mark Tran and Dan Roberts

President's strategy to 'degrade and destroy' insurgents will include military action and support for Iraq and Syrian opposition

Barack Obama will pledge on Wednesday night to "degrade and ultimately destroy" the Islamic State insurgency operating in both Syria and Iraq in an address to the American people expected to herald a significant escalation of the US military role across the region.

Though the exact extent of the anticipated US intervention in Syria remained unclear in the hours leading up to the key speech, White House officials made clear the president planned to pursue a two-pronged strategy on both sides of the border that is likely to build on existing air strikes in Iraq against the group known as Isis or Isil.

"Tonight you will hear from the president how the United States will pursue a comprehensive strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy Isil, including US military action and support for the forces combating Isil on the ground – both the opposition in Syria and a new, inclusive Iraqi government," said a senior administration official in a statement issued to reporters on Wednesday morning.

"The president will discuss how we are building a coalition of allies and partners in the region and in the broader international community to support our efforts, and will talk about how we work with the Congress as a partner in these efforts."

In contrast, Obama's failed attempt to seek congressional backing for US air strikes against Syrian government forces last year, the president is seeking to shore up support on Capitol Hill with further briefings for senators planned on Wednesday but has so far refused to give Congress a veto over his latest strategy.

Ahead of Obama's nationwide address – on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks – John Kerry, the US secretary of state, was holding urgent talks in Baghdad with the new Iraqi prime minister. Kerry was expected to press Haider al-Abadi, who was sworn in two days ago, to cede more power to the Sunni majority to bring them on side so Iraq can more effectively confront militants who control a swath of territory straddling Iraq and Syria.

The US is keen that al-Abadi, a Shia, follows through on pledges to give Sunnis more regional authority and greater control over security forces.

Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said Kerry and Iraqi government officials would "discuss how the United States can increase its support to Iraq's new government in our common effort to defeat Isil [Isis] and the threat that it poses to Iraq, the region, and the world".

US officials said al-Abadi had promised to create a national guard of local fighters to secure Iraq's 18 provinces – each run by a governor. That would ensure that the Iraqi army and its mostly Shia force would not be in charge of security in Sunni regions. That would bring salaried jobs, government pensions and other benefits to areas of Iraq neglected during al-Maliki's eight years in power and which proved fertile breeding ground for Isis.

After Iraq, Kerry will travel to Saudi Arabia, which has funded groups opposing the Syrian government. The Saudis, while supportive of the US, are fearful that aggressive action against Isis could trigger a backlash among its own Sunni extremists.

The US is working on a strategy it hopes will be ready by the start of the annual meeting of the UN general assembly in New York at the end of the month. Obama was expected to discuss US commitments in his address to the nation.

For weeks, the administration, and particularly the Pentagon, has urged Congress to approve $500m (£310.7m) in funding to train and arm Syrian rebels to fight Isis. The legislation, stuck on Capitol Hill since Obama first sought it in May, also provides both Obama and Congress with an opportunity to tacitly enlist congressional support for a war without a formal vote ahead of the November midterm elections, something many politicians this week indicated they wish to avoid.

The president's broader approach could include more wide-ranging air strikes against targets in Iraq and possibly in Syria, and hinges on military and political commitments from allies in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere. The UK has sent heavy machine guns and ammunition worth £1.6m to the Iraqi government. The US and nine other countries, including Britain, Canada and Australia, last week agreed to create a united front against Isis.

The US has already launched about 150 air strikes on Isis in Iraq over the past month at the invitation of the Iraqi government and without formal authorisation from Congress. It has also sent more than 1,200 special operations forces and "advisers" to the region, ostensibly to protect US interests in Baghdad and Irbil.

Obama has ruled out putting US combat troops on the ground, although senior military figures have argued that air strikes will be insufficient to stop Isis. Retired general Anthony Zinni has advocated the deployment of two US brigades.

Obama's speech follows weeks of discussions and intense lobbying of allies by the president at last week's Nato meeting in Wales. Some of the president's advisers are urging him to move to shake his reputation as a weak commander-in-chief who has struggled to contend with foreign conflicts from Ukraine to Gaza.

Democrats fear his failure to show leadership on international affairs could damage the party in November's midterm elections. There seems to be greater acceptance among Americans for a more aggressive military posture in the Middle East. Two polls released on Tuesday confirmed the shift in public mood following the beheading by Isis of two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

A Washington Post/ABC News survey found that 65% of Americans support air strikes against jihadists in Syria, more than double the level of backing for strikes against the Syrian regime this time last year. Meanwhile, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found 27% of registered voters would like to see the US play a more active role in world affairs – up 19% since April.

Obama is expected to stress that while the US will lead the drive to build an international coalition to meet his objective of "degrading and destroying" Isis, trusted regional allies will need to lead the on-the-ground battles against the militants.

Even as the Obama administration fine-tuned its strategy late on Tuesday, doubts are understood to have remained among administration officials, including in the Pentagon, about the wisdom of any military intervention in war-ravaged Syria.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/s ... s-strategy

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Fox News

Islamic State group: A fearsome jihadi outfit, but not an unstoppable juggernaut

The Islamic State group is often described as the most fearsome jihadi outfit of all: a global menace outweighing al-Qaida, with armies trembling before its advance.

But while the group has been successful at seizing parts of Iraq and Syria, it is no unstoppable juggernaut. Lacking the major weaponry of an established military, it wields outsize influence through the fanaticism of a hard core of several thousand, capitalizing on divisions among its rivals, and disseminating terrifying videos on social media.

President Barack Obama is outlining plans Wednesday for an expanded military and political effort to combat the group in Syria and Iraq, ushering in what is likely to be a long-term engagement by the U.S. and its allies to destroy the militants in those countries.

It is useful to remember, though, that while it is a formidable force that controls roughly a third of Iraq and Syria, there also has been an inclination to exaggerate the group's capabilities.

"I think sometimes there's been a tendency to sort of overestimate the technical sophistication of the Islamic State," said Charles Lister, visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center.

Lister, like many other analysts, said much of the power of the Islamic State group — also known by the acronyms ISIS or ISIL — lies in its centralization of command and intense loyalty within the organization.

That distinguishes the group from others, which are overstretched by years of conflict. In the case of the Syrian rebels, there are deep divisions that have hampered their cause.

Militants from the Islamic State group have waged an aggressive social media campaign. They have released statements with detailed information on conquests and battles, and posted high-quality videos that often provide visual proof of their activities in regions that have suffered a media vacuum recently as the risks have become too great for journalists.

In Syria, two American journalists were beheaded by the group in the past month. The killings, posted on militant websites, were shot in high definition, featured embedded soundbites from Obama, and used wireless microphones to amplify statements from the masked, English-speaking militant and his victims.

According to a senior Iraqi intelligence official, more than 27,600 Islamic State fighters are believed to be operating in Iraq, about 2,600 of whom are foreigners.

Most analysts, however, estimate the number of Islamic State fighters in both Iraq and Syria to be about 20,000.

In any case, the group is dwarfed by its foes in the Syrian and Iraqi armies — both in numbers and firepower.

The Iraqi military and police force are estimated at more than 1 million. The Syrian army is estimated at 300,000 soldiers. There are believed to be more than 100,000 Syrian rebels, including the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and the powerful Islamic Front rebel umbrella group, currently fighting the Islamic State group in Syria. Tens of thousands of Kurdish Peshmerga forces are fighting the group in Iraq.

The Islamic State group's greatest shortcoming is that it lacks the means to fight airpower, meaning that U.S. airstrikes can go a long way in destroying its capabilities.

Still, the Islamic State group has amassed a significant amount of weapons and hardware captured from Iraqi and Syrian military installations in recent months.

The Iraqi official, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to brief the media, told The Associated Press that the group's arsenal includes Kalashnikovs, machine guns, anti-aircraft guns and mortars, adding that they also have about 35 Iraqi military tanks, about 80 armored police vehicles and hundreds of Humvees.

In addition to those, the group earlier this year paraded in its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa what appeared to be a Scud missile, although it is unclear if the group has the capability to launch it.

Richard Brennan, an Iraq expert with RAND Corporation and a former U.S. Department of Defense policymaker, said the Islamic State group has captured 155mm howitzers — artillery weapons the Iraqi army commanded. It also captured some old Soviet-era tanks. They also seized some heavy weapons, including 50-caliber machine guns.

The group has a few MiG 21s captured when it overran the Syrian army's air base in Tabqa last month. Analysts say it is extremely unlikely that they could get any of them off the ground at this point.

"It's a very nice thing for them to be able to show in the video. But for now, we're unlikely to see an Islamic State air force anytime soon, or even just one working jet," Lister said.

A study released this week by the London-based Conflict Armament Research said Islamic State group fighters have also amassed weapons supplied by the U.S. and other allied countries, including anti-tank rockets, by overrunning stocks belonging to mainstream Syrian rebels.

Theodore Karasik, a security and political affairs analyst at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, estimated the Islamic State can claim about 20,000 core fighters, and up to 30,000, if allied Sunni tribesman are included.

Islamic State militants have shown the ability to operate commercially available drones, such as one that provided video over Islamic State group-occupied Fallujah.

Perhaps just as important as what the group has acquired is its technical know-how, according to Karasik.

"The main fact is they are very smart and they probably read every manual that the U.S. has put out on air doctrine and special operations doctrine, so they know what's coming," he said.

Among the group's most significant capabilities to emerge in the last six weeks or so, Lister said, has been the group's ability to deploy artillery.

The group has acquired M46 130mm field cannons from bases overrun recently in Syria's Raqqa province. These weapons add to the U.S. M198 howitzers the group captured in Iraq.

"Those are quite significant in terms of adding to the organization's ability to bombard targets before they assault, and that does appear to have been fairly significant in terms of at least weakening a target before launching a ground assault," he said.

A recent report published by the Institute for the Study of War described the Islamic State group as "an institution comprised of many layers of tactical, operational, and strategic capability, and it is expertly led."

"ISIS has a critical capability to design military campaigns that outmatch those of rival militaries in Iraq and Syria, but those military strategies can be overmatched by U.S. strategists, planners and advisers," it added.

Salama reported from Baghdad. Associated Press writers Ryan Lucas in Beirut, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Adam Schreck in Dubai contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/09/10 ... uggernaut/

[Anthea]

Bloomberg

Islamic State Talked of Entering U.S. Through Mexico
By Nicole Gaouette

Islamic State extremists have discussed infiltrating the U.S. through its southern border with Mexico, a U.S. official said.

Francis Taylor, under secretary for intelligence and analysis at the Department of Homeland Security, told a Senate committee today that the Sunni militants have been tracked discussing the idea on social-media sites such as Twitter Inc. (TWTR)

“There have been Twitter and social-media exchanges among ISIL adherents across the globe speaking about that as a possibility,” Taylor said. Islamic State is also known by the acronyms ISIL and ISIS. Referring to the 1,933-mile (3,110-kilometer) boundary with Mexico, Taylor said he was “satisfied that we have the intelligence and the capability at our border that would prevent that activity.”

Taylor’s comments before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee came hours before President Barack Obama is to outline in a speech plans to expand the U.S. offensive against Islamic State. Steps under consideration include blocking foreign fighters from entering Syria and Iraq, delivering more aid to moderate factions among Syrian rebels, and expanding air strikes to Islamic State targets in Syria.

Taylor said the security of the U.S.’s southwest border remains a high concern for his department, and that Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has ordered “a comprehensive southern border security strategy that will include national security risks to border.”

Nothing ‘Active’

Officials testifying before the committee said that Islamic State poses the greatest threat to U.S. interests in Iraq and within the region. At the moment, Islamic State’s ability to develop significant, large-scale attacks diminishes with distance from Syria and Iraq, said Nicholas Rasmussen, deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

“We do not assess right now they have the capability to mount an effective large-scale attack on the United States,” Rasmussen said.

Islamic State’s sweep across Iraq and a campaign of terror that has included the beheading of two U.S. journalists have galvanized fears among Americans of a rising terrorist threat and stirred demands from lawmakers that Obama articulate a plan for dealing with the issue.

Sixty-five percent of Americans back bombing strikes against the extremists in Syria, more than double the level of support from a year ago, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released yesterday.

Jewish Museum

Islamic State members have surfaced in Europe -- specifically in a shooting that killed four people at a Jewish museum in Brussels and through arrests in Paris -- “a clear indication of ISIL’s ambition to operate outside the Middle East,” Rasmussen said. If the group is left to grow, that threat will only increase, he said.

“Left unchecked, ISIL poses a threat to all governments it considers apostate,” Rasmussen said, adding that the group’s targets would include governments in Europe, the U.S., Africa and the Middle East.

Lawmakers concentrated on the threat posed by foreign fighters who join Islamic State, either Americans or Europeans who wouldn’t need a visa to enter the United States.

Rasmussen estimated that “over 100 persons from a wide variety of backgrounds have attempted to travel to the region” from the U.S. to fight alongside extremist groups active in Iraq and Syria.

‘Looking to Join’

Many go “simply looking to join the fight” and engage with extremist elements, not necessarily searching to join Islamic State in particular, Rasmussen said. “Where they end up actually affiliating plays out over time,” he said.

Rasmussen said the estimate of 100 people included individuals who show intent to travel but haven’t left the U.S. as well as those who remain there, have been killed and who have returned.

One wild card will be U.S. citizens who may be radicalized through the Internet and decide to take up arms here, Rasmussen said.

“We can’t account for homegrown terrorists,” Rasmussen said, “people who might self-affiliate.”

If there is any good news, Rasmussen said, it is the “aggressive information-sharing with all of our partners who have the same problem.” This has given the U.S. and Europe “a significant leg up” in attempts “to disrupt travel when these individuals attempt to leave Iraq,” he said.

Gathering data on Islamic State and other extremists groups has become more difficult since disclosures by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, Rasmussen said, as intelligence agencies have seen terrorists change their methods and means of communication to avoid detection.

Those changes “frustrate our counterterrorism efforts,” he said. “We cannot connect the dots if we cannot collect the dots.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Nicole Gaouette in Washington at ngaouette@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net Larry Liebert, Stephanie Stoughton

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-1 ... exico.html

[Anthea]

Guardian

How Obama can really defeat Isis in Syria, Iraq and beyond

Forget the talking points – we asked commanding officers for battle plans

How to dismantle Isis, by Ret Adm James G Stavridis

Goals: know the resources, but don’t blink

To contain Isis, you must understand its resources – of fighters and ammunition, fuel and financial support – that allow Isis to flourish. Then, cut those off, essentially turning the organization inside-out to kill it. But you must put safeguards must in place to ensure the fire does not, in effect, re-flash the moment you look away.

Strategies: a three-front war to degrade resources, then western on-the-ground troops to re-train Iraqis ... and an anti-gang future

Short-term: Isis has enjoyed the interior or central position thus far, allowing it to move a relatively small number of fighters – to the north to attack the Kurds, to the south to threaten Baghdad, or to the west for relief and resupply in Syria. It is an advantage at the moment, but it will become a disadvantage when Isis faced with a three-front war: rearmed Kurds pressing from the north, reinvigorated Iraqi Security Forces from the south, plus heavy bombing while the militants are trying to get to open desert in the west. Western special forces, ammunition, fuel, intelligence and cyber operations will all be key.

Medium-term: A powerful addition would be a western force, of around 10,000 troops on the ground in Iraq and specialized in training, advising, mentoring and quick reaction. This would effectively put back in place the training mission rejected by the Iraqis several years ago. It’s also crucial to go after Isis funding streams. And there must be a significant cyber component that degrades and denies Isis’ ability to use the internet for propaganda, recruiting, command and control, and offensive actions.

Long-term: It can be helpful to install strategic communication that emphasizes the utter inhumanity, anti-Islamic actions and brutal behavior of Isis. This could be coupled with development, jobs, education and opportunities for young men who currently see Isis as a better path – they’re essentially anti-gang techniques already used in many urban areas, but they work.

Outcomes:

Restore a functioning, multi-religious / ethnic government in Baghdad
Retrain effective Iraqi Security Forces
Strengthen the Kurdish Peshmurga
Kill Isis leadership
Root out Isis and its inhumanity

What the pundits are missing: airstrikes aren’t enough

Bombing just won’t be sufficient. Isis demands a western force on the ground, roughly along the lines of what is envisioned in Afghanistan – and what we already discussed with the Iraqi government. The ground forces would not start at 10,000-15,000 troops, of course, but the number could built up to that many over many months; they would most certainly be trainers, mentors and logisticians – but some would have to be special forces, combat aviators and quick-reaction combat forces. And the Sunni-Shia conflict driving so much of this is not unlike the Wars of the Reformation– those took a century to conclude ... and still sputter along in Northern Island three centuries later. This is going to take a long time.

James Stavridis is dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is a retired US Navy admiral and served as Nato’s supreme allied commander for Europe.

Yes, you can really defeat Isis, by Ret Lt Gen Michael D Barbero

Goals: a key political ingredient with the necessary military ingredients

For any strategy, you must incentivize the Sunni population in Iraq to expel Isis from the occupied areas. This means allowing Sunnis to perceive representation in the new government in Baghdad and trying to remove the threat of Isis from occupied Sunni areas. You must have both the political and military.

Strategies: arm Iraqis and Kurds, keep up the airstrikes and choke off external Isis funding

Short-term: Increase airstrikes to attack the entire Isis structure, including Syria. But you have to accompany this with immediate support – and arms – for Iraqi Security Forces and Kurdish forces, so that they can execute ground operations to dislodge Isis control.

Medium-term: Continue airstrikes on high-value targets and the Isis support network in Syria. But don’t forget to build up and keep supporting the capabilities of Iraqi and Kurdish security force to further defeat Isis and secure Iraqi territory.

Long-term: Build a coalition of regional allies to directly support military operations. But don’t forget to build an international coalition to cut off external Isis support such as funding and foreign-fighter flow.

Outcomes:

Defeat Isis. (Yes, it’s possible.)
Build up Iraqi and Kurdish security forces
Defend the integrity of Iraq

What the pundits are missing: time waits for no one

The more time passes, the more Isis benefits. The longer we wait, the more we fail to support Iraqi security forces and Kurdish forces – when they could be conducting offensive operations against Isis. We can’t just complain about Isis, because they’re only becoming stronger and more entrenched by the day.

Michael D Barbero is a retired US Army lieutenant general. He also served as director of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO).

A real coalition of the willing, by Ret Maj Gen Paul D Eaton

Goals: don’t degrade and destroy without diplomacy

The disrupt-and-defeat phase may be coming, but the US would be foolish not to apply our diplomatic, economic and military power simultaneously. This means developing a a coalition to deploy joint ground forces – to encircle Isis and reduce it territorial control. This means filling the vacuum with help from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iraqi, Iran and Jordan. And it means isolating Isis, denying access to the international banking system while ID-ing its donors – and punishing them. We can provide airspace management over Iraq and Syria, but it’s not just our military might.

Strategies: make Isis cash-only, storm the ground with a coalition and empower Sunni leaders

Short-term: Air strikes into both Iraq and Syria are required, with tacit Syrian government approval or acceptance, but all electronic communications from Isis must be denied or allowed and intercepted – with an emphasis on social media and a shutdown of all electronic access to funds, effectively reducing Isis to a cash-only entity.

Medium-term: A coalition ground-force assault on Isis territory – enabled by air forces, intelligence, surveillance, reconaissance and logistics, but including special-ops raids – must disrupt Isis command. But simultaneous assaults on the Isis perimeter could reduce controlled territory while installing moderate governance.

Long-term: The defeat of Isis is a political shaping exercise – you find moderate Sunni leaders, empower and install them in Syria and Iraq. (It sounds all too easy, so the US will have to think more carefully than ever about its commitment to democracy by way of self-determination.) But as you encourage the Syrian government to “do no harm” within its borders, the Turks – by virtue of their geo-political position – are ideally suited to take the lead.

Outcomes:

Establish Turkey as a true regional power: even though it already is strong, and the Kurds are key, the region needs a moderate leader that is not just America

Offset Iranian influence – not easy while attacking Iran’s mutual Isis foe, but not impossible

Stabilize Iraq into a loose federation of empowered Sunnis and Kurds, and a more tolerant Shi’a population

Force Syria to accept a political solution – because it came from a coalition, not just the US

What the pundits are missing: everything

The media has observed. Congress has surrendered decision-making to the executive branch – sitting on the sidelines, carping and whining. We must demand an articulate mission statement before we again embark on warfare. We must demand an endgame that addresses failed assumptions and avoids sequels. President Obama can deliver that, just not in one speech.

Paul D Eaton is a senior advisor to the National Security Network and a retired US Army major general. He commanded operations to train Iraqi troops during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... q-generals

[Anthea]

PUK Media

Army Aviation shells ISIL hideouts in Bagdad

A security source announced on Wednesday September 10th, that army aviation shelled a number of hideouts belonging to the ISIL insurgents in South of the capital Baghdad.

A spokesman for the Baghdad Operations Command, Brigadier General Saad Maan in a statement told PUKmedia that army aviation in cooperation with the Baghdad Operations Command shelled ISIL hideouts, the shelling resulted in killing several of ISIL insurgents in Al- Shekh Amir, South of Baghdad.

http://www.pukmedia.com/EN/EN_Direje.aspx?Jimare=21587

[Anthea]

PUK Media

76 civilians killed and woundedin Baghdad

A spokesman for the Baghdad Operations Brigadier General Saad Maan announced on Wednesday, that two car bombs exploded in the east of the capital Baghdad.

In a statement Brigadier Maan said that two car bombs exploded in the Baghdad Al- Jadida, the explosion resulted in the killing 16 people and wounding 60 others.

http://www.pukmedia.com/EN/EN_Direje.aspx?Jimare=21585

[Anthea]

Sky News

Blasts kill 19 as Kerry visits Baghdad

Bomb attacks have killed 19 people in Baghdad as US Secretary of State John Kerry visited the Iraqi capital for talks on combatting jihadists, officials say.

They said a suicide car bombing followed by a car bomb struck near a police checkpoint in a crowded area of eastern Baghdad on Wednesday, also wounding at least 52 people.

At least two of the dead were policemen.

There was no immediate claim for the attack but suicide bombings are a hallmark of Sunni extremists, including those from the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

IS-led militants overran swathes of Iraq in June, and security forces, Shi'ite militias and Kurdish fighters have been battling to regain ground.

The US began an air campaign against IS in Iraq on August 8, mainly in support of Kurdish forces in the north, though American warplanes have also carried out limited strikes in Salaheddin and Anbar provinces.

Kerry's previously unannounced visit in Baghdad was the first stop on a regional tour to build support for a new US strategy, which he has said will only work with the backing of the "broadest possible coalition of partners around the globe."

http://www.skynews.com.au/news/world/mi ... ghdad.html

Anthea: details are only just being released - but makes us realise that the Islamic State has people who are prepared to take action even during a period of extra high security such as Kerry's visit

[Anthea]

BBC News US & Canada

Islamic State crisis: Speech Obama hoped to avoid
By Jon Sopel

Sometimes a president is defined by what he stands for. Sometimes a president is defined by what he doesn't.

In the field of foreign policy and military action, it feels as though the 44th president of the US is defined by what he isn't.

Barack Obama came to power pledging to bring American troops home from foreign conflicts. He said last year that Syria had crossed a red line but then did nothing.

This is a man who does not want to be a war leader. Bellicose is not a word that attaches to Mr Obama. And you can imagine that the address he gave the American people from the State Floor of the White House was something he had been desperately hoping to avoid.

So it was not surprising that in the first paragraph of his speech he made a point of talking about the 140,000 troops that had been brought back from Iraq and the drawing down of forces in Afghanistan.

But then he had to deal with the unpalatable situation that he now finds, and so for the first time Islamic State (IS)targets on the ground in Syria will be in the crosshairs of American pilots.

The president in his address told the American people, "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 [IS] in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency: if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven."

But he was equally emphatic that the combat on the ground would happen without US troops. Instead, the US will ramp up its military assistance to the Syrian opposition, and he called on Washington lawmakers to find the means to make this happen: "I again call on Congress to give us additional authorities and resources to train and equip these fighters. In the fight against [IS], we cannot rely on an Assad regime that terrorises its people; a regime that will never regain the legitimacy it has lost."

The Syrian opposition, he insisted, would be the best counterweight to Islamic State.

But the president was also at pains to express what this was not. There would be no American boots on the ground.

"We will not get dragged into another ground war," the president insisted.

"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 counter-terrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out [IS] wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground."

To put this in management consultant speak, America is outsourcing the ground offensive to local forces, thereby minimising the risk of American casualties.

He said that the US would lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat - but underlined that America would not be acting 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," he said.

When Mr Obama came to power, he led a nation that had grown weary of the drawn-out conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He rode a popular wave and even at the beginning of this year when he gave his State of the Union address that was still a major theme. America needed to avoid "open-ended conflicts", to "give diplomacy a chance to succeed". He pledged to put an end to the United States on a "permanent war footing".

But something changed with the beheading of those two American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

American public opinion shifted quickly. To change the metaphor from surfing to curves, the president now found himself well behind the curve. He talked about containing Islamic State.

The American people demanded action. Two weeks ago he said he had no strategy. The American people told him to go and get one.

Opinion polls came up with two interesting findings. One, the American public wanted military action - a very different situation from a year ago. And secondly, they felt the president had been too cautious, and his approval ratings on foreign affairs slumped.

And so to the address to the nation. Action is going to start, who knows when it will be "mission accomplished', as President George W Bush famously and inaccurately declared over Iraq.

One other instructive comparison between those two presidents. Mr Bush characterised the start of the invasion of Iraq as "shock and awe". This president merely promises "steady and relentless".

All the American people care about is that the threat is dealt with. And - maybe reluctantly - that is the task the president is now undertaking.

Link to Article and Videos:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29152592

[Anthea]

BBC News US & Canada

Islamic state crisis: Key quotes from Obama

US President Barack Obama has pressed his case to the American people about his plan to escalate US military action against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

IS controls large parts of Syria and Iraq and its fighters have become notorious for their brutality, beheading enemy soldiers and Western journalists on video.

Here are the key quotes from Mr Obama's 15-minute address from the White House. He uses the term "Isil" to refer to IS.

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.

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.

Our objective is clear: We will degrade and ultimately destroy [IS] through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy.

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.

We will send an additional 475 service members 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Link to Article and Videos:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29152590