Obama’s Plan for ISIS

On Wednesday, September 10, President Barack Obama addressed the issue of ISIS in a 15-minute speech held in the White House. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, otherwise known as ISIS, has gained recent publicity following video footage of the beheadings of journalists sent to that region. However, many suspect that the beheadings are just the start of something larger and more threatening to the United States and other countries involved. President Obama wants to have global cooperation with the efforts to eradicate ISIS. “This is a core principle of my presidency,” Obama states. “If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.” President Obama’s plan begins with cooperation between the United States and the Middle East. Syrian rebels will be trained in a base in Saudi Arabia. In addition to the rebels, the number of American troops will once again increase in the Middle East, this time going up to 1600. Also, airstrikes against suspected ISIS areas in Syria will be acted out. Because of the advance in military involvement, many worry that the actions enacted in Syria will escalate into yet another Middle Eastern war. However, Obama claims that this is not so. He states that airstrikes against terrorists in the past have been carried out without full-blown war, and that this mission will “be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; it will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil.” Read more about it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/world/middleeast/obama-speech-isis.html?_r=1