President Obama admitted that while the terrorist group calls itself ‘Islamic State,’ it is not Islamic as “no religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL's victims have been Muslim.”
Barack Obama called the terrorist organization a threat to the United States and its allies, whose goal is to slaughter anyone standing in its way, and vowed the US would confront ISIL with strength and resolve.
Obama described his strategy as having four steps with the objective of degrading and ultimately destroying ISIL.
The first step includes ‘systematic campaign of airstrikes’ in cooperation with Iraqi government. In the second step of the strategy, “we will send an additional 475 service members to Iraq to support Iraqi and Kurdish security forces,” Obama said and stressed that “these American forces will not have a combat mission.”
“Working with our partners, we will redouble our efforts to cut off its funding, counter its warped ideology, improve our intelligence, strengthen our defenses, and stem the flow of foreign fighters into and out of the Middle East,” said US president regarding third step in his new strategy.
By the last phase of the strategy, the US will continue to “provide humanitarian assistance to the innocent civilians displaced by this terrorism organization,” elaborated Obama.
Obama also recounted that American forces have already conducted 150 airstrikes over the past month in Iraq to protect American personnel and facilities.
During last several months, Islamic State of Irag and the Levant (ISIL, aka ISIS or IS) has captured parts of Iraq and Syria and brutally massacred many innocent people. While the group was backed by the United States and the west when fighting against Assad in Syria, now the western states are considering it as a threat.
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