U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power predicted on Sunday that the United States would not carry out airstrikes in Syria alone and suggested that some nations have already indicated they would participate in striking Syria, despite the current lack of public support.
When asked if the administration had "any indication yet" that other nations would join the United States in launching airstrike in Syria, Power told CBS’s Bob Schieffer, "We do, Bob, but we’re going to leave it to other nations to announce for themselves what their specific commitments to the coalition are going to be."
"The president has said we are not going to allow ISIL to have a safe haven in Syria, but no decisions have been made in terms of how we’re going to proceed in that. In terms of the broader anti-ISIL coalition, we do indeed have the support along the lines that I’ve described," Power added.
Last week, Congress passed the president’s $500 million proposal to arm and train Syrian rebels. Airstrikes are expected to be the next step, but to date no other nation has officially signaled that they will join in the efforts.
"There is universal support, I think, for degrading and destroying this group," Power told ABC’s This Week.
"I will make you a prediction," Power continued, "which is that we will not do the airstrikes alone, if the president decides to do the airstrikes."
Power pushed back on criticisms that the administration’s proposed strategy, at large, is tepid and will be too little to destroy the terrorist group.
"The president is relying on military advice from [Joint Chiefs] Chairman Dempsey and from [Defense] Secretary Hagel. They believe that the strategy the president has laid out can be successful in degrading and destroying ISIL. And there are troops on the ground, there are Iraqi troops, there are Kurdish troops, there are Syrian troops who have been fighting ISIL at great expense and great sacrifice; fighting on two fronts, fighting ISIL on the one hand and the regime on the other. We think, again, the strategy can succeed," Power said.
Others, such as former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, are less sure.
Gates made news on Wednesday, when he told CBS the United States could not defeat ISIS without boots on the ground. He reiterated that position on Sunday, appearing on ABC’s This Week immediately after Power.
"[Obama] is right that the primary ground action here has to be by the Iraqis, the Kurds, and the Sunnis in North and Western Iraq. What I believe and what I suspect most military people believe is that given the mission the president has assigned, which is degrade and destroy, that to be able to do that, some small number of American advisers, trainers, Special Forces, and forward spotters, forward air controllers, are going to have to be in harm's way. And I think that the number will be very small," said Gates.
In her defense of the administration’s strategy, Power pointed to public support.
"The strategy that the president has laid out has the overwhelming support of the American people, even after ten years of war."
However, a recent poll from CBS News/New York Times found that 57 percent of Americans "don't think Mr. Obama is being tough enough in dealing with ISIS militants."