President Barack Obama on Sunday outlined a proposal to deal with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS or ISIL) and announced his intention to address the nation on Wednesday.
"What I have done over the last several months is first and foremost make sure that we've got eyes on the problem, that we shifted resources, intelligence, reconnaissance. We did an assessment on the ground. The second step was to make sure that we protected American personnel, our embassies, our consulates. That included taking airstrikes to ensure that towns like Irbil were not overrun, critical infrastructure like the Mosul Dam was protected, and that we were able to engage in key humanitarian assistant programs that have saved lives," said Obama on NBC’s Meet the Press.
"The next phase is now to start going on some offense. We have to get an Iraqi government in place. I’m optimistic that next week we should be able to get that done, and I will then meet with congressional leaders on Tuesday. On Wednesday I'll make a speech and describe what our game plans are going to be going forward."
Obama hinted at what his latest proposal will entail and emphasized that it would not merely seek to "blunt" the expansion of ISIS, but he offered little in the way of details.
"We are going to be as part of an international coalition carrying out airstrikes in support of work on the ground by Iraqi troops, Kurdish troops. We are going to be helping to put together a plan for them so that they can start retaking territory that ISIL had taken over. What I want people to understand, though, is that over the course of months, we are going to be able to not just blunt the momentum of ISIL, we are going to systematically degrade their capabilities. We're going to shrink the territory they control, and ultimately, we're going to defeat them."
While he reiterated the threat of the group, Obama said there was not any "immediate" indication of threats to the United States at home.
"I want everybody to understand that we have not seen any immediate intelligence about threats to the homeland from ISIL. That's not what this is about. What it's about is an organization that if allowed to control significant amounts of territory, to amass more resources, more arms, to attract more foreign fighters including from areas like Europe, Europeans who have visas and then can travel to the United States unimpeded, that over time that can be a serious threat to the homeland … and it's going to require some resources, I suspect, above what we are currently doing."
In part, because of the expectation of additional resources, Obama said he would continue to consult with Congress.
"I'm confident that I’ve got the authorization I need to protect the American people," he explained, "but I do think it's important for Congress to understand what the plan is, to have buy in, to debate it."
The president said Wednesday’s address would not "be an announcement about U.S. ground troops." Rather, it would be an effort to ensure the American people understand the threat and have confidence that it will be dealt with.
"This is not the equivalent of the Iraq War. What this is, is similar to the kinds of counter-terrorism campaigns that we've been engaging in consistently over the last five, six, seven years, and the good news is that because of American leadership, we have, I believe, a broad-based coalition internationally and regionally to be able to deal with the problem."
"More than anything, I just want the American people to understand the nature of the threat and how we're going to deal with it and to have confidence we'll be able to deal with it."
Former GOP presidential nominee Gov. Mitt Romney criticized the president’s worldview as naïve on Fox News Sunday.
"The president is really out of touch with reality when it comes to what's happening in the world," Romney said.
"He looked at Russia and thought that was a friend we should reset relations with. He looked at al Qaeda and said ‘they're on the run.’ He looked at ISIS and said, ‘oh, they're just the junior varsity.’ He looks at Iraq and says ‘hey, they're strong and able to care for themselves.’"
Romney contented that the problems facing the world and the United States are broader than ISIL, and perhaps the result of the current administration’s "political philosophy" or "foreign policy worldview."
"[Obama’s] view is that instead of having a strong American military that’s able to keep other nations in check that we ought to instead put in place a policy based on what he calls common humanity. Well humanity is not common in its views. What one people call evil another people call good," said Romney.
The result, Romney maintained, is that Obama "hasn't taken the action necessary to prevent very bad things from happening."
"A strong America that stands up for its beliefs is an America able to defend itself, and to defend our principles around the world, but when America is seen, and the president is seen, as being weak, bad people do bad things, and you're seeing that all across the Middle East. You're seeing that as well in other parts of the world, including of course Afghanistan [and] Ukraine. It's a real tragedy."