US troops may target ISIS/ISIL heads

President Barack Obama said he would not flinch from sending US special forces to kill Islamic State (IS) leaders, as he called for Congress to authorize military operations that stop short of a full-scale invasion...

Tantamount to a declaration of war, Obama on Wednesday asked lawmakers for formal authority to take the fight to IS, beyond their current footholds in Syria and Iraq if necessary.

"Our coalition is on the offensive," Obama said, adding IS is "on the ­defensive" and is "going to lose."

Since August 2014, the US ­military - along with allies - has been conducting a campaign of air strikes against IS in Iraq and Syria.

Obama has promised to back up the strikes with targeted covert ground-based attacks if they are deemed necessary.

"If we had actionable intelligence about a gathering of [IS] leaders, and our partners didn't have the capacity to get them, I would be prepared to order our special forces to take action," Obama said.

"I will not allow these terrorists to have a safe haven."

The request signals a ramping up of pressure on IS as the Iraqi government prepares for a major ground offensive, expected within months.

It would also provide a firmer legal basis to prosecute a months-old military campaign and provide political cover at home.

With the death of US hostage Kayla Mueller and the killing of three other US hostages, Obama has been under pressure to re-examine his strategy.

In order to win the backing of the Republican-controlled Congress and overcome jitters within his own Democratic party, Obama placed limits on his power to deploy the military in both form and scope.

The proposed legislation does not authorize "enduring offensive ground combat operations," according to a draft sent to Congress.

The authorization would also "terminate three years after the date of the enactment of this joint resolution, unless reauthorized."

Obama will also have to report to Congress every six months.

But those limitations were not enough to assuage the concerns of the longest-serving Democratic senator, Patrick Leahy, and others.

With bitter arguments over previous wars still seared in US political memory, Obama was quick to make clear this would not be a sequel to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Obama said he had no intention to see the United States getting "dragged back into another prolonged ground war in the Middle East."
AFP
 globaltimes.cn
12-13/2/15
--
-
Related:

• Obama's new security strategy stresses 'collective action'

• US denies 'coordinating' Syria air strikes with Assad ...

• 20,000 foreign fighters head to Syria 

• Assad: We Can’t Be in Alliance with Countries That Support Terrorism

• Obama seeks war authorization from Congress to fight ISIS

US President Barack Obama sent Congress his text today for an authorization to use military force in the campaign against Islamic State, limiting operations against the militants to three years and barring use of US troops in "enduring offensive ground combat."
According to the text, Obama also wants to repeal the 2002 measure that authorized the Iraq war. But his proposal leaves in place a 2001 authorization, passed shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, for a campaign against al Qaeda and its affiliates. Obama said he remained committed to working with Congress to "refine, and ultimately repeal" the 2001 AUMF. He said enacting a measure specific to the campaign against Islamic State fighters could serve as a model for revamping the 2001 measure. "I have directed a comprehensive and sustained strategy to degrade and defeat ISIL," Obama wrote in a letter accompanying the draft, using an acronym for the Islamist militant group....................http://elepiloges.blogspot.gr/2015/02/obama-seeks-war-authorization-from.html
11/2/15