(11 Sep 2014) President Obama appealed to Congress and the nation for their support as he ordered the United States into a broad military campaign to destroy Islamic State Militants.
In an address to the nation Wednesday night, Obama also announced he was dispatching nearly 500 more U.S. troops to Iraq to assist that country's besieged security forces.
And he called on Congress to authorize a program to train and arm rebels in Syria who are fighting both the Islamic State group and Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Saudi Arabia, a crucial U.S. ally in the Middle East, offered to host the training missions, part of Obama's effort to persuade other nations to join with the U.S. in confronting the militants.
The president adamantly ruled out the prospect of putting American troops in combat roles on the ground in Iraq or Syria.
While administration officials have said they are not aware of a credible threat of a potential attack by the militants in the U.S., they say the Islamic State group poses risks to Americans and interests in the region.
Officials are also concerned about the prospect that Westerners, including Americans, who have joined the militant group could return to their home countries to launch attacks.
In recent weeks, the militants have released videos depicting the beheading of two American journalists in Syria.
The violent images appear to have had an impact on a formerly war-weary public, with multiple polls in recent days showing that the majority of Americans support airstrikes in both Iraq and Syria.
The U.S. began launching limited airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq earlier this summer.
But officials said Obama was waiting for Iraq to form a new government _ a step it took Tuesday _ before broadening the effort.
Officials said strikes in Iraq would now be wide-ranging and extend into Syria.
Obama plans to proceed with those actions without seeking new authorization from Congress.
Instead, officials said Obama will act under a use of force authorization Congress passed in the days after 9/11 to give President George W. Bush the ability to go after those who perpetrated the terror attacks.
Obama has previously called for that authorization to be repealed, he has also used the measure as a rationale to take strikes against terror targets in Yemen and Somalia.
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