Obama says he has authority for militant campaign

[FOR AAS — note change to CT]

OBAMA’S SPEECH

President Barack Obama is scheduled to lay out his plan for confronting the Islamic State in a televised speech at 8 tonight. All major broadcast and cable news networks are planning to provide live coverage.

DEVELOPMENTS

• The U.S. military said it launched five more airstrikes late Monday and early Tuesday in support of Iraqi government troops and Sunni tribesmen protecting the Haditha Dam against fighters of the Islamic State. Central Command said a combination of U.S. attack, fighter and drone aircraft destroyed or damaged eight armed vehicles, two of which were transporting anti-aircraft artillery near the dam.

• The Iraqi government whose advent Obama administration officials hailed Monday as “a major milestone” in the country’s push to confront the Islamic State got off to a rocky start Tuesday with the refusal by members of the Kurdish minority to take up their posts. The goal of establishing a new government was to get rid of previous Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a divisive Shiite partisan, and give Sunnis and the Kurds — Iraq’s two major minorities — more say in the government. But the Kurds in Parliament said the process was so rushed they had no opportunity to make their concerns heard, and although new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi named several Kurds to senior posts, they were not sworn in and did not attend the scheduled first meeting of the government Tuesday.

• On the eve of President Barack Obama’s address to the nation about plans for an escalation of military action in Iraq, former Vice President Dick Cheney went to Capitol Hill Tuesday to urge House Republicans to embrace a strong military and reject rising isolationism in his party. Cheney was among the chief proponents of President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, and not all Republicans were enthusiastic about his message. “Constituents in my district are very war weary, and I’m war weary,” said Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, adding that to win his vote to authorize more military action, Obama will have “to convince me that he has an exit strategy and that when we’re done with this third war in the Middle East, we’ll be better off than we were before the third war in the Middle East, financially and politically.”

— From news services

President Barack Obama told congressional leaders Tuesday he has the authority he needs to launch a broader military campaign to root out violent extremists in Iraq and Syria, a day before outlining his plans to the American people in a prime-time address.

The White House said the president told lawmakers he still would welcome action from Congress that “would aid the overall effort and demonstrate to the world that the United States is united in defeating the threat from ISIL.” That could take the form of specific authorization to fund counterterrorism efforts, as well as to train and equip more moderate elements of the opposition to the Bashar Assad government in Syria.

The president’s broader strategy to confront the Islamic State militants may also include more wide-ranging airstrikes against targets in Iraq and possibly in Syria. Obama has also sought military and political commitments from nation in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere.

“The president believes this is a high national security priority,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

For Obama, a sustained U.S. intervention in the Middle East is at odds with the vision he had for the region when he ran for president on a pledge to end the war in Iraq, from which he withdrew American fighting forces nearly three years ago. The timing of his announcement tonight is all the more striking, with hid address to the nation scheduled just hours before anniversary commemorations of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that drew the U.S. into war in Afghanistan and, later, Iraq.

Even before Obama’s meeting with Senate and House leaders, some lawmakers had suggested a congressional vote on the president’s plans was unlikely before the midterm elections in November.

“As a practical matter, I don’t really see the time that it would take to really get this out and have a full debate and discuss all the issues,” said Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

However, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Obama should seek congressional approval for whatever he has decided to do.

“I think it is to his advantage and the country’s advantage to have Congress buy into that,” McConnell said before joining other Republican and Democratic leaders in the Oval Office for a Tuesday afternoon meeting with Obama that lasted just over an hour.

None of the leaders spoke to reporters as they left the White House. However, an aide to House Speaker John Boehner said he expressed support for efforts to increase the effectiveness of the Iraqi security forces and for equipping the Syrian opposition. Boehner also said he would support the deployment of U.S. military personnel to Iraq in a training and advisory role and to “assist with lethal targeting” of Islamic State leadership, according to the aide, who spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Beyond authorizing military force, Congress could show its support for a broader mission by authorizing two initiatives Obama outlined earlier this year: $5 billion to fund counterterrorism missions and $500 million for arming and training Western-backed Syrian rebels.

The U.S. is already launching airstrikes against Islamic State targets inside Iraq, a mission undertaken at the invitation of the Iraqi government and without formal authorization from Congress. But Obama has said the scope of the mission is limited to strikes that help protect American interests in the region and prevent humanitarian crises.

U.S. officials say Obama is expected to loosen those limitations and open a broader counterterrorism campaign against the militants in Iraq. And following the group’s shocking beheading of two American journalists in Syria, Obama began more seriously considering extending strikes into its strongholds in Syria.

People who have spoken with Obama in recent days said it appeared likely he would take that step. At a private dinner Monday night with foreign policy experts, Obama emphasized the importance of viewing the Islamic State as one organization, not two groups separated by a border.

However, Obama has continued to rule out sending U.S. troops into ground combat operations in the Middle East.

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Extending airstrikes into Syria would raise legal and geopolitical issues that Obama has long sought to avoid, particularly without formal congressional authorization.

Unlike in Iraq, Obama would not be acting at the invitation of a host government. However, some international law experts say airstrikes could be justified as a matter of self-defense if Obama argues the Islamic State poses a threat to the U.S. and its allies from inside Syria, whose government is unwilling or unable to stop it.

Another possibility: Although the U.S. has said it will not coordinate with Syrian President Assad, whose removal Obama advocates, Assad’s government could give back-channel consent to American strikes. The U.S. has a similar arrangement with the Pakistani military for U.S. drone strikes there, even though Pakistani officials publicly condemn the American actions.