So far, the U.S. effort against ISIS has consisted of limited airstrikes — meant mainly as support for Iraqi forces. And that campaign has seen some success. (Videos via CNN, ABC)
This weekend, American airstrikes helped break the monthslong ISIS siege of Amerli in northern Iraq. Last month, U.S. strikes helped prevent a mass killing of an ethnic minority targeted by ISIS and trapped on northern Iraq's Mount Sinjar.
But those strikes are more of an auxiliary to Iraqi operations than a campaign all their own. And the 350 troops the president ordered into Iraq Tuesday night are meant to protect the embassy in Baghdad, not specifically combat ISIS.
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, now says he's putting forward a bill to give President Barack Obama "clear authority" to expand America's effort against ISIS. Here he is speaking to MSNBC.
NELSON: "The United States is the only one that can put together a coalition to go after this outfit that is so intent on barbaric cruelty."
The top-ranking members for both parties on the House's Foreign Affairs Committee also have urged more action.
REP. ED ROYCE: "It is just chilling that this kind of madness is part of their operation."
And Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, had this to say Sunday.
FEINSTEIN: "I've learned one thing about this president, and that is he's very cautious — maybe in this instance too cautious."
And Pew Research data shows the number of people saying the U.S. is doing "too little" internationally has almost doubled since last November. Still, opinion is divided. Interestingly, those surveyed named ISIS as America's second-highest security threat, next to Al Qaeda.
For its part, the Obama White House has had a lot of foreign crises to juggle lately.
But it hasn't done a lot to instill confidence in its handling of ISIS.
OBAMA: "I don't want to put the cart before the horse. We don't have a strategy yet." (Video via The White House)
On Tuesday, when asked about about action on ISIS, a State Department official simply told CNN, "stay tuned."
This video contains images from Getty Images.
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