|
 Obama said the Washington would hunt down and dismantle the
organization, which has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, in the
same way it had tackled al Qaeda since the Sept. 11 attacks on the
United States and was doing to al-Shabaab in Somalia.
"Key NATO allies stand ready to confront this terrorist threat
through military, intelligence and law enforcement as well as
diplomatic efforts," Obama said after ministers of 10 nations met on
the sidelines of a NATO summit in Wales to form what Washington
called a "core coalition".
Ministers from Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Turkey, Italy,
Poland, Denmark and non-NATO Australia attended the talks with the
U.S. secretaries of state and defense, John Kerry and Chuck Hagel.
"Already allies have joined us in Iraq where we have stopped ISIL's
advances, we have equipped our Iraqi partners and helped them go on
offence," Obama told a news conference.
The United States hoped a new Iraqi government would be formed next
week and was confident it would have a coalition for the sustained
action required to destroy the militants.
French President Francois Hollande confirmed Paris was willing to
join U.S. air strikes if requested by a new Baghdad government as
part of a comprehensive international strategy to confront IS. He
also raised the possibility of hot pursuit operations in Syria or
assisting other rebels fighting IS there.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, who failed to win
parliamentary backing for military action in Syria last year, was
more cautious about participating in armed action, saying: "We are
not at that stage yet."
The British public is deeply wary of foreign military intervention
after London joined Washington in the 2003 invasion of Iraq based on
false information about weapons of mass destruction. France, which
opposed that operation, is more open to overseas action.
Obama drew criticism last week for saying he had not yet developed a
strategy for confronting the Islamic State in Syria, which has
provoked public outrage in the West with the gruesome beheading two
U.S. journalists.
The United States stressed the need for a comprehensive approach in
the talks on Friday and acknowledged that action against IS in Iraq
would have implications in Syria as well.
"We are going to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL, the same way
that we have gone after al Qaeda," Obama said in some of his
toughest comments since Washington began air strikes last month to
halt the Islamists' advance in northern Iraq.
"You initially push them back, you systematically degrade their
capabilities, you narrow their scope of action, you slowly shrink
the space, the territory that they may control, you take out their
leadership, and over time they are not able to conduct the same
kinds of terrorist attacks as they once could."
In an attempt to counter the threat of U.S. and European militants
returning from the region to attack the West, NATO announced plans
for allies to share more information on westerners fighting for the
militants.
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A man with an English accent was filmed beheading the U.S.
journalists and Britain raised its terrorism alert last week to its
second-highest level over the threat posed by IS, meaning it
assessed a strike was "highly likely". STRATEGY TIME?
European officials said Cameron and Hollande, the leaders of
Europe's main military powers, told Obama in private meetings that
Washington had to do more than simply conduct air strikes on IS
targets in Iraq and needed an overall strategy.
"It can't be just 'let's go and bomb a few targets and see what
happens'," said one Western defense official familiar with the talks
among allied leaders.
A British official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "There
is a growing sense that this is going to take more than we are
doing... but it needs to be a measured, cautious approach."
Though it was unclear how many nations would ultimately join
Washington in supporting military operations in Iraq, Kerry and
Hagel set out the limits of such action at a hastily arranged
meeting in Newport - no land forces.
"Obviously I think that's a red line for everybody here: no boots on
the ground," Kerry told the meeting. Obama said Kerry would visit
the Middle East to help build a broad-based coalition to tackle the
militants.
British and German ministers warned that it would be a long campaign
to push the Sunni militants back after stunning gains they have made
in Syria and Iraq, drawing volunteers from many countries including
in the West.
Kerry said he hoped the allies could develop a comprehensive plan
for combating IS in time for this month's annual U.N. General
Assembly session in New York.
Turkey, which attended the talks, has been struggling to staunch a
flow of foreign jihadists across its border with Syria. Hagel
travels to Turkey next week.
A statement issued by Hagel and Kerry after the meeting said the
coalition would need to go after IS finances, including any trade in
petroleum products, and discredit its ideology.
(Additional reporting by Kylie MacLellan, Sabine Siebold and Guy
Faulconbridge. Writing by Phil Stewart. Editing by Paul Taylor/Mike
Peacock)
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