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 Obama said that in his remarks on Wednesday he would "describe
what our game plan's going to be." He will meet congressional
leaders on Tuesday to seek their support for his strategy to halt
the militant Islamist group.
Obama indicated he did not believe he needed additional
authorization from Congress to carry out the plan, although he
intends to consult with lawmakers and might seek approval for
additional funds.
"I'm confident that I have the authorization that I need to protect
the American people," Obama said. "But I do think it's important for
Congress to understand what the plan is, to have 'buy in,' to debate
it."
The president, who campaigned for the White House in 2008 on getting
U.S. troops out of Iraq, has struggled to articulate how he wants to
address Islamic State, telling reporters last month that "we don't
have a strategy yet" to tackle the group.
"I'm preparing the country to make sure that we deal with a threat
from ISIL," Obama said in an interview aired on Sunday with NBC's
"Meet the Press" program, using an acronym for Islamic State. "The
next phase is now to start going on some offense," he added,
promising to "defeat" the group.
 Obama's comments also seemed tailored to head off the fears of some
Americans and anti-war members of his own party of another
full-scale war. For example, he ruled out sending U.S. ground troops
to fight the militants in Iraq or Syria.
"This is not the equivalent of the Iraq war," Obama added. "What
this is, is similar to the kinds of counterterrorism campaigns that
we've been engaging in consistently over the last five, six, seven
years.
The speech underscores the degree to which Islamic State has become
an urgent issue for the United States. The Sunni militants have
seized territory in northern Iraq and eastern Syria, declared a
border-blurring Islamic caliphate and released grisly videos of the
beheading of two U.S. journalists it had held hostage.
Obama authorized American airstrikes in Iraq against Islamic State
last month and U.S. warplanes carried out strikes on Islamic State
insurgents menacing Iraq's Haditha Dam on Sunday.
A video released last week of American freelance journalist Steven
Sotloff being beheaded by the militants led to fresh calls from
lawmakers in both parties for a more aggressive approach.
Republicans in Congress, which returns from its summer recess on
Monday, have blocked Obama proposals on a wide range of issues, but
many back stronger action against Islamic State. Obama, however, may
face resistance from liberal fellow Democrats if they feel his plan
requires too big a military commitment.
In the interview, conducted in Washington on Saturday, Obama said he
wanted Americans to understand the nature of the threat and "have
confidence that we'll be able to deal with it."
9/11 ATTACKS ANNIVERSARY
The Wednesday speech will come a day before the 13th anniversary of
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States that killed about
3,000 people.
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Obama said while there was no immediate U.S. intelligence about
threats to the homeland from Islamic State, the group had attracted
foreign fighters from Western nations who could travel to the United
States "unimpeded" and eventually pose a threat.
Obama emphasized the United States was not going it alone. Nine
other countries have agreed to be "core" members of a coalition he
spent time building last week at a NATO meeting in Wales. "We are
going to be a part of an international coalition, carrying out
airstrikes in support of work on the ground by Iraqi troops, Kurdish
troops," Obama said.
The heads of both the Senate and House of Representatives
intelligence committees urged Obama on Sunday to use U.S. special
operations forces as part of his plans.
Republican Mike Rogers, who heads the House Intelligence Committee,
also told the CNN program "State of the Union" that Obama needed to
"lay out a very certain case" on confronting Islamic State. Rogers
added: "We need to have an end-game."
Democrat Dianne Feinstein, head of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, said Obama must explain what the coalition partners are
actually willing to do, what role Saudi Arabia will play and whether
longtime U.S. adversary Iran is going to help.
"Iran has offered to help. I, for one, think that's useful," she
said.
Obama said the United States would need Sunni Arab states in the
region including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates,
as well as Turkey to "step up" and help.
Republican Peter King, a House intelligence panel member, told the
ABC program "This Week" that "it’s probably better" for Obama to get
congressional approval for this plan, "which I would certainly vote
for." But King said he believed the president had the constitutional
authority to take action in Iraq and in Syria against Islamic State
without congressional approval.
(Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Will Dunham; Additional reporting
by Jeff Mason; Editing by David Storey, Frances Kerry, Rosalind
Russell and Peter Cooney)
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