President Obama is set to announce his strategy for dealing with the Islamic militant issue in Syria on Wednesday, Sept. 10. According to CNN, Obama's plan will include economic, diplomatic and military action.
In a recent interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," the president touched upon some of the topics he will cover in his national address. He mentioned the implementation of a three-step plan that would include increasing airstrikes and further investigating members of the radical group who have started referring to themselves as the Islamic State. He described the new strategy as including more offensive tactics – something many have been hoping for since the extremist organization beheaded two American journalists earlier this month.
The New York Times noted that these gruesome murders, which were documented on video and distributed internationally via the Internet, have been instrumental in Obama's decisions. They have also swayed public opinion toward taking military action. The president considered using missiles in Syria last year when Bashar al-Assad began using chemical weapons, but he decided to cancel the plan when he received a lack of support from Congress. The determination and growing power of Islamic militants, however, has radically altered the political climate, according to the Times.
CNN noted that even though military action is a facet of the strategy, as of now President Obama will not be putting U.S. troops on the ground. Instead, he plans to provide support for Syrian and Iraqi troops. He told "Meet the Press" that while the religious extremist group is not currently an imminent threat to the U.S., it could evolve to be a problem if not handled properly and quickly.
"What I want people to understand is that over the course of months, we are going to be able to not just blunt the momentum of (ISIS), we are going to systematically degrade their capabilities, we're going to shrink the territory that they control and ultimately, we're going to defeat them," Obama said.