Skip to main content
Support
Article

10 Takeaways From Obama’s Speech

Robin Wright image

Robin Wright discusses ten key points from President Obama's Wednesday night address on a new strategy to confront the Islamic state. She writes that, "rarely have two journalists had such an impact in directing a nation to military action. Their deaths may not be totally in vain."

President Barack Obama spoke for less than 15 minutes Wednesday night. And it took him a while to work up the serious cadence requisite for a historic speech. But afterward even Newt Gingrich, reacting on CNN, praised the president (in between quips) for his address on a new strategy to confront the Islamic State thugs who now control a territory the size of Indiana.

Here are 10 key points from Mr. Obama’s address:

1) The Islamic State–also known as ISIS and ISIL—is only one of the militant groups that still threaten the U.S. on the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. There are other “groups of killers” with “the capacity to do great harm,” the president said at the top of his speech. The long-term implications of dealing with all of them were left unsaid.

2) The U.S. is now committed to a “relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist.” That may be beyond Iraq and even Syria. The movement has roots in Lebanon as well, while Jordan’s monarchy is nervous about hundreds of men who have reportedly joined the ISIS militia. ISIS has jihadi recruits from virtually every Arab country. The long-term potential dwarfs the dangers of al-Qaeda.

3) Mr. Obama announced that 475 more U.S. troops would head to Iraq—taking the total to more than 1,600, according to the Pentagon. More Americans are almost certain to be deployed down the road. It’s a slow mission creep,  despite the pledge not to deploy combat troops.

4) Arabs will have to do far more in this third Iraq war than those in 1990-91 and 2003-11. “We cannot do for Iraqis what they must do for themselves, nor can we take the place of Arab partners in security their region,” Mr. Obama said.

5) The centerpiece of this new strategy is an international coalition, which appears to be a cross between the robust coalition of three dozen nations that participated in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and the face-saving “coalition of the willing” that backed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. In Baghdad on Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry said that Washington had various types of support from around 40 countries so far.

6) The president deliberately cited America’s intention to help Sunni and Shiite Muslims as well as minority Christians, “who are at grave risk.” It appeared to be an attempt to avoid being sucked into a war that would deepen the sectarian chasm in the Middle East, the birthplace of the great monotheistic religions. “We cannot allow these communities to be driven from their ancient homelands,” he said.

7) Mr. Obama sought to reassure the many Americans who fear the U.S. will become mired in another long military engagement it can’t afford. “Next week marks six years since our economy suffered its worst setback since the Great Depression,” he said. Yet America is “better positioned today to seize the future” than any other nation. It will be interesting to see how the stock market reacts.

8) In an unusual twist, the president evoked the survival of two American doctors infected with the Ebola virus in Africa and the still-tepid sanctions campaign against Russia for its intervention in Ukraine as successes that reflect America’s capacity to win.

9) Mr. Obama said—pointedly, near the start of his speech–that ISIS is “not Islamic.” On the eve of Secretary Kerry’s visit to Saudi Arabia and the same day that Mr. Obama talked to the Saudi king, the president said, “No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL’s victims have been Muslim.” Saudi Arabia is the guardian of Islam’s holy sites—and plays a key role in rallying Sunni sentiment across the region against the black-hooded Sunni extremists in the Islamic State.

10) The United States recently went into Iraq again to protect thousands of Yazidis, an ethnic minority, stranded on a barren mountaintop. There was no mention of them in the president’s speech. But Mr. Obama did cite the beheadings of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. Rarely have two journalists had such an impact in directing a nation to military action. Their deaths may not be totally in vain.

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author.

The original article was published in The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire.

About the Author

Robin Wright image

Robin Wright

USIP-Wilson Center Distinguished Fellow;
Author and columnist for The New Yorker
Read More