Obama vows to destroy IS, seeks Arab world’s help

The United State is on “the right side of history” as it leads the effort to destroy the terrorist group the Islamic State, and end extremism within the Muslim world, said US President Barack Obama.

Speaking at a fundraiser for Senate Democrats in Baltimore on September 12, Obama said that efforts against the IS militant have been strengthened because of a more inclusive Iraqi government and the growing coalition against the group.

On September 10, Obama announced on national television that he has authorised an open-ended bombing campaign against IS militants that will extend into Syria for the first time.

On the side-lines of the recent NATO summit in Wales, ten countries — the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Turkey and Canada as well as non-NATO member Australia — decided to form a coalition against the ISIS.

Obama attempted to find the silver lining by suggesting that the crisis in Iraq and Syria exposed the barbaric nature of fundamentalism that people in the Muslim world wanted to stomp out.

“It’s focussed attention, I think, for the first time in a long time in the Muslim world about the need to completely distance from and ultimately stomp out this particular brand of Islamic extremism that really has no place in the 21st century,” added Obama.

Earlier, Obama had urged the leadership of the Arab world to step in and help America to fight the IS militants.

“American power can make a decisive difference, but we cannot do for Iraqis what they must do for themselves, nor can we take the place of Arab partners in securing their region.”

On the same day as Obama was making his speech in the US, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani called the idea of eradicating terrorism by airstrikes “naive”.

Speaking at the 14th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Tajik capital Dushanbe on September 12, he added: “Fighting terrorism needs organised planning, bilateral and multilateral cooperation and elimination of economic and cultural poverty.”

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