Archive for the ‘Obama’ Category

Obama ISIS fight request sent to Congress

Lawmakers on Wednesday morning received a draft Authorization for the Use of Military Force, a resolution that would formally authorize a six-month U.S. military effort against the militant group. Shortly after the request was sent to the Hill, the White House announced Obama would speak to the public on the issue Wednesday afternoon.

The joint resolution would limit the President's authority to wage a military campaign against ISIS to three years and does not authorize "enduring offensive ground combat operations," according to text of the resolution.

In a letter to Congress, Obama explained that the draft resolution would give him the authority to authorize "ground combat operations in limited circumstances," including rescue operations and special forces operations to "take military action against ISIL leadership."

The resolution would also sunset the 2002 AUMF that spawned the Iraq War. Obama withdrew American troops from Iraq in 2011, but the military authorization remains in effect.

The resolution drafted by the White House does not repeal the 2001 military force authorization that has served as the legal justification for the military campaign against ISIS and other U.S. military efforts to combat terrorism around the world.

The document also specifically notes that ISIS poses a "grave threat" to U.S. national security interests and regional stability.

And Obama detailed the ISIS threat in a letter to Congress accompanying the draft legislation.

"The so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) poses a threat to the people and stability of Iraq, Syria, and the broader Middle East, and to U.S. national security," Obama writes. "It threatens American personnel and facilities located in the region and is responsible for the deaths of U.S. citizens"

As in the draft resolution, Obama goes on to name the Americans killed in ISIS captivity, "including James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig, and Kayla Mueller."

There is broad support in Congress for a formal AUMF, though lawmakers disagree on the scope of the military powers that should be handed to the President.

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Obama ISIS fight request sent to Congress

Obama Sends Congress Request for Military Force Against ISIS

President Barack Obama on Wednesday asked Congress to authorize military force against the Islamic State group and urged lawmakers to "show the world we are united in our resolve" to counter the direct threat that militants could pose to the United States.

The president elected on a promise to end America's wars wants a joint resolution in response to the swift rise of extremists who are imposing violent rule across Iraq and Syria and have killed U.S. and allied hostages, as seen in graphic videos.

In a letter to lawmakers that accompanies the three-page draft resolution provided to The Associated Press, Obama said the Islamic State "poses a threat to the people and stability of Iraq, Syria and the broader Middle East and to U.S. national security."

Obama's proposal would ban "enduring offensive combat operations." This ambiguous wording is designed to bridge the divide between lawmakers opposed to ground troops and those who say the commander in chief should maintain the option.

Obama said his draft would not authorize long-term, large-scale ground combat operations like those in the past in Iraq and Afghanistan, with local forces instead carrying that responsibility.

He said he wants the flexibility for ground combat operations "in other more limited circumstances." Those include rescue missions, intelligence collection and the use of special operations forces in possible military action against IS leaders.

Obama planned to discuss the issue at the White House on Wednesday afternoon.

In his letter, he listed four American hostages who died in Islamic State custody and said the group, if left unchecked "will pose a threat beyond the Middle East, including to the United States homeland."

Obama's proposal launches an ideological debate over what authorities and limitations the commander in chief should have in pursuit of the extremists, with the shadow of lost American lives hanging over its fate.

Confirmation of the death of 26-year-old humanitarian worker Kayla Mueller on the eve of Obama's proposal added new urgency. Also, costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were a caution to some lawmakers against another protracted military campaign.

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Obama Sends Congress Request for Military Force Against ISIS

Obama predicts gay marriage sweep

Axelrod wrote in his book published earlier Tuesday that Obama lied about his position on the issue for the sake of political expediency, writing that Obama had actually supported gay marriage for years. In coming out in support of same-sex couples' right to marry in May 2012, Obama had cited "the evolution that I went through."

"I think David is mixing up my personal feelings with my position on the issue," Obama said in an interview with BuzzFeed News. "I always felt that same-sex couples should be able to enjoy the same rights, legally, as anybody else, and so it was frustrating to me not to, I think, be able to square that with what were a whole bunch of religious sensitivities out there."

Obama had previously supported civil unions for gay couples and explained Tuesday that he used to think that was "a sufficient way of squaring the circle." But eventually, he told Buzzfeed on Tuesday, Obama changed his political position because of "the pain and the sense of stigma that was being placed on same-sex couples who are friends" of his.

But in his book, "Believer: My Forty Years in Poltics," Axelrod suggests politics played a bigger role in Obama's public position on the issue throughout his first presidential campaign and into the first term of his presidency.

"Gay marriage was a particularly nagging issue. For as long as we had been working together, Obama had felt a tug between his personal views and the politics of gay marriage," Axelrod writes. "Opposition to gay marriage was particularly strong in the black church, and as he ran for higher office, he grudgingly accepted the counsel of more pragmatic folks like me, and modified his position to support civil unions rather than marriage, which he would term a 'sacred union.'"

And Axelrod recalled that Obama said he just didn't "feel my marriage is somehow threatened by the gay couple next door."

It was just one example of the "recurring tension between Obama the idealist and Obama the politician," Axelrod wrote.

"Obama never felt comfortable with his compromise and, no doubt, compromised position," Axelrod writes. "He routinely stumbled over the question when it came up in debates or interviews. 'I'm just not very good at bulls---ting,' he said with a sigh after one such awkward exchange."

Axelrod also cited a questionnaire from 1996 previously cited in news reports as evidence of Obama's longtime support for gay marriage.

While running for his first term in the Illinois State Senate, Obama signed a questionnaire in which he answered that he "favored legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages." The questionnaire came to light in 2009, days before Obama's inauguration.

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Obama predicts gay marriage sweep

President Obama Meets with Leaders of the Trans-Paci – Video


President Obama Meets with Leaders of the Trans-Paci
World focuses as two world super powers meet to discuss key issues. Today, US President Barack Obama reaches Beijing on three-day visit to China, will attend... On November 10, 2014, President...

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President Obama Meets with Leaders of the Trans-Paci - Video

Obama Storms Out After Killing Osama Bin Laden – Video


Obama Storms Out After Killing Osama Bin Laden
well. Resistnwo.com Obama "We Could Not Say Definitively That Bin Laden Was There" Watc... bin ladens dead in a game bevor he was killed by the navy seals. and sorry for bad recording,...

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Obama Storms Out After Killing Osama Bin Laden - Video