Obama on War: It’s World vs. ISIS

President Keeps Trying to Play Up 'Coalition'

In his weekly radio address, President Obama continued to play up the idea that the war on ISIS is going to be fought primarily by a massive, worldwide coalition he has assembled.

“This isn’t America vs ISIS. This is the people of the region vs. ISIS. It’s the world vs ISIS,” Obama declared. He insisted the US will “advise and assist” and lead “a broad coalition of nations who have a stake in this fight.”

The US has indeed assembled over 40 nations as part of the anti-ISIS coalition, but virtually none of them have committed to practical involvement in the conflict, beyond throwing arms at the Kurdish Peshmerga or participating in a few of the airstrikes.

Obama continues to insist that ground troops won’t be involved in the war, though the administration seems to be trying to redefine what actually counts as a ground war, and Pentagon officials repeatedly during the week made reference to the likelihood of an eventual US ground combat role.

The address appears like it could’ve been largely written the same time as the week and a half ago war speech, echoing the same attempts to downplay the scope of the conflict to the American public, while insisting that the bulk of the fight is going to be handled by a mythical foreign force.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.