Official poliboard vote to approve president's "broad coalition to fight ISIL"

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Obama said in a prime-time speech televised from the White House that the United States will join “with our friends and allies to degrade, and ultimately destroy, the terrorist group known as ISIL,” using an alternative acronym for the group that has emerged in Iraq and Syria.

Saying the United States is meeting the threat with “strength and resolve,” the president also sought to assuage the concerns of Americans who are wary of another foreign entanglement, insisting that the offensive against the militant group will not involve combat troops but will rather be a “steady, relentless effort” conducted through airstrikes in both Syria and Iraq, and by supporting military partners on the ground.

“I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil,” he said. Obama compared the new initiative to smaller-scale fights the United States has engaged in. “This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years,” he said.

But the scope of the new operation — which will immediately involve expanded airstrikes, additional U.S. personnel in Iraq and new support for moderate Syrian rebels — is likely to overshadow those two efforts. In the 13-minute address, Obama did not give a fixed date for when the operation might end, and his top aides have suggested it might last beyond his time in office.

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