Barack Obama sought to reassert himself as commander-in-chief on Monday, standing with military top brass at the Pentagon and warning leaders of Islamic State: “You are next.”

The blunt tone, with its echoes of President George W Bush’s reference to “Wanted, dead or alive” posters in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks, appeared intent on defying critics who accuse the president of lacking aggression against jihadists in Iraq and Syria. But it disappointed those seeking a change of direction.

Flanked by Vice-President Joe Biden, the defence secretary, Ash Carter, and three military generals, Obama condemned Isis leaders as thugs, thieves and killers and confirmed the death of Mohammed Emwazi, a Briton known as “Jihadi John”, in an air strike last month.

“As we squeeze its heart, we’ll make it harder for Isil to pump its terror and propaganda to the rest of the world,” the president said, using an alternative acronym for the extremist group, in an eight-minute statement after meeting his national security council.

America’s strategy of hunting down leaders, training forces and stopping the group’s financing and propaganda is moving forward “with a great sense of urgency”, he said, and had been intensifying even before the terrorist attacks in Paris, France, and San Bernardino, California. But he acknowledged: “We recognise that progress needs to keep coming faster.”

Obama told reporters: “This continues to be a difficult fight. Isil is dug in, including in urban areas, and they hide behind civilians, using defenceless men, women and children as human shields. So even as we’re relentless, we have to be smart, targeting Isil surgically, with precision.”

Fighters, bombers and drones have been increasing the pace of airstrikes, now up to nearly 9,000 as of today, he said. In November, the coalition dropped more bombs on Islamic State targets than in any month since the campaign started. “We are hitting Isil harder than ever.”

He listed several prominent Isis leaders, commanders and killers who have been “taken out”, including Emwazi, “who brutally murdered Americans and others”.

The statement came at the start of a week-long push to explain his strategy for combating Islamist extremism abroad and its sympathisers at home. Obama is also slated to attend a briefing at the National Counterterrorism Center later in the week.

But Republicans were unimpressed by the show of military muscle. House majority leader Kevin McCarthy said: “The American people are smart enough to know when something is working or not, and it’s obvious that the president’s current strategy isn’t working.”

Seven in 10 Americans rate the risk of another attack in the US as at least somewhat high, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll, up from five in 10 in January. Asked if Obama had consciously chosen to make his rhetoric more aggressive for public benefit, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said when the president meets the national security council, “he is not looking at public opinion polls”.

In a change of emphasis from an oval office address just over a week ago when he appeared tired, Obama promised: “We’re going after Isil from their stronghold right in downtown Raqqa, to Libya, where we took out Abu Nabil, the Isil leader there. The point is, Isil leaders cannot hide. And our next message to them is simple: You are next.”

Since this summer, Isis has not had a single successful major offensive operation on the ground in Iraq or Syria, Obama said. “So far Isil has lost about 40% of the populated areas it once controlled in Iraq, and it will lose more... Isil’s lost thousands of square miles of territory it once controlled in Syria and it will lose more. The special forces that I ordered to Syria have begun supporting local forces as they push south, cut off supply lines and tighten the squeeze on Raqqa.”

Read more at 

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/14/obama-fight-against-islamic-state-iraq-syria

https://islamstory.com/en/artical/19399/Obama-warn-Isis-leaders-you-are-next