{"id":17513,"date":"2016-04-26T08:04:08","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T15:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/obama-boosts-islamic-state-fight-asks-europe-to-do-same\/"},"modified":"2016-04-26T08:04:08","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T15:04:08","slug":"obama-boosts-islamic-state-fight-asks-europe-to-do-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/obama-boosts-islamic-state-fight-asks-europe-to-do-same\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama boosts Islamic State fight, asks Europe to do same"},"content":{"rendered":"

HANNOVER, Germany <\/strong>\u2014 Evoking history and appealing for solidarity, President Barack Obama on Monday cast his decision to send 250 more troops to Syria as a bid to keep up \u201cmomentum\u201d in the campaign to dislodge Islamic State extremists. He pressed European allies to match the U.S. with new contributions of their own.<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s announcement of the American troops, which capped a six-day tour to the Middle East and Europe, reflected a steady deepening of U.S. military engagement, despite the president\u2019s professed reluctance to dive further into another Middle East conflict. As Obama gave notice of the move, he said he wanted the U.S. to share the increasing burden.<\/p>\n

Obama discussed the IS fight with British Prime Minster David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minster Matteo Renzi.<\/p>\n

The president formally announced the new troop deployment in a speech about European unity and trans-Atlantic cooperation \u2014 a running theme of his trip. Speaking in Germany, he evoked the continent\u2019s history of banding together to defeat prejudice and emerge from the \u201cruins of the Second World War.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMake no mistake,\u201d Obama said. \u201cThese terrorists will learn the same lessons as others before them have, which is, your hatred is no match for our nations united in the defense of our way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rhetoric belied an underlying frustration in his administration about allies\u2019 contributions to the U.S.-led fight in Syria and neighboring Iraq. Although the coalition includes some 66 nations, the U.S. has conducted the vast majority of the air strikes, and there has been little appetite by other nations to send in ground troops of their own.<\/p>\n

The president recently rattled leaders in Europe and the Middle East by describing allies as \u201cfree riders.\u201d He made a passing reference to that complaint on Monday, as he noted that not all European allies contribute their expected share to NATO: \u201cI\u2019ll be honest: Sometimes Europe has been complacent about its own defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

On stops in Riyadh, London and Hannover this week, Obama repeatedly pushed allies for more firepower, training for local forces and economic aid to help reconstruct regions in Iraq that have been retaken from Islamic State control but are still vulnerable. Obama appeared to come up short in Riyadh, when he met with Arab allies.<\/p>\n

He made the pitch again in Hannover, where he attended a massive industrial technology trade show on what was likely his last presidential visit to Germany.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese terrorists are doing everything in their power to strike our cities and kill our citizens, so we need to do everything in our power to stop them,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n

The new deployment brings the number of U.S. military personnel in Syria from roughly 50 to roughly 300. It follows a similar ramp-up in Iraq, announced last week. The new Syria forces will include special operation troops assisting local forces, as well as maintenance and logistics personnel.<\/p>\n

Obama, in an interview with CBS News, declined to say whether the forces might be dispatched on search-and-kill missions.<\/p>\n

He did say, \u201cAs a general rule, the rule is not to engage directly with the enemy but rather to work with local forces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s call for European solidarity extended beyond the anti-Islamic State campaign.<\/p>\n

Amid what he described as \u201cunsettling times,\u201d Obama revived the argument he made in London days earlier that Britain and the European Union are strongest if Briton votes in an upcoming referendum to remain in the 28-member nation block. And Obama mounted a forceful defense of his host in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is facing criticism for her willingness to take in refugees from Syria.<\/p>\n

\u201cChancellor Merkel and others have eloquently reminded us that we cannot turn our backs on our fellow human beings who are here now and need our help now,\u201d Obama said. \u201cWe have to uphold our values, not just when it\u2019s easy but when it\u2019s hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The migrant crisis was a central focus as Obama met with European leaders just before returning to Washington. Merkel said the leaders had discussed ways to expand military efforts to stop human smuggling across the Mediterranean from Libya.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the NATO mission in the Aegean, the United States of America have shown their readiness to take part in the fight against illegal migration,\u201d Merkel said. A senior U.S. official said the U.S. was indeed ready to help with that effort but had no new mission to announce.<\/p>\n

Obama, who used one of his final foreign trips to start trying to shape his legacy, said he saw Europe facing a \u201cdefining moment.\u201d He urged the continent\u2019s leaders to pay attention to income inequality, education for young people and equal pay for women.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we do not solve these problems, we start seeing those who would try to exploit these fears and frustrations and channel them in a destructive way,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Superville reported from Aerzen, Germany. Associated Press writers Frank Jordans in Hannover and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Reach Kathleen Hennessey on Twitter at http:\/\/twitter.com\/khennessey and Darlene Superville and http:\/\/twitter.com\/dsupervilleap<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HANNOVER, Germany \u2014 Evoking history and appealing for solidarity, President Barack Obama on Monday cast his decision to send 250 more troops to Syria as a bid to keep up \u201cmomentum\u201d in the campaign to dislodge Islamic State extremists. He pressed European allies to match the U.S. with new contributions of their own. Obama\u2019s announcement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-17513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17513"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=17513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}