President Obama will address the nation tonight on how he plans to respond to what he will characterize as a terrorist threat posed by the jihadist organization variously known as ISIS, the Islamic State, and his preferred name, ISIL.
The president's speech comes in the aftermath of two vicious beheadings of American journalists by the group, acts that have fueled public enthusiasm for military strikes against militants. According to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, 61 percent of the public believes military action would be in America's best interest. At the same time, however, the public is of a divided mind because only 27 percent think the U.S. should play a bigger role than it currently does in international affairs. Unfortunately, rationality is often the first casualty in times like this, but while he will call for an air campaign against ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State, President Obama will characterize it as targeted actions like those in Yemen and Somalia, not like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he will rule out the boots on the ground that were the hallmark of those wars.
We'll provide live updates throughout the speech and you can watch in the live feed at the top of this post. It's scheduled to begin at 9:00 PM ET. You can read advance excerpts here.
5:52 PM PT: Rep. Pete King is on CNN right now for the "pre-game show," and he's pretty happy—he says the military campaign could last years, and he's all for it.
6:01 PM PT: President Obama's speech, as prepared, is about 2,000 words—not exactly short, but much shorter than his typical State of the Union address which have weighed in at 7,001 words on average. It should last about 15 minutes, says Rachel Maddow, doing the math on words spoken per minute.
6:02 PM PT: And here's the president: "My fellow Americans – tonight, I want to speak to you about what the United States will do with our friends and allies to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIL."
6:05 PM PT: President Obama, noting that ISIL calls itself "The Islamic State," says: "Now let’s make two things clear: ISIL is not “Islamic”" and "It is not a state." Instead, "ISIL is a terrorist organization, pure and simple." He says ISIL poses a threat to the Middle East, and if it "goes unchecked" it could one day expand its threat beyond the region.
6:06 PM PT: Obama says we've launched more than 150 airstrikes against ISIL already.
6:07 PM PT:
So tonight, with a new Iraqi government in place, and following consultations with allies abroad and Congress at home, I can announce that America will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat.
Our objective is clear: we will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism strategy.
6:09 PM PT: Obama outlines a 4-part strategy: (1) Airstrikes (2) Support for opposition forces (3) Use intelligence capacity to prevent attacks and (4) Humanitarian assistance to ISIL's victims.
6:09 PM PT: Here are the remarks as prepared.
6:11 PM PT: President Obama touts international support for his actions, and says that while he doesn't need Congressional authorization, he wants their support to send a message of solidarity to the world.
6:12 PM PT: The president again seeks to distinguish the offensive against ISIL with the war in Iraq: "It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil," he says.
6:16 PM PT: The president is wrapping up his remarks now with an ode to American values and a request for support from the public, concluding with a moral argument: "And our own safety – our own security – depends upon our willingness to do what it takes to defend this nation, and uphold the values that we stand for – timeless ideals that will endure long after those who offer only hate and destruction have been vanquished from the Earth. May God bless our troops, and may God bless the United States of America."
6:18 PM PT: This is one of the shortest major speeches of the president's time in office—shorter than some of his answers to press conference questions, I suspect—but despite its relative brevity, he made the case he wanted to make.
6:19 PM PT: Here's The White House's fact sheet on the speech.