President Barack Obama reiterated his long-standing position on how to battle the Sunni insurgent group Islamic State.
“American forces deployed to Iraq, do not and will not have a combat mission,” Obama told a packed gymnasium at MacDill Air Force Base, where he spoke after receiving a briefing on efforts by U.S. Central Command on how to defeat the Islamic State. Obama repeated his message that this is a fight the Iraqis will have to lead.
About 1,200 members of the military attended the troops event.
Before the speech, Obama and his top leadership received a briefing from Centcom commander Army Gen. Lloyd Austin III at MacDill Air Force Base today.
It was Obama’s first trip to Centcom.
Obama was joined by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Lisa Monaco, the president’s top advisor for counter terrorism and Homeland Security also attended the briefing.
Obama has ordered airstrikes to proceed in Iraq against Islamic State targets not immediately threatening U.S. personnel and said that he wants to expand those strikes into Syria.
Speaking on a base where the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were run, Obama reminded those in attendence that the looming end of the Afghan war at the end of the year never mean that America was going out of the battle business.
“You have always known the end of war in Afghanistan didn’t mean end of threats or challenges to America,” he said.
Obama, who arrived at the base on Air Force One on Tuesday evening and spent the night at a downtown Tampa hotel, also met with members of the international coalition at Centcom as he seeks to build an international effort to combat IS.
“We are not only being kept apprised of events, we are actively involved in the planning efforts taking place here at Centcom,” said Danish Brig. Gen. Frank Lissner, the coalition chairman. “Regarding Syria – this is a separate political discussion in each of the nations as well as UN regarding a possible UN Mandate. So for the time being focus is on ISIS (the Islamic State) in Iraq.”
Maj. Gen. Michael Nagata, commander of Special Operations Command Central, which oversees commando missions for Centcom in that region, also attended the briefing.
But even before the briefing he requested from Austin, Obama had to contend Tuesday with statements made to the Senate by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that he would recommend using special operations forces for closer support if needed. Obama has frequently said U.S. troops will not play any ground combat role in Iraq or Syria.
Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs chairman, made those statements about special operations forces to the Senate Armed Services Committee, which held a hearing on the president’s battle plans.
The statements drew an explanation from White House spokesman Josh Earnest, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Atlanta on Tuesday.
“As was clear from Gen. Dempsey’s remarks, he was referring to a hypothetical scenario in which there might be a future situation in which he might make a tactical recommendation to the president as it relates to the use of ground troops,” Earnest said, according to a pool report.
Earnest said it was the responsibility of the military to plan for a wide range of contingencies.
“It is also the responsibility of the commander in chief to set out a clear policy,” Earnest said “The president has been clear what that policy is.”
Earnest said that the president’s policy of putting no boots on the ground has not changed, according to the pool report.