"Full speed ahead" on fight against ISIS, John Kerry says
Secretary of State John Kerry said that the efforts to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are "full speed ahead" now that Iraqi leaders have moved to form a government that represents the interests of a wide range of the Iraqi people.
The U.S. has spent months pushing for the speedy formation of a new government in the hopes that better representation for Iraqi Sunnis will help strengthen the local fight against the Islamic militants that have swept across parts of the country.
During a visit to Baghdad to meet with officials of the new government, Kerry said he was there to build an international coalition to fight the militants and "to underscore to the people of Iraq that the United States will stand by them in this effort."
"This is a fight that the Iraqi people must win, but it's also a fight that the rest of the world needs to be able to win with them, and it's a fight the United States and the rest of the world need to support every step of the way," Kerry said.
Forty other countries will be joining the effort to fight ISIS, Kerry said, and he also announced that the U.S. will be providing another $48 million to U.N. agencies, international organizations and nongovernmental organizations who are working to help the people inside Iraq.
Kerry's trip to Baghdad comes ahead of a speech President Obama will deliver at 9 p.m. Wednesday to outline the threat posed by ISIS and the strategy the U.S. will pursue to defeat it. Congressional leaders have pressed Mr. Obama for more details on his plans, and Kerry pledged that the president would lay out "with great specificity" each component of his strategy.
His principle role as secretary of state has been to build international support for the fight against the group.
"There is literally no place for their barbarity in the modern world," Kerry said. "Nearly every country on earth could have an ability and an interest to join in this effort."
He outlined a range of actions other nations could take, from providing military assistance and helping track and stop foreign fighters and money to combating the idea that ISIS' actions are rooted in the Islamic faith.
"ISIL claims to be fighting on behalf of Islam but the fact is that its hateful ideology has nothing to do with Islam," Kerry said. "It is necessary for moderate, reasonable people around the world to repudiate the distortion of Islam that [ISIS] seeks to spread."