Kerry copters into nerve center of ISIS fight

BAGHDAD -- In his first visit to the warzone since the launch of U.S. airstrikes, Secretary of State John Kerry helicoptered into Baghdad under tight security on Wednesday to meet new Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi, whose government is a cornerstone in the Obama administration's plan to combat ISIS.

State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said Kerry planned to discuss how the U.S. can increase its support to Iraq's new government in order to defeat ISIS, which is also known as ISIL, and which now calls itself simply the Islamic State. Kerry is spearheading part of that strategy by trying to undermine the appeal of ISIS to a disaffected and alienated Sunni minority in Iraq.

"We had a peaceful transition of power here in Iraq under extremely difficult circumstances, and it's a real milestone," said a senior administration official who briefed reporters traveling with Kerry on the first stop of what was described as a coalition building mission in the Middle East.

"Certainly, the road ahead is daunting," said the official. "I mean, this is just a start. But to get to this point is significant."

President Obama dispatched Kerry to gin up pledges of support from Arab leaders in the region -- many of whom are skeptical of the U.S. commitment to the use of force and accuse the U.S. of being slow to act.

Until now, an expansion of U.S. military and financial aid had been on hold until a new central government was formed in Baghdad. President Obama made that a precondition since U.S. policymakers believe the alienation of the Sunni minority by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki broadened the appeal of ISIS' anti-government attacks.

With a new Iraqi Prime Minister now in office, the U.S. can push his government to the forefront of the fight against ISIS.

"The days of when we were an occupying power here are over," the U.S. official said, insisting that everything the U.S. does in Iraq is with the explicit consent of the al-Abadi government.

President Obama told congressional leaders Tuesday that he has the authority he needs to take on ISIS, according to the White House. Mr. Obama met with senior lawmakers Tuesday ahead of a speech to the nation on his plan to deal with the Islamic militant group planned for Wednesday night.

Despite the political changes in Baghdad, a brutal fight rages on the battlefield. It is clear, the U.S. official said, that local Iraqi forces are incapable of defeating the fast moving ISIS militants on their own.

"Staggering numbers" of ISIS suicide bombers still flow into Iraq, all of whom are foreign fighters from outside the region, according to the official. They provide the "lifeblood" of ISIS, whose militants were described by this official as effectively the army of a de facto extremist state.

A barrage of more than 148 U.S. airstrikes in coordination with a ground offensive by Iraqi and Kurdish security forces in recent months has not stopped the flow of foreign fighters from Syria, where ISIS leaders carved out a haven that remains safely outside the reach of the U.S. military.

While the Pentagon has drawn up plans to strike at the headquarters of the ISIS extremist state in Raqaa, Syria, the administration has been reluctant to expand the U.S. military mission. Yet the president's top military advisor -- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Martin Dempsey -- publicly acknowledged that it is not possible to defeat ISIS without striking at it in Syria.

Mike Morell, the former deputy director of the CIA who is now a CBS News security consultant, told "CBS This Morning" co-anchor Charlie Rose on Monday that "Syria is the tricky part" -- the biggest challenge facing the Obama administration as it confronts ISIS.

Morell said he was confident Mr. Obama would begin trying to claw back the territory ISIS has claimed, and likely start going after the group's relatively centralized leadership, "both in Iraq and in Syria."

He said that would probably mean "doubling down on" or greatly increasing U.S. support for what U.S. officials consider the "moderate opposition" to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad; giving them the ability to confront not only the regime's far superior military, but also the ISIS militants whom they have been largely embarrassed by on the battle field for months now.

"We're going to be relying on a group of people in Syria who we quite frankly don't have a lot of confidence in, who don't have a lot of strength, who we have to worry about doing things with our weapons and our training that we're going to be responsible for at the end of the day," explained Morell, saying that was "the main thing I worry about here."

Now Kerry is trying to broaden the responsibility for any future action to include other countries, if President Obama should chose to act.

Kerry flies next to Jordan, and then to Saudi Arabia where he will implore leaders from a host of Sunni majority states for help on three fronts: drying up funding for ISIS, stopping the flow of fighters into its ranks, and undermining its legitimacy by declaring that the ISIS doctrine is a perversion of Islam. He will also seek pledges of diplomatic and economic support for the new Iraqi government.

The U.S. will also bring the issue to the United Nations later this month.