XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: behead@democrats.com   
      
   White House officials have claimed that Arab nations have   
   offered to join the U.S. in airstrikes against the Islamic State   
   militant group in Iraq and Syria, though no countries were   
   specifically named.   
      
   The New York Times reported that Secretary of State John Kerry   
   had declined to say which states had offered to contribute air   
   power, with White House officials saying that any announcement   
   of specifics could wait until later this week. Kerry is   
   scheduled to testify before congressional committees Wednesday   
   and Thursday.   
      
   Led by Kerry, U.S. diplomatic officials have raced to secure   
   commitments from allies in Europe and the Middle East, as well   
   as nations like Australia, since President Obama authorized   
   expanded action against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS,   
   in a televised address last Wednesday. On Monday, Kerry attended   
   international talks in Paris seeking to finalize a strategy   
   against ISIS, which rocketed to prominence over the summer by   
   seizing broad swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq.   
      
   The Times reported late Sunday that any effort on the ground   
   against ISIS would be dependent upon regular Iraqi troops,   
   Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in that country's north, and moderate   
   Syrian rebels who have battled the forces of that country's   
   President, Bashar al-Assad, in a bloody civil war since 2011.   
   The paper said that the U.S. strategy calls for the Iraqi army   
   to be guided by 12-man teams of advisers, with arms and other   
   assistance going to the Peshmerga. The Obama administration has   
   called on Congress to approve a $500 million arms package for   
   the Syrian opposition, meant to serve as a prelude for the   
   expansion of the U.S. effort against ISIS.   
      
   According to the Times, State Department officials say that Arab   
   nations could participate in non-lethal ways against an air   
   campaign against ISIS, possibly by making reconnaissance flights   
   or by flying arms to Iraqi or Kurdish forces.   
      
   Reuters reported Monday that France has offered to take part in   
   airstrikes against Iraq, and the Associated Press reported,   
   citing a French official, that jets from that country were   
   prepared to carry out reconnaissance flights beginning Monday.   
      
   "The terrorist threat is global and the response must be   
   global," French President Francois Hollande said in opening   
   Monday's conference. "There is no time to lose." French Foreign   
   Minister Laurent Fabius acknowledged that a number of the   
   countries at the table Monday had "very probably" financed   
   ISIS's advances.   
      
   Muslim-majority countries are considered vital to any operation   
   to prevent the militants from gaining more territory in Iraq and   
   Syria. Western officials have made clear they consider Assad to   
   be part of the problem, and U.S. officials opposed France's   
   attempt to invite Iran.   
      
   In an exclusive interview on Sunday with The Associated Press in   
   Paris, Iraq's President Fouad Massoum — a Kurd, whose role in   
   the government is largely ceremonial — expressed regret that   
   Iran was not attending the conference.   
      
   Massoum noted "sensitivities between some countries and Iran."   
      
   He also seemed not to welcome the possible participation Egypt,   
   the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in air strikes in   
   Iraqi territory.   
      
   "It is not necessary that they participate in air strikes; what   
   is important is that they participate in the decisions of this   
   conference," he said, underscoring Baghdad's closeness to Iran   
   and how tensions among the regional powers could complicate the   
   process of forming a Sunni alliance.   
      
   Speaking in his first interview since becoming Iraqi prime   
   minister, Haider al-Abadi told state-run al-Iraqiyya in comments   
   aired Sunday that he had given approvals to France to use Iraqi   
   airspace and said all such authorizations would have to come   
   from Baghdad.   
      
   Earlier, Fabius said quick action was vital, insisting there was   
   no comparison with the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, which France   
   vocally opposed.   
      
   "It's the same geographic area but that's the only similarity,"   
   Fabius told France Info radio on Monday. "When you are a   
   political leader you have to measure the cost of inaction."   
      
   U.S. Central Command has carried out more than 150 airstrikes   
   against ISIS targets in Iraq since August 8. The militant group   
   has responded by beheading three Western hostages, most recently   
   British aid worker David Haines, whose killing was shown in a   
   graphic video released Saturday.   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/09/15/white-house-claims-   
   arab-nations-offer-to-join-airstrikes-against-isis-in-iraq/   
      
       
      
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