Obama: US ‘will not relent’ in Islamic State marketing campaign

President Barack Obama vows the fight against the Islamic State group won’t let up and that the world won’t accept attacks on civilians in Paris and elsewhere as the “new normal”.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the West would “annihilate Islamic State worldwide.”After Obamas return to Washington early Monday, he will prepare for a White House meeting with French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday, where the leaders will discuss bolstering the global coalition fighting IS.

The president said he is confident that the US and its partners would ultimately destroy the Islamic State group, which has shown an ability to strike targets far beyond its base in Syria and Iraq. In Turkey and the Philippines last week, Obama pushed back on those proposals as un-American, drawing criticism from a few who said he failed to grasp Americans post-Paris fears.

Germany is part of the coalition, but is not among those conducting airstrikes.

Obama, who held an informal coffee-table summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, said there were still differences between the two leaders over the future of President Bashar al-Assad “who we do not believe has a role in Syria’s future because of his brutal rule”. Having secured a veto-proof majority in the House, supporters are now hoping for a repeat in the US Senate, while Obama works to shift the conversation to milder visa waiver changes that wouldn’t affect Syrian refugees.

The Paris attacks “should not lead us to overreact with the notion that we have to immediately ourselves squelch ISIL with an invasion”, said O’Hanlon.

The United States is working closely with France in its investigation of the attack and its hunt for suspects in the “heinous” attacks, he said.

This observer can not help but notice that President Obama’s advice, in the wake of the deadly Paris attacks, is very similar to that given by Bush after the 9-11 attacks.

Following his remarks, there were immediate charges that defensiveness was not the correct tone for a president after an ally had been attacked.

President Obama referenced his visits to Walter Reed Hospital where he thanked many injured warriors. He urged Americans against “succumbing to the fear that allows us to abandon our values, to abandon how we live”. He said the USA had survived mass casualties before and pointed out that New York’s Times Square was again filled with people – “rightly so”.