The Empire Strikes Back
NEWPORT, Wales — The Obama administration accelerated efforts Friday
to build an international coalition to combat the Islamic State, winning pledges of support from nine allies but leaving questions about the extent of possible expanded military force.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry said the multinational alliance possesses ``the ability to destroy’’ the militants using tactics that stretch beyond the battlefield such as trying to disrupt its recruiting and financial networks.
“It may take a year, it may take two years, it may take three years. But we’re determined. It has to happen,” he said at the end of a two-day NATO summit in Wales.
The 10-nation alliance, forged at the NATO meeting, would expand efforts to arm and train Iraqi government forces and Kurdish fighters battling the Islamic State. The group would also further coordinate operations to deliver humanitarian aid to refugees who fled as the Islamic State’s gained ground in northern Iraq and parts of Syria.
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Britain, France and Australia are considered the most likely allies to possibly join the United States in more aggressive airstrike campaigns against the Islamic State — at least in Iraq. France and Australia both have military outposts in the United Arab Emirates. Britain has a military base in Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean.
Philip Hammond, Britain’s foreign secretary, said his country had “made no commitment to take part in any air strikes as yet, but we’ll certainly consider that possibility.”
U.S. officials, meanwhile, are pressing other NATO members to provide support in different ways, including providing weapons and ammunition for Kurdish fighters and sharing intelligence about the Islamic State -- which has drawn thousands of foreign fighters from Europe, North Africa, the United States and elsewhere.
NATO allies unite against Islamic State - The Washington Post
The U.S., Britain, France, and Australia will carry the load. How 'bout those superior Canadian forces?
I calculate we'll call them to deliver the critical canoes and maple syrup.