Obama Asks Congress to Authorize Limited Ground Operations Against ISIL

According to US President Obama's authorization request, US military forces could be used in rescue operations and military actions against Islamic State leadership.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US President Barack Obama asked US Congress to authorize limited ground operations, including military actions against the Islamic State leaders and rescue operations, according to Obama’s authorization request for the use of military force (AUMF) against Islamic State.

“The authorization I propose would provide the flexibility to conduct ground combat operations in other, more limited circumstances, such as rescue operations involving US or coalition personnel or the use of special operations forces to take military action against ISIL leadership,” Obama said in his AUMF request.

However, Obama stressed that AUMF would not authorize “long-term, large-scale ground combat operations like those our nation conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan.” Local forces will be deployed to conduct such operations, Obama said.

“The authority granted… does not authorize the use of the United States Armed Forces in enduring offensive ground combat operations," the authorization seeking congressional approval for the war against the Islamic State read.

Instead of a seeking authorization for a long-term US ground combat role such as the United States engaged in decades long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the president put local forces in Iraq and Syria at the forefront of combat operations against the Islamic State, according to an accompanying letter to the AUMF sent to Congress.

As commander-in-chief, Obama proposed “flexibility to conduct ground combat operations in other, more limited circumstances,” according to the president's letter. This would include special rescue operations for US or anti-Islamic State coalition personnel as well as operations to strike at the IS leadership.

“It would also authorize the use of U.S. forces in situations where ground combat operations are not expected or intended, such as intelligence collection and sharing, missions to enable kinetic strikes, or the provision of operational planning and other forms of advice and assistance to partner forces,” the president said.

The US president requested Congress to repeal 2002 resolution that authorizes use of US armed forces in Iraq.

“The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 is hereby repealed,” the document said.

Obama is seeking war powers from Congress for anti-Islamic State military operations that began last summer in Iraq and Syria with airstrikes after the terrorist group moved from Syria and seized large swaths of territory in Iraq.

The United States is spearheading a nearly 60 nation anti-Islamic State coalition targeting Islamic State military positions, command and control centers, infrastructure and financial sources, according to the Pentagon. As part of the effort to “degrade and defeat” the Islamic State the US and coalition partners are supporting and training Kurdish and Iraqi security forces, as well as planning to train moderate Syrian rebels over the next year to take the ground fight to the Islamic State in Syria.

The Obama administration has justified ongoing US hostilities against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria under the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs, originally passed to target those who carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and to authorize the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.