President Obama is preparing to address the nation tonight on the growing threat of ISIS, the extremist organization that has taken over large parts of Iraq and Syria.
Just a week ago the President admitted he did not have a plan for dealing with the group and by most accounts he and his administration have spent the last several days remedying that situation and should offer a plan to the nation at 9:00p tonight.
We spoke with former foreign policy advisor to Mitt Romney, Robert O’Brien, about what he expects to hear tonight.
“I expect it will be a combination of air strikes, American special operators on the ground and a coalition of forces to confront ISIS,” O’Brien says. “President Obama is doing something President Bush had to do and his father had to do before him. He’s creating a coalition of nations to go and deal with a terrorist or rogue situation in Iraq and that’s precisely what he said he’d never do.”
There is, O’Brien says, a difference between ISIS and the terrorist groups that the U.S. fought in Iraq for a decade, and it’s one that could make them a little easier to defeat.
“Unlike a more shadowy terrorist organization where you have to find them within big cities and track them down within refugee camps and that sort of thing, they control a defined area...so it does provide more options for our military leaders as they do what the President has asked them to do, Degrade and destroy Isis.”
Ahead of President Obama’s address O’Brien had some criticism for his handling of the middle east situation, pointing out that he believes the President has reached out to traditional enemies of the United States like Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood to the detriment of our relationship with allies like Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE and others.
O’Brien notes that the President has an opportunity tonight to remedy that situation by reaching out to those traditional friends and remind them that the U.S. has their back should they enter the fight against extremists in their global neighborhood.
Still he warns, “this could be a multi-year fight. These are very capable fighters, they’re very passionate in their jihad and this is not gonna be easy.”
Programming note: Yahoo will present live coverage of the President's address beginning at 8:45pm ET anchored by Katie Couric and featuring Yahoo News team members Bianna Golodryga, Michael Isikoff, and Matt Bai. Your questions will be answered. Tweet @katiecouric using #askyahoonews.