'Rooting out a cancer like ISIL won’t be easy and it won’t be quick,' Obama said. Obama vows to remove ISIL 'cancer'

President Barack Obama vowed Tuesday to doggedly fight the growing threat coming from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, even as he promised not to put troops back on the ground in Iraq.

“Rooting out a cancer like ISIL won’t be easy and it won’t be quick,” Obama told the American Legion’s annual convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. “But tyrants and murderers before them should recognize that kind of hateful vision ultimately is no match for the strength and hopes of people who stand together for the security and dignity and freedom that is the birthright of every human being.”


Again offering his condolences to the family of American journalist James Foley, who was killed last week by ISIL militants, Obama had a message for the group: “America does not forget. Our reach is long. We are patient. Justice will be done.”

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U.S. airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq began earlier this month, aimed at protecting American diplomats and military advisers there. “The limited strikes we’re conducting have been necessary to protect our people and have helped Iraqi forces begin to push back these terrorists,” the president said.

Targeted attacks will continue, he added, but ground troops won’t be part of the equation. Removing U.S. troops from Iraq “was the right thing to do,” he said, and “American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq. We’ll not allow the United States to be dragged back into another ground war in Iraq because, ultimately, it is up to the Iraqis to bridge their differences and secure themselves.”

In addition to the airstrikes, the Obama administration is continuing to offer military assistance to the Iraqi government, Kurdish, forces in Iraq and to Syria’s moderate opposition.

But Obama didn’t say more about how he plans to go after ISIL in Syria, a potential gambit that promises to be much more complicated than efforts in Iraq. Nor has he made any decisions about potential military action there, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday.

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Earnest declined Tuesday to confirm reports citing unnamed defense officials that Obama has approved a precursor to potential military action in Syria — U.S. surveillance flights over the country. He did, though, tell reporters traveling aboard Air Force One to Charlotte that the president has not yet made decisions about potential military action in Syria.

Syria’s foreign minister said Monday that his government “is ready for cooperation and coordination at the regional and international level to fight terrorism,” but Earnest shot down the notion of working with Bashar al-Assad’s regime. “As a matter of U.S. policy, we have not recognized” Assad as Syria’s leader, he said. “There are no plans to change that policy and there are no plans to coordinate with the Assad regime.”

The president also used his speech to the veterans group to reiterate his pledge to reform the scandal-plagued Department of Veterans Affairs. “The misconduct we’ve seen at too many facilities, with long wait times and veterans denied care and folks cooking the books, is outrageous and inexcusable,” he said. But, under the leadership of new VA Secretary Bob McDonald, he promised, that will change.

“Despite all the good work that the VA does every day, despite all the progress that we’ve made over the last several years, we are very clear-eyed about the problems that are still there,” Obama said to polite applause. “And those problems require us to regain the trust of our veterans and live up to our vision of VA that is more effective and more efficient and that truly puts veterans first. And I will not be satisfied until that happens.”