Obama confident US mission against Daesh will “succeed”

A US-led coalition battling ISIS in Iraq and Syria is “on the offensive” and will prevail, President Barack Obama vowed Wednesday after asking Congress to back the war effort.

“It is not the authorization of another ground war like Afghanistan or Iraq,” Obama said, seeking to differentiate military efforts under his watch from the unpopular wars the US launched under his predecessor George W. Bush.

But it does allow for certain ground combat operations including rescue operations or the use of special operations forces and it permits the use of US forces for intelligence collection, targeting operations for drone strikes and planning and giving other assistance to local forces.

Obama said the mission against ISIS would be difficult and would stay that way for some time – particularly as coalition forces seek to rout the jihadis from urban areas in Iraq and Syria. But Obama said the coalition was firmly on the offensive, vowing that “[ISIS] is going to lose.”

“Our coalition is strong, our cause is just, and our mission will succeed,” Obama said.

The initial reaction to his authorization request in Congress was bipartisan skepticism. Republicans expressed unhappiness that Obama chose to exclude any long-term commitment of ground forces, while some Democrats voiced dismay that he had opened the door to deployment at all.