The Heat: Obama’s strategy to fight IS

The Heat

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency estimates that the Islamic State has about 20,000 to 31,000 fighters who have taken over portions of northern Iraq and Syria.

This weekend, they killed another western hostage. Islamic State fighters released the video of the murder of a British Aid worker, David Haines, who was kidnapped last year in Syria.

U.S. President Barack Obama ordered a sustained military campaign to eliminate and destroy the terrorist group. In addition to more than 150 airstrikes carried out in northern Iraq, the United States said the Iraqi army must be rebuilt, Syrian opposition soldiers will require training and Kurdish fighters will need more weapons. The White House said that it’s an operation that could take years to accomplish and will require an international coalition of western and Arab allies.

To discuss more, we were joined by CCTV’s Anna van de Berghe from Erbil.

The success of the U.S. led campaign hinges partially on the newly unified Iraqi government. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who replaced Nouri al-Maliki in August, faces the task of bringing the Sunni minority back into the political process.

CCTV’s Anand Naidoo interviewed Ambassador Samir Sumaida’ie, who served as Iraq’s first ambassador to the United States for 15 years.

There’s been a lot of skepticism about President Obama’s strategy and the escalation of U.S. military force in Iraq and Syria. Several key Arab nations offered military help, but Egypt is unlikely to send troops and Turkey says it will not allow the United States to use its airbases.

CCTV’s Anand Naidoo spoke to Manal Omar, the acting vice president at the Center for the Middle East and Africa with the United States Institute of Peace and Stephen Miles, the advocacy director for the “Win without War” Coalition.