Obama on war powers request:

Islamic State is going to lose WASHINGTON (AP) - Vowing that Islamic State forces are "going to lose," President Barack Obama urged Congress on Wednesday to authorize military action against terrorists who are cutting a swath across the Middle East. Yet he ruled out large-scale U.S. ground combat operations reminiscent of Iraq and Afghanistan. "I'm convinced that the United States should not get dragged back into another prolonged ground war," the president said at the White House as he set Congress on a path to its first war-powers vote in 13 years.

Despite his words of reassurance, initial reaction in Congress amounted to bipartisan skepticism, with much of the dissatisfaction centered on his attempt to find a political middle ground with respect to ground forces.

Republicans expressed unhappiness that he had chosen to exclude any long-term commitment of ground forces, while some Democrats voiced dismay that he had opened the door to deployment at all.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., also said Obama had ruled out air support for

U.S.-trained rebels battling Syrian President Bashar Assad, adding, "That's immoral." Under Obama's proposal, the use of military force against Islamic State fighters would be authorized for three years, unbounded by national borders. The fight could be extended to any "closely related successor entity" to the Islamic State organization that has overrun parts of Iraq and Syria, imposed a stern form of Sharia law and killed several hostages it has taken, Americans among them.

"Make no mistake. This is a difficult mission," Obama said in seeking action against a group that he said threatens America's own security. He said it will take time to dislodge the terrorists, especially from urban areas. "But our coalition is on the offensive. ISIL is on the defensive, and ISIL is going to lose."

The 2002 congressional authorization that preceded the American-led invasion of Iraq would be repealed under the White House proposal, a step some Republicans were unhappy to see. But a separate authorization that was approved by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks would remain in force, to the consternation of some Democrats.

At the heart of the debate, the struggle to define any role for American ground forces is likely to determine the outcome of the administration's request for legislation. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the proposal was intentionally ambiguous on that point to give the president flexibility, although the approach also was an attempt to bridge a deep divide in Congress.

While asking lawmakers to bar long-term, large-scale ground combat operations like those in Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama said he wants the flexibility for ground combat operations "in other more limited circumstances." Those include rescue missions, intelligence collection and the use of special operations forces in possible military action against Islamic State leaders.

While he proposed legislation to terminate in three years, Obama said, "It is not a timetable. It is not announcing that the mission is completed at any given period. What it is saying is that Congress should revisit the issue at the beginning of the next president's term."

Whatever the outcome, Obama's request puts Congress on the path toward a vote that could reverberate unpredictably for years.

A post-9/11 request from then-President George W. Bush for authorization to use military force against Iraq was intensely controversial, and it played a role in Obama's successful campaign for the White House in 2008.

His chief rival for the Democratic nomination, then-New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, voted in favor of the Bush proposal. Obama, who was not in Congress at the time of the vote, said later he would have opposed it, and he made it an issue in the presidential race.

Clinton, who served four years as Obama's secretary of state and is now a likely candidate for president in 2016, had no immediate reaction to the new White House proposal.

Lawmakers were not as reticent, although outright supporters of the president's plan were relatively scarce.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, expressed doubt it would "give our military commanders the flexibility and authorities they need to succeed and protect our people."

He said changes are likely before the measure comes to a vote, although one House committee set an initial hearing for Thursday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., like Boehner, said the proposal would receive serious consideration.

Democrats had a different reason to question the president's proposal.

The House Democratic leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, issued a statement that refrained from endorsing Obama's request. It said Congress should act judiciously and promptly to pass legislation "narrowly tailored" to the fight against Islamic State fighters. She has said previously she opposes deploying U.S. "boots on the ground." Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Senate's longest-serving Democrat, cautioned that any legislation must be in a form that avoids "repeating the missteps of the past and that does not result in an open-ended authorization that becomes legal justification for future actions against unknown enemies, in unknown places, at unknown times." In a letter to lawmakers accompanying the three-page draft legislation, Obama

referred to four American hostages who have died in Islamic State custody - at least three of them beheaded. He said the militant group, if left unchecked, "will pose a threat beyond the Middle East, including to the United States homeland."

Among the four hostages was Kayla Mueller, a 26-year-old humanitarian worker whose death under unknown circumstances was confirmed Tuesday.

In the past, Obama has cited congressional authorizations from 2001 and 2002 to justify his decision to deploy more than 2,700 U.S. troops to train and assist Iraqi security forces and conduct airstrikes against targets in Iraq and Syria.

Obama said coalition airstrikes were disrupting terrorist supply lines, destroying their tanks, their barracks, their training grounds and the oil and gas facilities that support their operations.

 

第二篇：时事新闻摘抄：Islamic State group accepts Boko Haram pledge of allegiance

Satellite Photos Show Most of Syria Without Lights

BEIRUT (AP) - Islamic State militants have accepted a pledge of allegiance by the Nigerian-grown Boko Haram extremist group, according to a spokesman for the Islamic State movement.

The development Thursday came as both groups - among the most ruthless in the world - are under increasing military pressure and have sustained setbacks on the battlefield.

Islamic State seized much of northern and western Iraq last summer, gaining control of about a third of both Iraq and Syria. But it is now struggling against Iraqi forces seeking to recapture Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, while coming under fire from U.S.-led coalition air strikes in other parts of the country and in Syria.

Boko Haram, meanwhile, has been weakened by a multinational force that has dislodged it from a score of northeastern Nigerian towns. But its new Twitter account, increasingly slick and more frequent video messages, and a new media arm all were considered signs that the group is now being helped by IS propagandists.

Then on Saturday, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau posted an audio recording

online that pledged allegiance to IS.

"We announce our allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims ... and will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity, in hardship and ease, and to endure being discriminated against, and not to dispute about rule with those in power, except in case of evident infidelity regarding that which there is a proof from Allah," said Boko Haram's message.

On Thursday, the Islamic State group's media arm Al-Furqan, in an audio recording by spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, said that Boko Haram's pledge of allegiance has been accepted, claiming the caliphate has now expanded to West Africa and that "no one can stand in its path."

Al-Adnani had urged foreign fighters from around the world to migrate and join Boko Haram. He also sent a message to Christians and other non-Muslims in IS lands to convert to Islam or pay a special tax - something the extremists have already put into practice in IS-held territory in Iraq and Syria.

"If you insist on being arrogant and stubborn ... soon you will bite your fingers off in regret," he added.

J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington, noted the Islamic State group's quick acceptance of Boko Haram's allegiance and said that the bond highlights a new risk.

"Militants finding it increasingly harder to get to Syria and Iraq may choose instead to go to northeastern Nigeria and internationalize that conflict," Pham wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

In the past - as was the case with IS affiliates in Egypt, Yemen and Libya - it took weeks for the Islamic State to respond to a pledge of allegiance.

"The prompt - one might even say 'fast-tracked' - acceptance by the so-called Islamic State of Boko Haram's pledge of allegiance" underscores that both needed the propaganda boost from the affiliation, Pham added.

The Boko Haram's pledge comes as the militants reportedly were massing in the northeastern Nigerian town of Gwoza, considered their headquarters, for a showdown with the Chadian-led multinational force.

Boko Haram killed an estimated 10,000 people last year, and it is blamed for last April's abduction of more than 275 schoolgirls. Thousands of Nigerians have fled to neighboring Chad.

The group is waging a nearly 6-year insurgency to impose Islamic law, or Shariah, in Nigeria. It began launching attacks across the border into Cameroon last year, and this year its fighters struck in Niger and Chad in retaliation to their agreement to form a multinational force to fight the militants.

Boko Haram followed the lead of IS in August by declaring an Islamic caliphate in northeast Nigeria that grew to cover an area the size of Belgium. After their blitz last year, Islamic State extremists declared a caliphate in the territory they control in Iraq and Syria and imposed their harsh interpretation of Islamic law.

The Nigerian group has also followed IS in publishing videos of beheadings. The latest one, published March 2, borrowed certain elements from IS productions, such as the sound of a beating heart and heavy breathing immediately before the execution, according to SITE Intelligence Group.

In video messages last year, Boko Haram's leader sent greetings and praise to both IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and leaders of al-Qaida. The Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, is in itself an al-Qaida breakaway that was rejected by the global terror network after the two had a brutal falling out more than a year ago.

Boko Haram, however, has never been an affiliate of al-Qaida, some analysts surmise because al-Qaida considers the Nigerians' indiscriminate slaughter of Muslim civilians as un-Islamic.

Recent offensives have marked a sharp escalation by African nations against Boko Haram. An African Union summit agreed on sending a force of 8,750 troops to fight Boko Haram.

Military operations in Niger's east have killed at least 500 Boko Haram fighters since Feb. 8, Nigerien officials have said.

Members of the U.N. Security Council proposed Thursday that the international community supply money, equipment, troops and intelligence to a five-nation African force fighting Boko Haram.

Also Thursday, Nigeria acknowledged it is getting help from regional security operatives following reports that South African and other foreign contractors are assisting in the fight against Boko Haram. Government spokesman Mike Omeri said Nigeria has extensive experience in coordinating with other African militaries and leading peacekeeping missions across the continent.

Omeri noted the involvement of soldiers from regional militaries in the fight against Boko Haram, and said other "individuals" from the region "are on the ground in a capacity limited to training or technical support."