Encomium
United States (US) president, Barack Obama vowed in his State of the Union address yesterday (Tuesday, January 20) to relentlessly hunt down terrorists from “Pakistan to the streets of Paris”.
Calling on Congress to approve new war powers against Islamic State (IS) militants, Obama argued that the US military leadership in Iraq and Syria is stopping the IS terrorists advance.
Republican lawmakers have said they are prepared to work with him to pass such a measure if he sends a proposal up to Capitol Hill. Obama said he believes in moving forward with “a smarter kind of American leadership” that combines military power with strong diplomacy.
According to him: “When we make rash decisions, reacting to the headlines instead of using our heads, when the first response to a challenge is to send in our military, then we risk getting drawn into unnecessary conflicts and neglect the broader strategy we need for a safer, more prosperous world”.
