The U.S. has led the effort so far by launching limited airstrikes against Islamic State forces in Iraq, dropping humanitarian aid to besieged Iraqi communities, and creating a widening effort to arm Kurdish forces. The beheading of two American journalists held by Islamic State fighters in Syria shifted the U.S. calculus, creating the urgency to mount a coalition. Mr. Obama is now calling for allies to defeat Islamic State militants. As in Afghanistan, America's chief ally in the fight is the U.K. The militants who beheaded the two Americans have also threatened to kill a Briton in their custody, and on 4th September Mr. Obama and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron urged NATO to take on the fight against Islamic State. Mr. Cameron said the U.K. was considering joining the U.S. in launching direct military strikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq. The U.K. is also reviewing whether to provide arms and training directly to Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State. "We are considering actively whether to give them arms ourselves," Mr. Cameron said. While Mr. Obama and Mr. Cameron led the
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appeal to summit participants, they were joined by top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and Susan Rice, the president's national security adviser. Before joining the lobbying effort, Lisa Monaco, the president's top counterterrorism adviser, said the U.S. strategy would also lean on intelligence sharing with allies, countering the group's sophisticated use of media, and law enforcement efforts to disrupt the flow of foreign fighters to and from the region. "If left unchecked," she said, the group "poses a potential threat to the homeland." Mr. Kerry and Mr. Hagel expect to continue the lobbying effort later this week when they seek broader support across the region. Jordan’s King Abdullah told NATO leaders that they had to make immediate decisions to stop Islamic State forces, according to participants in the meetings. Mr. Cameron met with the Jordanian king separately. "It's very important that Western intervention isn't... done against the wishes and against the work of regional neighbors," Mr. Cameron said. "That is the mistake that's been made in the past." The U.S. is looking to create new alliances with Sunni tribes in Iraq to battle Islamic State forces, which have taken control of major cities. It also wants to advance sluggish efforts to arm and train pro-American Syrian rebels so they can retake Islamic State strongholds in that country. Mr. Obama was also planning to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country shelters more than 800,000 Syrian refugees and serves as a conduit for militants heading to fight with Islamic State forces in neighboring Syria and Iraq. A Role for Saudi Arabia Now is the time for Saudi Arabia to man up. There is broad agreement that the black-clad savages of the Islamic State pose a profound threat first to neighboring Arab regimes and only then to Europe and the United States. Yet amid the debate over how a reluctant U.S. or timid Europe should respond, there is no discussion of what
Saudi Arabia should do. This is a remarkable omission that ought to shame the Saudis. Saudi Arabia is the wealthiest country in the region. It has by far the largest Air Force, equipped with hundreds of U.S. and British advanced fighter aircraft. With its oil reserves and stature as the birthplace of Islam, the kingdom is an inevitable target for the rolling brigades of ISIS. Moreover, the Saudis have ample reason not to want to be seen again as wards of the West, a fragile society requiring military protection from America which, under the Obama administration, may well not provide it. So why aren't well trained Saudi pilots flying bombing runs over Mosul or against ISIS command and control centers in Syria? The problem is a failure of will even in pursuit of their own interests. The House of Saud, which has ruled the kingdom off and on for more than 270 years, historically has survived by ducking and weaving, by seeking to avoid confrontations while trying to satisfy everyone. As a result the kingdom has been reliant on othersessentially the U.S. —for its security. An ostrich strategy may no longer be viable. Given President Obama's ducking and weaving on Syria and his cozying up to Iran, Saudi Arabia's Shiite nemesis, the Saudis have ample grounds to conclude that the U.S. cannot be counted on as a reliable protector. The Islamic State also poses a fundamental challenge to the House of Saud's legitimacy as ruler of Saudi Arabia. Since the 18th century, the Al Saud kings have justified their rule by claiming to be the protector and promoter of the one true Islam—the austere version preached by Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, who joined forces with the Al Saud to conquer Arabia and return it to the Islam of the Prophet Muhammad. Another matter that the West must take into consideration – Saudi Arabia's royal family locked in King Abdullah's next two successors in March of this year, making it likely that the oldest generation will rule the conservative oil kingdom for decades more before full power passes to a
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Iraq. Instead the alliance is likely to be called upon to help coordinate efforts to deliver humanitarian aid and enforce controls along Iraq's porous borders. "NATO's role isn't operational [in Iraq]. It's a role of assistance," the diplomat said. Obama administration officials said they weren't expecting NATO allies to immediately take part in airstrikes the U.S. has been conducting against Islamic State forces in Iraq. The initial coalition effort is expected to focus on Islamic State forces in Iraq, because Syria's civil war has fractured the country. U.S. officials have said that the threat of the group can't be eradicated without targeting its strongholds in Syria. Mr. Obama has authorized surveillance flights over Syria, but hasn't yet decided on airstrikes as of the time of this writing. It is unclear, however, if the U.S. can persuade many allies to eventually expand the effort into Syria. French officials say they are wary of taking the fight to Syria due to the chaotic nature of the country's civil war.