Chad’s Morning Brief: Obama to Allow Limited Airstrikes on ISIS, Americans Worried About Illegal Immigration, and Other Top Stories
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of August 8, 2014. Give me your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11am. Remember, you can listen online at KFYO.com or on your iPhone/Android with the radioPup App.
Airstrikes?
Things continue to get worse in Iraq and President Obama is just now thinking about doing something. According to FOX News, Obama has authorized limited airstrikes against ISIS if needed.
President Obama announced Thursday night he has authorized the U.S. military to conduct airstrikes "if necessary" against Islamist militants in Iraq, and the military has conducted a mission to drop humanitarian aid there to help religious minorities stranded amid the violence.
Obama said in a statement from the White House the U.S. military is authorized to launch targeted airstrikes if Islamist militants advance toward American personnel in northern Iraq. He also said that the U.S. decided to conduct the drops to the 50,000 or so religious minorities stranded on a mountaintop in the country's north, who have been forced to flee their homes as the militants advanced.
Obama said the religious minorities are under the threat of genocide from militants from the Islamic State (IS), the group formerly known as ISIS, and are stranded on the mountain without food or water.
“The United States of America cannot turn a blind eye,” Obama said.
Both C-130 and C-17 cargo aircraft participated in the drop, escorted by F-18 fighters. All aircraft have since safely left the immediate airspace over the drop area.
The crisis in Iraq has escalated since IS seized control Thursday of the country's largest Christian city, Qaraqoush. The militants told its residents to leave, convert or die, which sent tens of thousands of civilians and Kurdish fighters fleeing from the area, according to several priests in northern Iraq.
Last week, IS also seized the northwestern town of Sinjar, forcing tens of thousands of people from the ancient Yazidi minority to flee into the mountains and the Kurdish region.
According to the U.N., between 35,000 and 50,000 fled to nearby Mount Sinjar and other areas, "reportedly surrounded by ISIS armed elements" and lacking water and other aid.
Earlier Thursday, the White House stopped short of committing America's military to stopping a potential "genocide" in Iraq, declining to say whether doing so is in "America's core interests."
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest acknowledged the situation is nearing a "humanitarian catastrophe" and and said it is one "we are deeply concerned about and closely monitoring." Earnest claimed Obama has demonstrated a willingness to use military force to protect America's core interests.
But when asked repeatedly by Fox News whether preventing a genocide -- as some have warned could happen in northern Iraq -- counts as being in America's core interests, Earnest did not answer directly.
"The reason that is an important question is that we have seen a couple of different situations where there have been urgent conditions where innocent civilians were under extreme duress and at a heightened risk of slaughter," Earnest said.
Asked the same question twice more, Earnest responded that "each of these situations is evaluated on a case-by-case basis."
Earnest and other administration officials argue there is no American military solution to Iraq's problems and the country must seek a political solution. But the administration acknowledged that the situation on the ground in northern Iraq is dire.
Finally the President is doing something... maybe. But telling our enemies the mission and that the airstrikes will be limited is just silly. Also ruling out ground forces just tells the enemy to wait out the airstrikes and proceed with the slaughter.
Americans Worry About Impact of Illegal Immigration
The Obama administration along with Democrats and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have tried to convince people that amnesty is the right thing to do. According to Reuters, most Americans aren't buying it.
As President Barack Obama considers sidestepping Congress to loosen U.S. immigration policy, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Americans are deeply worried that illegal immigration is threatening the nation's culture and economy.
Seventy percent of Americans - including 86 percent of Republicans - believe undocumented immigrants threaten traditional U.S. beliefs and customs, according to the poll.
The findings suggest immigration could join Obamacare - the healthcare insurance overhaul - and the economy as hot button issues that encourage more Republicans to vote in November's congressional election.
With Congress failing to agree on broad immigration reforms, Obama could act alone in the next few weeks to give work permits to up to 5 million undocumented immigrants and delay some deportations, according to media reports.
Hispanic and liberal voters would welcome that, but the online survey suggests much of the rest of the nation may not.
Despite arguments from the White House and groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that legal immigration benefits business, 63 percent of people in the online survey also said immigrants place a burden on the economy.
While the economy and Obamacare remain the key concerns of voters, immigration has become more of an issue in recent months because of intense media coverage of a surge of illegal migrants, including tens of thousands of children, flooding into the United States from Central America.
Other Top Stories:
These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.
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