American leadership is helping defeat the world’s worst enemies, President Obama said Saturday during his weekly address.
“The people of the world look to us to lead,” Obama said after touting his efforts to rally international support for counter-terror military campaigns in the Middle East and to block Russian incursions in Ukraine.
“And we welcome that responsibility,” Obama said. “We are heirs to a proud legacy of freedom. And as we showed the world this week, we are prepared to do what is necessary to secure that legacy for generations to come.”
U.S. warplanes on Monday began bombing in Syria, targeting the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. Previous attacks have been confined to Iraq.
Obama this week successfully pressed the United Nations Security Council to unanimously approve a resolution requiring countries to adopt new laws blocking the flow of foreign fighters to assist ISIS.
U.S. and European officials fear their citizens who have rushed to the aid of ISIS could return to their home countries and commit terror acts.
The British Parliament on Friday voted to participate in U.S. led air strikes. Obama said he has rallied many other nations, including a strong contingent of Arab countries, to join the effort to curb ISIS, which has taken over large swaths of Iraq and Syria.
“American leadership is the one constant in an uncertain world,” Obama said. “That was true this week as we mobilized the world to confront some of our most urgent challenges.”
Aside from the bombings against ISIS, the president said the United States is leading efforts to halt Russian aggression in Ukraine and to contain the Ebola epidemic in Africa.
Tacked on to the checklist of American military operations around the world, Obama said he has built a widening coalition of allies to battle climate change.
