US ‘can’t fix all the world’s ills’
Washington – The United States must strike a balance between risky military interventions and an isolationist foreign policy, President Barack Obama said yesterday, as he hit back against claims that America’s standing in the world had been diminished on his watch.
In a staunch defence of his widely criticised handling of crises, Obama argued that the pursuit of diplomacy was a better model of leadership than launching attacks on nations in strife.
Insisting that it was crucial to ‘‘mobilise allies to take collective action’’, he announced a US$5 billion (NZ$5.9b) counterterrorism fund to help countries in which extremists had established a foothold.
He also indicated that the US would be stepping up military assistance to rebels in Syria, amid suggestions that the White House was preparing to train and equip moderate opposition forces.
Obama warned that terrorism remained the greatest challenge facing the US, with the threat no longer stemming from a centralised al Qaeda leadership but rather smaller cells spread out across the Middle East and Africa.
The new fund, which requires approval from Congress, aims to boost local forces fighting terrorism, with missions ranging from training security forces in Yemen to helping to create a fully functioning security force and border patrol in Libya, Obama said. Such efforts, he claimed, were the new measure of American leadership around the world following the end of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
‘‘America must always lead on the world stage.
‘‘If we don’t, no-one else will,’’ the president said in a speech to new graduates at the West Point Military Academy.
‘‘The military that you have joined is, and always will be, the backbone of that leadership.
‘‘But US military action cannot be the only – or even primary – component of our leadership in every instance. Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.’’
The speech comes as a riposte to accusations that Obama has been floundering over Syria and emboldening President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine.
Obama has already made his frustration with such criticism clear and told his military audience yesterday: ‘‘I would betray my duty . . . if I sent you into harm’s way simply because I saw a problem somewhere in the world that needed fixing, or because I was worried about critics who think military intervention is the only way for America to avoid looking weak.’’
On Syria, Obama admitted that the war had spawned a global terrorist threat even as he defended his decision to keep the US military out of the conflict.
He said he planned to boost support for the opposition, as well as neighbouring countries including Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq that have faced an influx of refugees and fear the spread of terrorism. ‘‘In helping those who fight for the right of all Syrians to choose their own future, we also push back against the growing number of extremists who find safe haven in the chaos,’’ he said.
The speech comes amid discussions within the administration about the prospect of the United States training and arming select groups of rebels – a move that could provide a major boost in the battle to oust the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Obama is considering sending a limited number of American troops to Jordan to be part of a regional training mission that would instruct carefully screened members of the Free Syrian Army on tactics, administration officials have said.
The plans do not yet have final approval and remain under review, the officials added.