‘US stands with terror victims’
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Washington stands side-by-side with victims of terror around the world, President Barack Obama vowed Tuesday, asking lawmakers to give him updated war powers to defeat Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria.
“We stand united with people around the world who’ve been targeted by terrorists — from a school in Pakistan to the streets of Paris,” Obama said in the country’s annual State of the Union address.
“We will continue to hunt down terrorists and dismantle their networks.”
He was speaking just days after Islamist attacks in the French capital at the satirical magazine Charlie Heb- do, in a street attack on police and a hostage-taking in a Jewish supermarket left 17 dead.
He also denounced what he said was the “deplorable anti-Semitism” on the rise in some parts of the world.
As Obama mentioned the shocking attack on Charlie Hebdo, in which many of France’s best-loved cartoonists were gunned down, U.S. lawmakers rose to their feet to pay tribute, some waving yellow pencils.
Democratic Representative Gwen Moore led the show of support in which about 40 lawmakers — mainly Democrats — held up standard pencils, tools of the cartoonists’ art..
Moore’s office called the symbolic event a “unique opportunity to join our global partners in showing our collective support and solidarity.” Obama also asked U.S. lawmakers to give him updated war powers to use American military might to go after the Islamic State (IS) group, saying it would give his administration the authority it needs.
“This effort will take time. It will require focus. But we will succeed,” he vowed.
The U.S. has already unleashed dozens of airstrikes against the militants since September, using the powers enshrined in legislation adopted in the wake of the 9/11 attacks to hunt down al-Qaida.