finale. will your favorites mac it? we'll see. i'm nick cannon thank you amer >> announcer: from nbc news, a presidential address. here's brian williams. >> good evening. just over a minute from now o this eve of september 11th, president obama has chosen to address the american people on what is still a relatively new terrorist threat. it group you'll hear him call isil, more commonly known as isis. we're talking about the same thing, however. the islamic extremists we've seen driving the vehicles the u.s. left behind in iraq, humvees, fords, using american made weapons left behind in iraq and beheading people every chance they get including americans as they take control

of some vast pieces of countryside from syria into iraq. now, u.s. air assets are in the skies over iraq and syria right now. we're already in this fight which brings us to the address tonight and our political director moderator of "meet the press" chuck todd. the president just told you he was going to prepare the country tonight but for what? >> he's going prepare the country for what's going to be a lengthy style of war that he's been conducting over the last six years. this war against isis. this terrorist group in iraq and syria. he's going combat them the same way he's gone after al qaeda in places like yemen, afghanistan, ungoverned parts. his hope is over time they can degrade it. we'll see. >> the president approaching the podium. li here's the president. >> my fellow americans, tonight i want to speak to you about what the united states will do

with our friends and allies to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as isil. as commander in chief, my highest priority is the security of the american people. over the last several years we've consistently taken the fight to terrorists who threaten our country. we took out osama bin laden and much of al qaeda's leadership in afghanistan and pakistan. we targeted al qaeda's affiliate in yemen and recently eliminated the top commander of its affiliate in somalia. we've done so while bringing more than 140,000 american troops home from iraq and drawing down our forces in afghanistan where our combat mission will end later this year. thanks to our military and counterterrorism professionals, america is safer. still, we continue to face a terrorist threat. we can't erase every trace of evil from the world and small groups of killers have the

capacity to do great harm. that was the case before 9/11 and that remains true today and that's why we must remain vigilant as threats emerge. at this moment, the greatest threats come from the middle east and north africa where radical groups exploit grievances for their own gain and one of those groups is isil, which calls itself the islamic state. now, let's make two things clear. isil is not islamic. no religion condones the killing of innocence and the vast majority of isil's victims have been muslim. isil is certainly not a state. it was formerly al qaeda's affiliate in iraq and has taken advantage of sectarian strife and syria's civil war to gain territory on both sides of the iraq/syrian border. it is recognized by no government, nor by the people it

subje subje subjectates. it has no vision other than slaughter of those that stand in its way. in a region that's known so much bloodshed, these terrorists are unique in their brutality. they execute captured prisoners. they kill children. they enslave, rape and force women into marriage. they threaten the religious minority with genocide and in acts of barberism, they took the lives of two americans. isil poses a threat to the people of iraq and syria and the broader middle east. if left unchecked, these terrorists could pose a growing threat beyond that region including to the united states. while we have not yet detected specific plotting against our homeland, isil leaders have threatened america and our allies. our intelligence community believes that thousands of

foreigners including europeans and some americans have joined them in syria in iraq, trained, these fighters could try to return to their home countries and carry out deadly attacks. i know many americans are concerned about these threats. tonight, i want you to know that the united states of america is meeting them with strength and resolve. last month i ordered our military to take targeted action against isil to stop its advances. since then we've conducted more than 150 successful air strikes in iraq. these strikes have protected american personnel if facilities, killed isil fighters, destroyed weapons, and given space for iraqi and kurdish forces to reclaim key territory. these strikes have also helped save the lives of thousands of innocent men, women and children. but this is not our fight alone.

american power can make a decisive difference but we cannot do for iraqis what they must do for themselves. nor can we take the place of partners in securing their region. that's why i insisted that additional u.s. action dependent on iraqis forming an inclusive government, which they have now done in recent days. so tonight with a new iraqi government in place and following consultations with allies abroad and congress at home, i can announce that america will lead a broad coalition to rollback this terrorist threat. our objective is clear. we will degrade and ultimately destroy isil through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy. first, we will conduct a systematic campaign of air strikes against these terrorists. working with the iraqi government, we will expand our efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian

missions so that we're hitting isil targets as iraqi forces go on offense. moreover, i made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country wherever they are. that means i will not hesitate to take action against isil in syria as well as iraq. this is a core principle of my presidency. if you threaten america, you will find no safe haven. second, we will increase our support to forces fighting these terrorists on the ground. in june i deployed several hundred american service members to iraq to assess how we can best support iraqi security forces. now that those teams have completed their work and iraq formed a government, we'll send an initial 475 service members to iraq. as i said before, these american forces will not have a combat mission. we will not get dragged into another ground war in iraq, but they are needed to support iraqi

and kurdish forces with training, intelligence and equipment. we'll also support iraq's efforts to stand up national guard units to help them secure their own freedom from isil's control. across the border in syria, we have ramped up our military assistance to the syrian opposition. tonight i call on congress again to give us additional authorities and resources to train and equip these fighters. the fight against isil we cannot rely on assad regime that terrorizes its own people. a regime that will never regain the legitimacy it lost. we must strengthen the opposition as the best counterweight to extremists like isil while pursuing the political solution necessary to solve syria's crisis once and for all. third, we will continue to draw on our substantial counterterrorism capabilities to prevent isil attacks.

working with our partners, we'll redouble our efforts to cut off its funding, improve our intelligence, strengthen our defenses, counter its warped ideology and stem the throw of fighters into and out of the middle east and i'll chair a meeting of the union security council to mobilize the international community around this effort. fourth, we will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians who have been displaced by this terrorist organization. this includes sunni and shia muslims who are at grave risk and tens of thousands of christians and other religious minorities. we cannot allow these communities to be driven from the ancient homelands. this is our strategy. in each of these four parts of our strategy, america will be joined by a broad coalition of partners. already allies are flying planes with us over iraq, sending arms and assistance to iraqi security

forces and the syrian opposition, sharing intelligence and providing billions of dollars in humanitarian aid. secretary kerry was in iraq today meeting with the new government and supporting their efforts to promote unity and in the coming days he'll travel across the middle east and europe to enlist more partners in this fight especially arab nations who can help mobilize sunni communities in iraq and syria to drive these terrorists from their lands. this is american leadership at its best. we stand with people who fight for their own freedom and we rally other nations on behalf of our common security and common humanity. my administration has also secured bipartisan support for this approach here at home. i have the authority to address the threat from isil, but i believe we are strongest as a nation when the president and congress work together. so i welcome congressional support for this effort in order to show the world that americans

are united in confronting this danger. now, it will take time to eradicate a cancer like isil and any time we take military action, there are risks involved especially to the service men and women who carry out these missions. i want the american people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. it will not involve american combat troops fighting on foreign soil. this counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out isil wherever they exist using our airpower and our support for partner forces on the ground. this strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us while supporting partners on the front lines is one that we've successfully pursued in yemen and somalia for years and it's consistent with the approach i outlined earlier this year to use force against anyone that threatens america's core

interest but to use partners for international order. my fellow americans, we live in a time of great change. tomorrow marks 13 years since our country was attacked. next week marks six years since our economy suffered its worst setback since the great depression. yet despite the shocks through the pain we felt and gruelling work required to bounce back, america is better positioned today to see the future than any other nation on earth. our technology companies and universities are unmatched. our manufacturing and auto industries are thriving. energy independence is closer than its been in decades. for all of the work that remains, our businesses are in the longest, uninterrupted stretch of job creation in our history. despite all of the divisions and discord with our democracy, i see the grit and determination

and common goodness of the american people every single day. that makes me more confident than ever about our country's future. abroad american leadership is the one constant in an uncertain world. it is america that has the capacity and the will to mobilize the world against terrorists. it is america that has rallied the world against russian aggression and in support of the ukrainian people's right to determine their own destiny. it is america, our scientists, our doctors, our know how that can help contain and cure the outbreak of ebola. it is america that helped remove and destroy syria's declared chemical weapons. and it is america that's helping muslim communities around the world not just in the tight against terrorism but in the fight for opportunity and tolerance and a who are hopeful

future. america, our endless blessings bestow an enduring burden but as americans, we welcome our responsibility to lead from europe to asia, from the far reaches of africa to war-torn capitals in the middle east, we stand for freedom, for justice, for dignity. these are values that have guided our nation since its founding. tonight i ask for your support in carrying that leadership forward. i do so as a commander in chief who could not be prouder of our men and women in uniform. pilots who bravely fly in the face of danger above the middle east and service members who support our partners on the ground. when we helped prevent the massacre of civilians trapped on a distant mountain, here's what one of them said. "we owe our american friends our

lives. our children will always remember that there was someone who felt our struggle and made a long journey to protect innocent people." that is the difference we make in the world. our own safety, our own security, depends upon our willingness to do what it takes to defend this nation and uphold the values that we stand for. timeless ideals that will endure long after those who offer only hate and destruction have been bank wished from the earth. may god bless our troops and may god bless the united states of america. >> speaking under three hours away from the 13th anniversary of 9/11, another u.s. president does what president bush 41 first