President Barack Obama's Wednesday night speech in which he outlined his strategy for fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) does not mean America is going back to war, says National Security adviser Susan Rice.
Obama campaigned on getting America out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Rice, appearing on CNN's
"The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" on Thursday, said targeted airstrikes do not constitute war.
The difference, she said, is that there will be no American ground troops, "which is what I think the American people think of when they think of a war."
"It sounds like a war to me," Blitzer said.
Rice: "I think frankly this is a counterterrorism operation that will take time. It will be sustained," Rice said, who repeatedly emphasized no American ground troops will be involved.
She admitted it will be necessary to strike ISIS inside Syria, where it has its headquarters.
Current airstrikes have been limited to ISIS targets inside Iraq, but Syria is trickier. It is in a complicated civil war with multiple sides. In addition to the government of President Bashar Assad, there is the Syria Free Army, a group some describe as moderate Muslims, and ISIS, which has claimed to set up a caliphate.
Rice said the United States will give aid to the ground troops of the Iraqi government and the Kurds in northern Iraq. It also will aid FSA fighters if Congress approves.
Just one year ago, Obama vowed to send airstrikes against Assad's government if he crossed a "red line" of using chemical weapons, but he backed down when he failed to get congressional support.
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