--- title: Obama to Congress: Help Me If You Like On ISIS description: President Obama laid out his ISIS strategy to top congressional leaders canonical: https://time.com/3313326/obama-boehner-isis/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-09T22:32:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:31.340Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama to Congress: Help Me If You Like On ISIS og:description: President Obama laid out his ISIS strategy to top congressional leaders og:url: https://time.com/3313326/obama-boehner-isis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a0b0f8a6dfd6488/6986a296169ab0012927b155/04393008.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1499 og:image:height: 843 og:image:alt: Obama Meets With Congress About ISIS Threat at White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama to Congress: Help Me If You Like On ISIS twitter:description: President Obama laid out his ISIS strategy to top congressional leaders twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a0b0f8a6dfd6488/6986a296169ab0012927b155/04393008.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama to Congress: I Have the Power to Strike ISIS in Syria > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=ae7ea04d-103e-4840-af65-1171c8145be2&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Why So Many Foreign Fighters Join ISIS [Watch (HLS stream): Why So Many Foreign Fighters Join ISIS](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xvTQSd5R.m3u8) (2:58)  _Published 2014-09-05. A growing number of foreigners is joining the Islamic militant group - but why?_ by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Sep 9, 2014 10:32 PM UTC  President Barack Obama meets with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (L), Speaker of the House from Ohio John Boehner (C-L), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (C-R), and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (R) to discuss the administration's approach to the growing threat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, Sept. 9, 2014. President Barack Obama meets with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (L), Speaker of the House from Ohio John Boehner (C-L), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (C-R), and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (R) to discuss the administration's approach to the growing threat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, Sept. 9, 2014. Jim Lo Scalzo—EPA by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Sep 9, 2014 10:32 PM UTC President Barack Obama told top congressional leaders Tuesday that he has the executive authority to attack Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria but would welcome congressional support for his strategy, ahead of a national address Wednesday night during which he’s expected to announce more details of that strategy than he has to date. “\[President Obama\] reiterated his belief that the nation is stronger and our efforts more effective when the President and Congress work together to combat a national security threat like ISIL,” the White House said in a statement, using ISIL to refer to the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria, also called ISIS. House Speaker John Boehner told the President that he would support sending over U.S. military forces in both combat and non-combat roles, including to Syria, and training and equipping the Syrian opposition, Boehner’s office said in a statement. “The Speaker stated he would support the President if he chose to deploy the military to help train and play an advisory role for the Iraqi Security Forces and assist with lethal targeting of ISIL leadership.” While some congressmen have introduced bills to authorize the President to act against ISIS, congressional leaders have been hesitant to schedule such a significant vote in an election-year. ## Transcript The Islamic state of Iraq and greater Syria is quickly making a name for itself as one of the most ruthless militias in the Middle East. But the extremist group is also making headlines for its successful recruitment of Western volunteers. Hundreds of fighters from at least 50 different countries and known to have travelled to Syria and Iraq to wage war under the ISIS flag. Here's a close look at how the group is recruiting them. And [ UNKNOWN ] says that what gives you life is Jihad. I know by a law that this the land of Jihad. We have brothers from Bangladesh, from Iraq, from Cambodia, Australia, UK. Nothing has has [ INAUDIBLE ] In one video posted on YouTube, new recruits are enticed to respond to the call of jihad by a fighter who's filmed walking down stairs. Of a four star hotel in the town of Kasab in northwestern Syria. [ FOREIGN ] The fighter tells recruits they can sleep there for free. ISIS also tweeted, during the World Cup, with the hashtag WorldCup2014. In an attempt to steer soccer fans to the group's sleekly produced propaganda. ISIS initially portrayed itself as being part of a humanitarian effort to back fellow Sunni Muslims in the Syrian civil war. That promise of a fight to protect Muslim brothers and sisters, is a powerful draw for some Western recruits. But in reality, ISIS has been targeting Sunnis as well as Shia Muslims, and other religious minorities in its campaign to control territory. [ MUSIC ] Isis also accomplished something Al- queda has never been able to achieve. It has declared self styled Islamic palafite in an area that spans parts of Iraq and Syria. And it's apparent ability to create some sort of stability in a war zone has proved attracted to some western Muslims. ISIS makes a particular effort to be welcoming to foreigners. ISIS normally accepts any Muslim into its ranks whereas some other Islamist groups in Syria ask for fighters to align with their specific ideology. For these young, restless foreigners. Isis can appear to offer a sense of mission. The challenge for the West, to persuade vulnerable young Muslims that all Isis really offers is the distortion of Islam and not a perfect Islamic state. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3313326/obama-boehner-isis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3313326/obama-boehner-isis/"},"headline":"Obama to Congress: I Have the Power to Strike ISIS in Syria","datePublished":"2014-09-09T22:32:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:31.340Z","description":"President Obama laid out his ISIS strategy to top congressional leaders","url":"https://time.com/3313326/obama-boehner-isis/","keywords":["White House","Congress","ISIS","John Boehner","President Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a0b0f8a6dfd6488/6986a296169ab0012927b155/04393008.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a0b0f8a6dfd6488/6986a296169ab0012927b155/04393008.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Obama Meets With Congress About ISIS Threat at White House","caption":"Obama Meets With Congress About ISIS Threat at White House","creditText":"Jim Lo Scalzo—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3313326/obama-boehner-isis/","name":"Obama to Congress: I Have the Power to Strike ISIS in Syria"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why So Many Foreign Fighters Join ISIS","description":"A growing number of foreigners is joining the Islamic militant group - but why?","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xvTQSd5R/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-05T19:18:34.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xvTQSd5R.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3313326/obama-boehner-isis/","duration":"PT2M58S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3313326/obama-boehner-isis/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```