--- title: Barack Obama Vows to Destroy ISIS description: President Barack Obama said Friday that the U.S. is preparing to "take the fight," to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) canonical: https://time.com/3274182/barack-obama-isis-nato/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-05T16:45:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:02:02.569Z article:section: Politics og:title: Barack Obama Vows to Destroy ISIS og:description: President Barack Obama said Friday that the U.S. is preparing to "take the fight," to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) og:url: https://time.com/3274182/barack-obama-isis-nato/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e19ae9d156f0089/6986a2341eebf7ac4437285c/barack-obama-nato-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4833 og:image:height: 2719 og:image:alt: BRITAIN-NATO-SUMMIT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Barack Obama Vows to Destroy ISIS twitter:description: President Barack Obama said Friday that the U.S. is preparing to "take the fight," to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e19ae9d156f0089/6986a2341eebf7ac4437285c/barack-obama-nato-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Vows to 'Degrade and Destroy' ISIS > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Sep 5, 2014 4:45 PM UTC  US President Barack Obama speaks at a press conference on the second day of the NATO 2014 Summit at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, South Wales, on Sept. 5, 2014. US President Barack Obama speaks at a press conference on the second day of the NATO 2014 Summit at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, South Wales, on Sept. 5, 2014.Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Sep 5, 2014 4:45 PM UTC President Barack Obama said Friday that the United States and its allies are preparing to “take the fight,” to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), saying the world can’t merely “contain” the extremist militant group and must work to dismantle it. Speaking to reporters after two days of meetings of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance in Wales, Obama said he was encouraged by the unanimous recognition of the threat to NATO member states from ISIS, and that the U.S. and international partners are preparing to act “with urgency.” “We are going to achieve our goal,” Obama said. “We are going to degrade and ultimately defeat \[ISIS\].” Obama’s language was notably stronger than his comments on the extremist group Wednesday in Estonia, when he suggested that the U.S. goal would be to contain the threat. Obama said Friday that “you can’t contain” ISIS, which has captured large swaths of Iraq and Syria and oppressed masses of civilians. “The goal has to be to dismantle them,” the President said. Obama highlighted the importance of building an international coalition to take on the group, saying his “expectation” is that efforts to secure the backing of Arab states in the region will prove fruitful. “There’s great conviction that we have to act, as part of the international community, to degrade and ultimately destroy \[ISIS\],” Obama said. The President defended his administration’s approach to tackling the group, saying the first phase of his strategy, to encourage the Iraqi people to form a more inclusive government, has paid off, while the second, to use targeted airstrikes and humanitarian airdrops to keep the group from expanding, is ongoing. “The third phase will allow us to take the fight to \[ISIS\], broaden the effort,” Obama said. Obama also addressed the cease-fire reached between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists Friday, saying “it has to be tested.” “Obviously we are hopeful but, based on past experience, also skeptical that in fact the separatists will follow through and the Russians will stop violating Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Obama said. The United States and the European Union are considering additional sanctions to be imposed on Russia as a response to confirmation that Russian forces have been directly involved in combat in eastern Ukraine, and Obama indicated the ceasefire is unlikely to preempt those sanctions. Obama said imposing the sanctions and lifting them if Russia and the separatists live up to the agreement would be a “more likely way for us to ensure that there’s follow-through.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3274182/barack-obama-isis-nato/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3274182/barack-obama-isis-nato/"},"headline":"Obama Vows to 'Degrade and Destroy' ISIS","datePublished":"2014-09-05T16:45:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:02:02.569Z","description":"A tougher tone from the President","url":"https://time.com/3274182/barack-obama-isis-nato/","keywords":["Foreign Policy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e19ae9d156f0089/6986a2341eebf7ac4437285c/barack-obama-nato-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e19ae9d156f0089/6986a2341eebf7ac4437285c/barack-obama-nato-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BRITAIN-NATO-SUMMIT","caption":"BRITAIN-NATO-SUMMIT","creditText":"Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images","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/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3274182/barack-obama-isis-nato/","name":"Obama Vows to 'Degrade and Destroy' ISIS"}}]}] ```