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Obama warns of risks posed by Syrian militants with Western passports

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A Shiite Turkmen fighter holds a position on Aug. 4 in Amerli, Iraq.  (Ali Bayati / AFP/Getty Images)
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Displaced Iraqi Yazidis gather to collect bottles of water at the Bajid Kandala refugee camp in Kurdistan’s western Dohuk province on Aug. 13.   (Ahmad Rubaye / AFP/Getty Images)
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Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community settle in at a camp near Derike, Syria, on Aug. 10.   (Khalid Mohammed / Associated Press)
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Volunteer U.S. service members prepare one of several pallets of food and water before it is loaded onto an aircraft at a location in Southwest Asia on Aug. 11. The pallets are being airdropped to displaced Iraqis in the vicinity of Mt. Sinjar.   (Senior Airman Colin Cates / AFP/Getty Images)
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Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters battling militants in the north of the country monitor the area near Bashiqa on Aug. 12.   (Ahmad Rubaye / AFP/Getty Images)
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President Obama leaves the podium after speaking about the situation in Iraq in the State Dining Room at the White House. Obama says he’s authorized the U.S. military to carry out airstrikes in Iraq against Islamic militants if they advance toward the city of Erbil.  (Charles Dharapak / Associated Press)
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Iraqis inspect the site of a double car bomb attack that took place in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad. A back-to-back car bomb attack took place near a Shiite Hussainia religious building that has been turned into a shelter for displaced Shiites, killing and wounding scores of people, police said.  (Uncredited / Associated Press)
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Displaced Christians settle at St. Joseph Church in Irbil, northern Iraq.   (Khalid Mohammed / Associated Press)
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Kurdish soldiers and Shiite volunteers take position on Thursday during fighting with Islamic State fighters in Amerly, north of Baghdad. The Islamic State is making fresh territorial gains.  (STR / EPA)
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Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Shiite volunteers make a stand in Amerly.  (STR / EPA)
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Iraqi soldiers fire mortars from the village of Jurf al-Sakhr, 45 kilometers west of Baghdad.  (STR / AFP/Getty Images)
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An Iraqi woman inspects the aftermath of two explosions in Baghdad’s northeastern Shiite area of Sadr City. At least 16 people were killed and 34 wounded on Thursday.   (Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP/Getty Images)
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Iraqi Christians who fled the village of Qaraqush rest Thursday upon their arrival in the Kurdish city of Arbil, in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.  (Safin Hamed / AFP/Getty Images)
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Iraqis inspect the remains of a car after a motorcycle detonated in front of a gas station in the northern oil-hub city of Kirkuk, killing one civilian and injuring nine, including three policemen.   (Marwan Ibrahim / AFP/Getty Images)
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Iraqi men check in at the main army recruiting center as they volunteer for military service in Baghdad, after authorities urged Iraqis to help battle insurgents.   (Karim Kadim / Associated Press)
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A fighter with the voluntary Peace Brigades keeps watch for Sunni Muslim militants July 4 on the outskirts of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.   (Loay Hameed / Associated Press)
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A family takes shelter in the shade of a truck in Khazair, Iraq. Iraqis who fled fighting in the cities of Mosul and Tal Afar are hoping to get into a camp for the displaced in Khazair.   (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
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Bottled water is prepared for distribution at a camp for displaced Iraqis in Khazair.   (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
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Shiite Muslim lawmaker Kadhim Sayadi points a finger at ethnic Kurdish colleagues at a chaotic session of parliament July 1. Iraqi lawmakers failed to agree on a replacement for the divisive Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.   (Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP/Getty Images)
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Iraqi families wait outside of a displacement camp in Khazair.   (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
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Members of the Kurdish peshmerga drive past a camp in Khazair, Iraq, for those displaced by the fighting in and around Mosul.   (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
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Iraqi drivers wait in line to refuel their cars at a gas station in Irbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.  (Safin Hamed / AFPGetty Images)
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A member of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces scans the area with his rifle scope as he holds a position overlooking Sunni militants led by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.   (Rick Findler / AFP/ Getty Images)
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President Obama conducts a news conference at the White House June 19 about the situation in Iraq.   (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)
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Iraqi Turkmen show their weapons as they prepare to fight militants led by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.   (Marwan Ibrahim / AFP/ Getty Images)
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Iraqi Turkmen forces at a checkpoint in the northern city of Tuz Khurmatu.  (Karim Sahib / AFP/ Getty Images)
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Iraqi Shiites gather with weapons and chants in the mostly Shiite Sadr City district of Baghdad on June 18, after authorities urged volunteers to help fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The poster depicts Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.  (Khalid Mohammed / Associated Press)
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Iraqis who fled violence in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province walk past wrecked military vehicles upon their arrival in Hamandiya on June 18.  (Karim Sahib / AFP / Getty Images)
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New recruits loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr take part in training on June 19 in Baghdad. Thousands of Shiite volunteers are joining Iraqi security forces.   (A hmad al Rubaye / AFPGetty Images)
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Iraqi motorists wait in line in Kirkuk to get fuel for their vehicles after an assault on Iraq’s main oil refinery at Baiji on June 18.   (Mariwan Ibrahim / AFP/Getty Images)
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Iraqi special forces keep watch as they secure a district in west Baghdad on June 18.   (Sabah Arar / AFP / Getty Images)
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New recruits gather June 18 in the southern Shiite Muslim shrine city of Najaf after top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani’s call for Iraqis to take up arms against “terrorists” who have overrun parts of the country.   (Haidar Hamdani / AFP/ Getty Images)
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Iraqi civilians inspect the damage in the mostly Shiite Sadr City district of Baghdad after a deadly car bombing June 17.   (Karim Kadim / Associated Press)
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Kurdish forces look at a checkpoint in Mosul, Iraq, held by militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria on June 16.   (Karim Sahib / AFP/Getty Images)
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Shiite tribesmen in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf brandish their weapons as they show their readiness to join the country’s security forces in the fight against militants who have taken over several cities.  (Haidar Hamdani / AFP/Getty Images)
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A June 9 image from the Twitter account of the militant Al Baraka news purports to show Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants celebrating as their vehicles drive on a newly cut road through the Syrian-Iraqi border.   (AFP/ Getty Images)
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A June 9 image from the Twitter account of the militant Al Baraka news purports to shows Islamic State of Iraq and Syria fighters taking position at an Iraqi post on the border with Syria.   (AFP/Getty Images)
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Iraqis who volunteered to join the fight against an Islamic militant offensive run toward army trucks on June 13, as they leave a recruiting center in Baghdad.   (Ali Al-Saadi / AFP/ Getty Images)
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Iraqi volunteers in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria climb onto an army truck outside a recruiting center in Baghdad on June 13.   (Ali Al-Saadi / AFP/ Getty Images)
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Volunteers in the Iraqi government’s fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militia leave a recruiting center in Baghdad.  (Ali Al-Saadi / AFP/ Getty Images)
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An Iraqi Shiite Muslim cleans weapons as he prepares to defend Baghdad’s Sadr City district in case of an attack by Sunni extremists.  (Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP/ Getty Images)
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Families fleeing violence in northern Iraq gather at a checkpoint in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.   (Safin Hamed / AFP/ Getty Images)
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A man displays Iraqi army body armor and other military items at a checkpoint near the northern city of Mosul.  (Safin Hamed / AFP/Getty Images)
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A vehicle burns on a road in Hawija, west of Kirkuk, in northern Iraq.   (AFP/ Getty Images)
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An armed man watches as a vehicle, reportedly belonging to Iraqi security forces, burns June 10 in the northern city of Mosul.   (AFP/Getty Images)
By Lisa Mascaro
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Reporting from Washington — 

WASHINGTON — President Obama acknowledged Sunday that militants fighting in Syria and Iraq pose a direct threat to the United States because many of them have Western passports that enable them to easily enter the country without a visa.

“I think we have been under serious threat my entire presidency, and we have been under serious threat predating 9/11 from those who embrace this ideology,” Obama said on “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.”

“We have to improve our surveillance, reconnaissance, intelligence there. Special forces are going to have a role. And there are going to be times where we take strikes against organizations that could do us harm,” Obama said.

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Militant fighters aligned with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have overrun the military in parts of Iraq, threatening the capital of Baghdad in recent weeks and prompting the White House to dispatch 300 military advisors to help stabilize the region.

“They’re gaining strength in some places,” Obama said. “We’ve seen Europeans who are sympathetic to their cause traveling into Syria and now may travel into Iraq, getting battle-hardened. Then they come back. They’ve got European passports. They don’t need a visa to get into the United States.”

Republican Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) said as many as 100 Americans and “thousands” of European passport holders have joined the fight in Syria. In response, the U.S. is working to beef up security at overseas airports.

“Any of these people can come back to the United States and they can carry out the type of attack that they’re being trained in in Syria,” King said on the same show. “All we have to do is risk one or two of them and we could have a very, very lethal attack here in the U.S.”

Whether Congress will need to give its approval to authorize the White House’s military actions in Iraq remains open for debate. Many lawmakers are reluctant to vote on the issue ahead of the midterm elections when they will be seeking support from Americans weary after a decade of war.

“I believe the president has to come back to Congress,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) on “Face the Nation.” “He should come back to Congress. And I can assure you there’s no appetite for us to get boots on the ground and go back into that country in any way, shape or form.”

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World & Nation
Lisa Mascaro

Lisa Mascaro previously covered Congress in Washington, D.C., for the Los Angeles Times. She left in February 2018. A Los Angeles-area native, she has reported across Southern California, edited, traveled the States and worked in Texas. While the Washington correspondent for the Las Vegas Sun, she contributed as the paper won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. An economics and political science graduate of UC Santa Barbara, she also studied in Budapest, Hungary.

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