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| Meeting With François Hollande, Obama Urges Europe to Escalate ISIS Fight | Meeting With François Hollande, Obama Urges Europe to Escalate ISIS Fight |
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| WASHINGTON — President Obama offered his visiting French counterpart emotional words of solidarity on Tuesday but made it clear that it was up to Europe to escalate its efforts to combat the terrorist group that killed 130 people in Paris this month. | WASHINGTON — President Obama offered his visiting French counterpart emotional words of solidarity on Tuesday but made it clear that it was up to Europe to escalate its efforts to combat the terrorist group that killed 130 people in Paris this month. |
| In their first meeting since a cascade of shootings and suicide bombings terrorized the French capital on Nov. 13, Mr. Obama and President François Hollande resolved to increase cooperation in the battle against the Islamic State, the group that claimed responsibility for the attacks. | In their first meeting since a cascade of shootings and suicide bombings terrorized the French capital on Nov. 13, Mr. Obama and President François Hollande resolved to increase cooperation in the battle against the Islamic State, the group that claimed responsibility for the attacks. |
| “We are here today to declare that the United States and France stand united in total solidarity to deliver justice to these terrorists and those who sent them and to defend our nations,” Mr. Obama said. The Islamic State, he added, is a threat to all nations. “It cannot be tolerated. It must be destroyed. And we must do it together.” | “We are here today to declare that the United States and France stand united in total solidarity to deliver justice to these terrorists and those who sent them and to defend our nations,” Mr. Obama said. The Islamic State, he added, is a threat to all nations. “It cannot be tolerated. It must be destroyed. And we must do it together.” |
| Publicly, though, Mr. Obama outlined no concrete new actions that the United States would take, and he suggested that the attacks might finally prompt Europe to approach the threat more seriously. “We also think, as François said, that there may be new openness on the part of other coalition members to help resource and provide additional assistance, both to the coalition as a whole and to the local forces on the ground,” Mr. Obama said. | Publicly, though, Mr. Obama outlined no concrete new actions that the United States would take, and he suggested that the attacks might finally prompt Europe to approach the threat more seriously. “We also think, as François said, that there may be new openness on the part of other coalition members to help resource and provide additional assistance, both to the coalition as a whole and to the local forces on the ground,” Mr. Obama said. |
| Speaking at a news conference with Mr. Hollande, Mr. Obama cited in particular Europe’s resistance to sharing information on airline passengers. “I have been talking to our European partners for quite some time now about the need for better intelligence-sharing, passenger name records, working to ensure that when people enter into Europe, particularly now, that the information across various borders is shared on a timely basis,” he said. | |
| Mr. Hollande, who spent just a few hours in Washington as he was making his way across the globe to meet with counterparts, said France now had a “relentless determination to fight terrorism everywhere and anywhere” and would “scale up our strikes” against the Islamic State in Syria and in Iraq. “There is a new mind-set now,” Mr. Hollande said. | Mr. Hollande, who spent just a few hours in Washington as he was making his way across the globe to meet with counterparts, said France now had a “relentless determination to fight terrorism everywhere and anywhere” and would “scale up our strikes” against the Islamic State in Syria and in Iraq. “There is a new mind-set now,” Mr. Hollande said. |
| In putting the onus on the French and other Europeans, the White House emphasized the longstanding sense among American officials that their allies on the other side of the ocean did not share their view of the need for action. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said Tuesday that the Paris attacks would serve as “an extremely important wake-up call,” much like the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. | |
| “I thought what Hollande said was telling,” Mr. Biden told a handful of reporters after Mr. Obama’s meeting with the French president. “He said, ‘I’m going to be’ — essentially — ‘going back to Europe and getting the Europeans to step up and do more.’ It’s not that we haven’t been doing a lot. We’ve been doing it all, basically.” | |
| The comments reflected the resentment in the White House at pressure to escalate the battle with the Islamic State, given that the United States has conducted two-thirds of the airstrikes against the group in Iraq and 95 percent of the strikes in Syria. Until the Paris attacks, France had participated in strikes in Iraq but only a handful of times in Syria, where the Islamic State has its de facto capital. | The comments reflected the resentment in the White House at pressure to escalate the battle with the Islamic State, given that the United States has conducted two-thirds of the airstrikes against the group in Iraq and 95 percent of the strikes in Syria. Until the Paris attacks, France had participated in strikes in Iraq but only a handful of times in Syria, where the Islamic State has its de facto capital. |
| Mr. Obama has been criticized by Republicans and some Democrats for not further ramping up the war on the Islamic State, and new polls show that the public has little confidence in his handling of the threat. The president has resisted a more extensive involvement in Iraq and Syria, arguing that it would only entangle the United States in another quagmire like those he inherited. | Mr. Obama has been criticized by Republicans and some Democrats for not further ramping up the war on the Islamic State, and new polls show that the public has little confidence in his handling of the threat. The president has resisted a more extensive involvement in Iraq and Syria, arguing that it would only entangle the United States in another quagmire like those he inherited. |
| But it was unclear whether Mr. Obama’s words of support on Tuesday would satisfy France. “I hope that translates into action and it’s not just language,” said Philippe Le Corre, a former senior adviser to the French Defense Ministry who is now a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “You can’t leave the French alone. The United States cannot avoid an increased presence of some kind.” | But it was unclear whether Mr. Obama’s words of support on Tuesday would satisfy France. “I hope that translates into action and it’s not just language,” said Philippe Le Corre, a former senior adviser to the French Defense Ministry who is now a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “You can’t leave the French alone. The United States cannot avoid an increased presence of some kind.” |
| Mr. Hollande came to Washington after meeting with his British counterpart and before similar sessions with the leaders of Germany, Russia and Italy. His efforts to stitch together a tighter alliance, however, will be tested most seriously on Thursday when he reaches Moscow to talk with President Vladimir V. Putin, who has intervened in Syria to bolster the government of President Bashar al-Assad. | Mr. Hollande came to Washington after meeting with his British counterpart and before similar sessions with the leaders of Germany, Russia and Italy. His efforts to stitch together a tighter alliance, however, will be tested most seriously on Thursday when he reaches Moscow to talk with President Vladimir V. Putin, who has intervened in Syria to bolster the government of President Bashar al-Assad. |
| Both Mr. Obama and Mr. Hollande have insisted that Mr. Assad step down as part of any political settlement of the four-year-old civil war that has fueled the rise of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. They have also called on the Russians to stop bombing opposition forces backed by the West and to focus their firepower on the Islamic State. | |
| “We agree that Russia could play a more constructive role if it were to shift the focus of its strikes to defeating ISIL,” Mr. Obama said, emphasizing the words “could” and “if.” A resolution of the crisis requires “a political transition away from Assad,” Mr. Obama added. | “We agree that Russia could play a more constructive role if it were to shift the focus of its strikes to defeating ISIL,” Mr. Obama said, emphasizing the words “could” and “if.” A resolution of the crisis requires “a political transition away from Assad,” Mr. Obama added. |
| The challenge in drawing Russia into such a position became even more complicated on Tuesday after Turkey, a NATO member, shot down a Russian warplane that it said had crossed into its airspace. Mr. Obama defended Turkey’s right to protect its territory but urged both sides to avoid escalating the confrontation. | The challenge in drawing Russia into such a position became even more complicated on Tuesday after Turkey, a NATO member, shot down a Russian warplane that it said had crossed into its airspace. Mr. Obama defended Turkey’s right to protect its territory but urged both sides to avoid escalating the confrontation. |
| Mr. Biden said separately that the administration had some optimism that Mr. Putin might yet come around. “I think Putin is coming to the realization that Assad should transition out,” Mr. Biden said. At the same time, he said, Saudi Arabia, which has opposed Mr. Assad, now recognizes that his departure may not be immediate. “So I think everybody is moving off of their absolute positions.” | |
| Mr. Obama expressed an emotional response to the Paris attacks, speaking at length of the shared values of the American and French people. Next to his bed in the White House, he said, is a photograph of him and his wife kissing in Luxembourg Gardens. “When tragedy struck that evening, our hearts broke too,” he said. | Mr. Obama expressed an emotional response to the Paris attacks, speaking at length of the shared values of the American and French people. Next to his bed in the White House, he said, is a photograph of him and his wife kissing in Luxembourg Gardens. “When tragedy struck that evening, our hearts broke too,” he said. |
| In a line reminiscent of one used by the French to express solidarity with the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Obama said in French, “Nous sommes tous Français.” (“We are all French.”) |