Afinal Obama, em que ficamos?
Obama said that rebuilding Iraq is going to be a 'long-term project'
He would not put forward a timetable to resolve the conflict in Iraq because it's his 'responsibility' to make sure U.S. personnel there are protected
Obama said he would not move the consulate or embassy in Baghdad 'any time soon'
He reiterated that he would not put combat troops on the ground in Iraq and said 'right now' he did not need additional funds from Congress
Obama and the first family took off for vacation in Martha's Vinyard after the press conference
The president played a round of golf with ex-NFL player Ahmad Rashad and NBA's Ray Allen
U.S. jet fighters carried out four airstrikes on militants today taking out armored carriers and a truck firing on civilians
Ted Cruz said Obama was 'an absentee President' and said he should spend 'less time on the golf course'
Following the press conference, the first family jetted off to their annual vacation in Martha's Vineyard, where the command-in-chief wasted no time hitting the links on a nearby golf course.
Obama, along with wife Michelle, daughter Malia and dogs Bo and Sunny, arrived at a Coast Guard station on Cape Cod before heading to the island off the Massachusetts coast.
The presidential motorcade wove its way around Martha's Vineyard before pulling down a secluded drive that led to the Obamas' rented vacation house.
The president spent just 30 minutes at the house before heading off to the Farm Neck Golf Club for a round of golf with former NFL player Ahmad Rashad, NBA player Ray Allen, and Cyrus Walker, the cousin of White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.
The Commander in Chief met some criticism for embarking on his trip amidst the military operation from Senator Ted Cruz who called him in 'absentee President'.
'I think the president should actually stand up and do his job as commander in chief, should spend less time on the golf course and more time doing the job to which he was elected,' Cruz said in an appearance at the Iowa State Fair.
'I am glad the president is finally demonstrating some leadership, taking the threat from ISIS seriously, but unfortunately, he’s following the pattern that has characterized his foreign policy from the beginning of this tenure which he has laid out no clearly defined objective that we’re trying to accomplish that is key to defending U.S. national security,' Cruz added.
'What is missing right now is the commander in chief laying out a strategic vision, here is what we’re trying to accomplish so everyone will know when it’s accomplished and here’s why it furthers U.S. national security interests,' ABC reported.
'That only comes from the president, and unfortunately right now President Obama’s not providing that leadership.'
Despite his open ended timetable for untangling the U.S. from Iraq, the president stood by his previous promises that he would not put boots on the ground in the country for any reason other than to protect American personnel stationed there.
'I've been very clear that we're not gonna have U.S. combat troops in Iraq again. And we are going to maintain that because we should have learned a lesson from our long and immensely costly incursion in Iraq,' he said.
Obama also said that 'right now' he did not need any additional funding from Congress to carry out military and humanitarian missions in Iraq.
Asked if the U.S.underestimated Islamic militants in Iraq, Obama said: 'There is no doubt that their advance, their movement over the last several months has been more rapid than intelligence estimates.'
The president admitted that policy makers inside and outside of Iraq did not have a 'full appreciation' for the fact that Iraqi forces would not stand their ground in the face of the enemy.
However, Obama expressed irritation with the perception that it was his 'decision' to pull out of Iraq in 2011.
'That entire analysis is bogus and wrong but it gets frequently peddled around here by folks who oftentimes are trying to defend previous policies that they themselves made,' Obama said.
President George W. Bush's administration, he said, gave control of the country back to the Iraqi people.
'And the Iraqi government, based on its political considerations, in part because Iraqis were tired of a U.S. occupation, declined to provide us' with the types of assurances that the U.S. would have needed to stay, he explained.
'We had offered to leave additional troops,'he said.
'So when you hear people say, do you regret, Mr. President, not leaving more troops, that presupposes that I would have overridden this sovereign government that we had turned the keys back over to,' he said.
That 'would have kind of run contrary to the entire argument we were making about turning over the country back to Iraqis, an argument not just made by me, but made by the previous administration.'
That said, had the Iraqi government repeated history and 'targeted certain Sunni leaders and jailed them' and 'alienated some of the Sunni tribes,' and the US still had troops in Iraq, they wouldn't have been able to prevent the current crisis, Obama said.
'The only difference would be we’d have a bunch of troops on the ground that would be vulnerable,' Obama continued. 'And however many troops we had, we would have to now be reinforcing, I’d have to be protecting them, and we’d have a much bigger job.
'And probably, we would end up having to go up again in terms of the number of grounds troops to make sure that those forces were not vulnerable.'
Immediately after the president spoke he hopped aboard his Marine One helicopter with his wife Michelle and their daughter Malia and sped off to their annual summer vacation in Martha's Vineyard.
The first family will remain in the elite Massachusetts town for the next two weeks. President Obama will return to Washington next weekend for several days of meetings but will rejoin his family there for the five final days of their vacation.
The president did not cancel or postpone his vacation even after the Islamic militants overrunning the country took control of one of Iraq's largest dams and ran religious minorities out of the city of Mosul under threat of death.
With nowhere else to go, an estimated 40,000 followers of the Yadizi religion fled to Mount Sinjar in norther Iraq, where they have been stranded for most of the last week.
Throughout the last two days the U.S. military has made air drops of food and water to the Iraqi refugees hiding away in the mountains and has launched airstrikes on extremists camped outside the nearby city of Erbil.
'We feel confident that we can prevent ISIL form going up a mountain and slaughtering the people who are there,' Obama said today.
The issue is providing 'safe passage' down the mountain and figuring out where displaced Iraqis will live after that, he said. That process will require the involvement of the international community, Obama said.
The U.S. president said that he spoke on the phone this morning with United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande and both leaders said they would join the U.S. in providing humanitarian aid to Iraqi refugees.
'Now, even as we deal with these immediate situations, we continue to pursue a broader strategy in Iraq,' Obama noted. 'We will protect our American citizens in Iraq, whether they’re diplomats, civilians or military.
'If these terrorists threaten our facilities or our personnel, we will take action to protect our people.'
The president said he was not planning to move the U.S. embassy or consulate in Baghdad 'any time soon.'
Part of the long-term strategy in Iraq has to be the formation of a new government, he said, pointing out that the government of Iraq still doesn't have a Prime Minister or a cabinet.
'Once an inclusive government is in place, I’m confident it will be easier to mobilize all Iraqis against ISIL, and to mobilize greater support from our friends and allies,' he said.
'Ultimately, only Iraqis can ensure the security and stability of Iraq. The United States can’t do it for them, but we can and will be partners in that effort.'
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