President Obama discussing a plan last night for dealing with ISIL, or what we call, ISIS. We’ve talked about them a lot this year on CNN Student News. ISIS is a terrorist group. The name stands for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. That’s what it wants - its own country based on its own severe interpretation of Islam. And Iraq and Syria are where ISIS has gained ground, taking over huge portions of land. They’ve killed hundreds of civilians. They’ve brutally murdered a pair of American journalists. President Obama has been criticized for how he’s handled the situation. Two weeks ago, he said his administration didn’t have a strategy for dealing with ISIS. In last night’s speech to the American public, he wanted to both layout the strategy and get Americans’ support for it. 

 

And I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will not involve American combat troops, fighting on foreign soil. This counter-terrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist, using our air power and our support from partners’ forces on the ground. 

 

One thing that President Obama has asked the Congress for is the authority to give weapons and training to Syrian rebels. These are people who are fighting the Syrian government in that nation’s civil war and President Obama wants to help them fight ISIS as well. It’s not clear whether the Congress will vote to authorize that, especially so close to November’s mid-term elections. Another issue is that some terrorists may be fighting alongside the rebels. 

 

Today is 13th anniversary of a very dark day in the American history. On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists hijacked 4 commercial airlines. They crashed two of them into the two World Trade Center towers in New York city, one of them into the Pentagon, one of them into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Almost 3000 people were killed. Yesterday three Congressional Gold Metals were presented. These are the highest awards that the US Congress can give civilians. One metal will go to each of the attack sites. There are also memorials nationwide today. At anniversary ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York, the names of 2983 victims will be read. Their families will be able to visit the museum afterwards. It’ll be open to the public tonight. American flags flown at half-staff commemorate Patriate Day. It’s held every year on this day. It remembers the tragedy, the American resolve and the heroes who gave their lives to save others. Now we’ll look at three powerful symbols of September 11.