Obama, congressional leaders to meet on ISIS

Obama, ministers of 10 nations met on sidelines of NATO Summit to form what Washington called a "core coalition."

By REUTERS
US President Barack Obama speaks at a news conference on the second and final day of the NATO summit in Wales, September 5 (photo credit: REUTERS)
US President Barack Obama speaks at a news conference on the second and final day of the NATO summit in Wales, September 5
(photo credit: REUTERS)
US President Barack Obama will meet with the four leaders of the US Congress on Tuesday, a senior congressional source said on Saturday morning, amid rising concern in Washington about the advances of the Islamic State.
Lawmakers return to Washington on Monday from their five-week August recess.
The meeting will include Harry Reid, the Democratic leader of the US Senate, and Mitch McConnell, the chamber's top Republican, as well as John Boehner, the speaker of the House of Representatives and Nancy Pelosi, the House's top Democrat.
The topic of the meeting was not disclosed, but it is expected to focus on the threat posed by the Sunni militants.
Lawmakers from both parties have been calling on Obama to detail his plans for going after the group, which has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria and provoked outrage by releasing videos showing the gruesome beheadings of two American journalists.
Some have criticized the president for failing to present a strategy both to Congress and the American public.
Obama returned home on Saturday morning, after an overseas visit to Estonia and Wales for a NATO summit.
Earlier in the day, Obama and ministers of 10 nations met on the sidelines of the summit to form what Washington called a "core coalition".
Obama said key NATO allies stood ready to join the US in military action to defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq as he vowed to 'take out' leaders of a movement he said was a major threat to the West.
Obama said that Washington would hunt down and dismantle the organization, which has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, in the same way it had tackled al-Qaida since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States and was doing to al-Shabaab in Somalia.
Ministers from Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Turkey, Italy, Poland, Denmark and non-NATO Australia attended the talks with the US secretaries of state and defense, John Kerry and Chuck Hagel.