President Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron are calling for a NATO rapid-response force to stand up against Russia in a newspaper op-ed published ahead of the NATO summit in Wales on Thursday.
Reminding NATO members the collective defense group is 'not just an alliance of friends,' they called for a stronger global commitment to stand up against threats from Russia and the Islamic State (ISIS).
'Countries like Britain and America will not be cowed by barbaric killers,' they pledge in a Times of London op-ed affiriming their confidence in the alliance while also putting the onus on member countries to step up their investment.
'As Russia holds a gun to Ukraine and Islamic extremists commit despicable murder, NATO must strengthen its alliance,' they warned in the newspaper appeal, citing the recent 'utterly despicable murders' of two American journalists as 'evidence of a brutal and poisonous extremism.'
Blasting isolationists in the West who caution against military involvement, they advised 'regional aggression going unchecked or the prospect that foreign fighters could return from Iraq and Syria to pose a threat in our countries, the problems we face today threaten the security of British and American people, and the wider world.'
The pair proposes the creation of a NATO rapid-response force equipped to quickly be deployed. NATO leaders this week are expected to pave the way to establishing the force in nations in the alliance's eastern flank to serve as a deterrent to Russia.
Baltic nations and others in the region fear Moscow could set its sights on their borders next.
But Obama and Cameron signaled that such an endeavor would require a collective financial investment from NATO's 28 members, 'Britain and America are two of only four NATO members to meet the target of spending 2 percent of our GDP on defense.'
Despite the op-ed's condemnation of Russia and ISIS and their calls for greater collaboration, the specifics of the Obama-Cameron vision remain ambiguous.
Arriving at the summit on Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he also believes the broader international community 'has an obligation to stop the Islamic State from advancing further,' but noted that the alliance hasn't received any request for help.
The U.S. began launching airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq last month, and both the U.S. and Britain have been making humanitarian aid drops to besieged minority groups there. Cameron said Monday that he hadn't ruled out joining the U.S. in airstrikes, but added that the priority was to support those already fighting the militants on the ground.
Also facing Obama is a decision about whether to expand U.S. military action against the extremists to Syria. While Obama has said he's considering that step, he has suggested in recent days that it's not imminent.
U.S. officials say Obama is reluctant to delve into Syria's quagmire on his own.
With News Wire Services
llarson@nydailynews.com
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