At high-stakes summit, NATO weighs options

NATO leaders grappled on Thursday with the question of whether the alliance has a role in containing a mounting militant threat in the Middle East, as heads of state converged in Wales for a high-stakes summit that will also address the crisis in Ukraine and next steps in Afghanistan.

US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron declared that their nations would "not be cowed" by extremists from the Islamic State group who have claimed responsibility for killing two US journalists. They also challenged NATO to not turn inward in the face of the threat.

"Those who want to adopt an isolationist approach misunderstand the nature of security in the 21st century," Obama and Cameron wrote in a joint editorial in the Times of London. "Developments in other parts of the world, particularly in Iraq and Syria, threaten our security at home."

Obama, Cameron and dozens of other NATO leaders met at a golf resort in Wales for the two-day gathering.

Yet much of the action was to take place on the sidelines, where the US and British leaders were expected to drum up support for an international response to Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

Arriving at the summit venue on Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the international community "has an obligation to stop the Islamic State from advancing further", but he noted that the alliance hasn't received any request for help.

"I'm sure that if the Iraqi government were to forward a request for NATO assistance, that would be considered seriously by NATO allies," Rasmussen said.

The militants have claimed responsibility for murdering two US journalists, releasing gruesome videos of their beheadings. Both the US and Britain are deeply concerned about the potential threat to their homelands that could come from Western fighters who have joined the violent Islamic State group.

Cameron proposed new laws on Monday that would give the police power to seize the passports of Britons suspected of having traveled abroad to fight with terrorist groups.

The US began launching airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq last month, and both the US and Britain have been making humanitarian aid drops to besieged minority groups there.

Obama and Cameron visited a local school on Thursday morning where they greeted students who were learning about NATO. Afterward, they sat down for a private meeting and met later with their counterparts from France, Germany and Italy to discuss the crisis in Ukraine.