Led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) and Rep. Mike McCaul (R), Congress is calling on Obama to finally get serious about the war on terror. Apparently the “JV” team is still winning while Obama is not.
Congress makes bipartisan calls for Obama to step up ISIS attacks, in wake of downed Russian airliner
Published November 08, 2015 - FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/11/08/congress-make-bipartisan-calls-for-obama-to-step-up-isis-attacks-in-wake-downed/
Top congressional lawmakers expressed little doubt Sunday that ISIS is responsible for the recently downed Russian jetliner and called for heightened security and a revamped U.S. foreign policy to prevent a similar attack on an American passenger jet.
The calls for a more aggressive response were made by Capitol Hill Democrats and Republicans, including leaders in intelligence, foreign policy and homeland security.
Texas GOP Rep. Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told “Fox News Sunday” that he has a “high degree of confidence” that ISIS planted a bomb on the Russia-bound plane that exploded in midair on Oct. 31 in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board.
He also said that the Transportation Security Administration has been "proactive" in ordering additional screenings and other measures but suggested the Obama administration’s tepid efforts to destroy the Islamic State terror group in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East is in large part to blame for the tragedy.
“The sad fact is, because we've had a failed policy and failed leadership, now we're having to rely on Russians and the Iranians to go into Syria to fight and destroy ISIS,” McCaul said. “And that's kind of where we are today. I think … it's this weakness invites aggression.”
Reps. Peter King and Adam Schiff, members of the House Intelligence Committee, expressed similar conclusions that a bomb inside the aircraft likely caused the accident, based largely on intelligence reports and flight-recorder data. And they called for a more aggressive foreign policy.
“This has to be an all-out effort,” King, R-N.Y., told ABC’s “This Week.” “I don't think the president has done enough as far as having the forces on the ground (in Syria) that are necessary to make the air attacks more effective.”
Schiff, a California Democrat, told ABC, “I agree that the president's approach basically has a battlefield that is pretty static and that more is going to have to be done.”
Schiff also suggested that eradicating ISIS could take 15 to 20 years without ground support from such countries as Turkey and Jordan.
The lawmakers also agreed that an employee at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport in Egypt, from where the plane departed, or somebody else who could have avoided passenger checkpoints, appears to be a likely culprit, if a bomb indeed brought down the plane. And they called for tighter security in the airports in that region.
“I … think that ISIS may have concluded that the best way to defeat airport defenses is not to go through them, but to go around them with the help of somebody on the inside,” Schiff said. “And if that's the case, I think there are probably at least a dozen airports in the region and beyond that are vulnerable to the same kind of approach, which is exactly why we have to harden those defenses.”
California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein called the investigation on what caused the crash an “emerging story” and also told NBC's "Meet the Press" that she was pleased that the FBI has joined the probe.
However, Feinstein, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, also said she hoped the incident is a “wakeup call” for Russia and the United States.
“I really believe it, we will fight (ISIS) now or we will fight them later,” she said. “The kinds of bombs vary. The one I'm most worried about is the one that there have been four attempts to bring into this country.”
Feinstein also said the U.S. must do more than have the roughly 50 Special Forces members in Syria.
“That won't do it,” she said.
Feinstein also said U.S. airstrikes in Syria haven’t “changed the dynamic” and suggested the administration consider a large-scope approach toward defeating ISIS, including a strategy with Russia.
This rapid collapse of President Obama’s Syria-Iraq policy over the last few weeks has caused serious damage to American credibility.
Six in 10 now reject Obama’s handling of the ISIS crisis, according to a new Associated Press-GfK pol:
[Edited on 11/9/2015 by Muleman1994]
Obama's failure to act against Islamic Extremist Terrorism is really starting to boil over:
It Turns Out Democrats And Freedom Caucus Members Agree On Something: War Authorization
Thirty-five lawmakers are urging Paul Ryan to schedule a debate and vote.
Jennifer Bendery White House & Congressional Reporter, The Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/aumf-syria-paul-ryan_563cde56e4b0411d3070c505
WASHINGTON -- An unusual coalition of House Democrats and Republicans on Friday urged Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to schedule a war authorization debate in response to the news that President Barack Obama is deploying U.S. troops in Syria.
"Among the issues that require urgent attention by the U.S. House of Representatives is the question of the extent of involvement by the U.S. military in the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria," reads a letter to Ryan. "It is critical that the House schedule and debate an Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) as quickly as possible."
The letter is signed by 35 lawmakers, some of whom are stalwart progressives and others who are members of the conservative Freedom Caucus. Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Tom Cole (R-Okla.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and John Lewis (D-Ga.) are leading the push on the issue.
Obama announced last week that he's sending about 50 U.S. special operations forces to Syria to help local forces fight Islamic State militants, or ISIS. The decision means that for the first time, American troops will be stationed in Syria after a year of U.S.-led airstrikes. The president has been relying on a sweeping 2001 AUMF as his legal justification for taking military action without congressional sign-off, and some lawmakers say it's time to pass a new AUMF that puts specific parameters on the duration and scope of the fight against the Islamic State. The Constitution requires Congress to declare wars, after all, not the president.
The problem is that many lawmakers don't want anything to do with a war authorization vote, for fear that if something goes wrong, their fingerprints will be on it. That leaves the U.S. engaged in a military campaign with no end in sight. Since August 2014, the U.S. has spent nearly $5 billion, participated in roughly 8,000 airstrikes and sent 3,550 military personnel to Iraq as part of the effort.
"Congress can no longer ask our brave service men and women to continue to serve in harm’s way while we fail in carrying out our constitutional responsibility in the area of war and peace," reads the letter. "We strongly urge you, Mr. Speaker, to bring an AUMF to the floor of the House as quickly as possible."
Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong wouldn't say if the speaker is willing to prioritize an AUMF debate.
"Members need to be briefed on the specifics of the new actions taken by the administration before making any further decisions," said Strong.
Other lawmakers on the letter include Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), Michael Burgess (R-Texas), David Cicilline (D-R.I.), John Conyers (D-Mich), Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), John Culberson (R-Texas), Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), John Duncan (R-Tenn.), John Garamendi (D-Calif.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Janice Hahn (D-Calif.), Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.), Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.), Daniel Kildee (D-Mich.), Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Bill Posey (R-Fla.), Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.), Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) and Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.).
35 lawmakers. Out of 535. Yeah.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D) spokesman said yesterday that the Senator was troubled after Homeland Security’s testimony last Wednesday that the TSA is having significant problems and admitted the numerous security failures at the countries airports. When asked what Homeland Security was doing about this serious problem they responded that they are working on a complete revamping of the nation’s airport security system but it will take around 5 years to do.
After it has become likely that ISIS bombed the Russian passenger out of the sky the Senator is calling on Obama to step up and actually engage Islamic Extremist Terrorism and take National Security more seriously.
It should be noted that Obama has dropped to third in the list of the world’s most powerful people behind Russia’s Putin and Germany’s Merkel.
The Congress seems to be getting the message. The American People are well aware of the threat. Will Obama act or simply make another empty speech?
[Edited on 11/9/2015 by Muleman1994]
ISIS just took down a Russian airliner. Why isn't Putin stepping up after his people were just slaughtered?
Are you sure it was ISIS or is that what certain people want us to believe?
Regardless of who actually did it, Congress doesn't have to ask Obama to do more to deal with Isis,
Russia will take care of it. They want them out of there. The US and ISIS want the Middle East destabilized. The US wants trade partner friendly regimes put in place, Isis wants a caliphate, so the end goals are different but the desire for destabilization is the same.
Are y'all understanding it yet? Isis is serving a purpose and a goal that the US wants. If we take them out of business then WE have to send US troops in to fight Assad in order to destabilize that country. Remember General Wesley Clark telling you the US would take down five regimes/countries in seven years? And we have.
[Edited on 11/12/2015 by gina]
