Texas Sen. Ted Cruz accused top U.S. military officials of behaving like “social workers” in Iraq and Syria rather than showing military strength.
In an interview Tuesday night with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Mr. Cruz said he was disappointed by responses from Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey after he questioned them at a Senate hearing on the administration’s plan to defeat the Islamic State.
“Frankly, their answers were far more those you would expect of a social worker, than of military leaders,” Mr. Cruz said.
The Republican senator, who is considering a bid for the GOP’s 2016 presidential nomination, said that he pressed Gen. Dempsey and Mr. Hagel for a strategy to militarily destroy the Islamic State within 90 days, but was told that the current strategy was focused on solving political issues in the region.
“When I asked General Dempsey, militarily, how would we go in and kill the terrorists before they’re able to take jihad to America, his answer was, ’Well, we need to see political reconciliation,’” Mr. Cruz said.
“We need to change the conditions on the ground so people are not susceptible to extremism. Look, it’s not our job to be social workers in Iraq and put them all on expanded Medicaid. It is our job to kill terrorists who have declared war on America and who have demonstrated the intention and capability to murder innocent Americans.”
In a statement Tuesday, Mr. Cruz said that the Obama administration’s plan to combat Islamic State militants is “defined by its confusion” and stressed that the president must seek congressional authority to wage war in Iraq and Syria.
During the Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing Tuesday, Mr. Hagel told Mr. Cruz that the president intended to rely on previous war authorizations from the George W. Bush administration, according to Mr. Cruz’s statement.
Democratic National Committee press secretary Michael Czin called Mr. Cruz a “national embarrassment” in an email statement on Wednesday.
“Ted Cruz orchestrated last year’s government shutdown. He’s spent more than a year trying to politicize the tragedy in Benghazi. And now Cruz is attacking the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense (who happens to be a former Republican Senator) as being soft on enemies of the United States,” Mr. Czin wrote.
“Ted Cruz and the Republican Party’s outrageous rhetoric may win them high praise with the Fox News crowd but does nothing to help solve the challenges our world faces,” Mr. Czin said.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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