Rep. Tom Cole said Friday if the Islamic State can claim credit for anything, it’s that “they know how to unite the whole world against them.”
“Even people that don’t normally agree with one another are willing to work together in this particular instance, and we should take advantage of that,” the Oklahoma Republican told CNN’s “New Day.”
Mr. Cole said President Obama was at fault for allowing the Islamic extremists, who have grown to 10,000 strong and taken swaths of Syria and Iraq, to assemble over time and for deeming them a “JV” squad of terrorists not too long ago.
But he said the commander in chief is right to take a cautious approach to engaging the Islamic State militarily, because service men and women would be at risk even without people “on the ground.”
He noted that Arab partners in the region are working with the U.S. to turn back the threat, a positive trend to get things started.
“So I think we can build a coalition that can first contain and then destroy these guys,” he said.
He said the threat in Iraq presents a clearer opportunity than the situation in Syria, which is muddled by that country’s civil war. Unlike in Iraq, the U.S. is at total odds with Syrian’s Assad regime.
“We go in there and we run the risk of being shot at, not only by ISIL but potentially by the Syrian government as well,” Mr. Cole told CNN. “I think the president is right to be careful about Syria. I don’t think any American wants to be involved in the Syrian civil war, but at some point we probably are going to have to, one way or the other, engage ISIL, not just in Iraq but in their home base in Syria.”
The congressman also encouraged Mr. Obama to present a clear plan to Congress for combating the Islamic State.
“Now I think he’ll win that vote. I think he should win that vote,” he said. “And it will be a bipartisan victory but there’ll be some opposition, again, from both parties, fair enough. But the president runs a big risk if he effectively wages war on his own.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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