The White House on Monday refused to say whether President Obama will ask Congress to authorize an expanded U.S. campaign to “degrade and destroy” the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, as the president prepared to meet with congressional leaders and tell Americans about his strategy.
As lawmakers increasingly call for a vote on authorizing a broader air war against the Sunni militants, White House aides ducked the question repeatedly Monday while saying Mr. Obama believes he has the authority necessary to expand military force and forge a coalition with Europe and the Middle East.
The administration is describing the president’s plans, to be outlined by Mr. Obama in a speech Wednesday in Washington, as a counterterrorism operation against the Islamic State, also known by the acronyms ISIL and ISIS.
“The president is concerned about the threat of terrorism, and that is why the other counter-terrorism operations that this administration has carried out are a relevant reference point,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest.
The call in Congress for Mr. Obama to spell out a plan for defeating the Islamic State has grown louder since the president said at a press conference on Aug. 28 that his administration has “no strategy” for fighting the militants in Syria, where they have beheaded two U.S. hostages in recent weeks.
“If the president is prepared to engage Congress with a strategic plan to protect the U.S. and our allies from ISIL, I believe he will have significant congressional support,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican. Mr. McConnell said the threat “is real and it’s growing, and it is time for President Obama to exercise some leadership in launching a response.”
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The president invited Mr. McConnell and other congressional leaders of both parties to the White House Tuesday to discuss his plans. Mr. Obama did notify Congress about weekend airstrikes against militants near Haditha Dam in northern Iraq, the latest in a series of notifications under the War Powers Resolution.
The 1973 law requires the president to report to Congress when he uses military force; Congress must then authorize such action within 60 days or the president must stop. The president can invoke a 30-day extension only once.
Although Mr. Obama doesn’t believe he needs congressional approval for expanded airstrikes against the militant group, the president wants to consult with Congress to build bipartisan support, Mr. Earnest said.
“He does believe that he has the authority to do what’s necessary to protect the American people,” he said. “There will continue to be an effort to keep an open line of dialogue” with lawmakers.
Sen. Bill Nelson, Florida Democrat, introduced a resolution Monday to give Mr. Obama the authority to use military force against the Islamic State “to prevent terrorist attacks on the people and interests of the United States and our allies.” It would authorize the use of force for up to three years.
“This is a barbaric group that’s committed heinous acts of torture and murder, and we have to go after them now — not only in Iraq, but in Syria as well,” Mr. Nelson said.
SEE ALSO: Senators: Obama must defeat Islamic State to prevent another 9/11-scale attack
In the House, Rep. Frank Wolf, Virginia Republican, introduced legislation authorizing the use of military force against several international terrorist groups, including the Islamic State and al Qaeda and its affiliates, such al-Nusra, Ansar al-Shariah, al-Shabab and Boko Haram.
Mr. Wolf said he introduced the measure because of rapid advances made by the Islamic State group, as well as territorial gains made by al Qaeda-affiliated groups in Libya, Nigeria and Somalia.
Rep. Adam B. Schiff, California Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, also called on Mr. Obama to ask Congress for authorization to continue or expand U.S. attacks against the Islamic State. He stressed that lawmakers then should only approve military action that is “narrow in scope, narrow in duration.”
“I think he really does need to come to Congress, not just for consultations, but for an authorization to use that kind of force to expand the strikes beyond where they are now or even to continue them, as they have already exceeded the original mission,” Mr. Schiff said on MSNBC.
In Iraq, Islamic State fighters have shown an increased interest in gaining control of an earth-filled dam in central Iraq, which has prompted U.S. military personnel to plan a series of missile attacks over the next few days, according to a Defense Department official.
The terrorist network has been “building combat power around the dam over the last several days to a week,” the official said. The dam provides power to about 1 million people and water to a large swath of the Iraqi agricultural belt — a tenuous situation that cannot be ignored, according to the official.
“The airstrikes will continue,” the official said.
Iraqi security forces and Kurdish fighters have been working with area tribal militias to stave off Islamic State militants and protect the Haditha Dam, according to Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren.
“We had seen enemy forces continuing to build up,” he said. “We had seen the enemy moving heavier weapons into that area, so it became clear to us that they were potentially planning to increase pressure on the Haditha Damn area.”
To protect that resource, the U.S. military used a mix of drones, attack aircraft and fighter jets to bolster support of the Iraqi government and its supporters on Sunday and Monday, according to a Sept. 8 U.S. Central Command statement. Those aircraft dropped missiles on the group’s members, destroying armed vehicles, anti-aircraft artillery and a ground unit positioned near the dam, according to the statement.
An airstrike tally provided by U.S. Central Command shows that 148 U.S. military airstrikes have been conducted in Iraq.
The tally shows that the majority of the missiles expended by the U.S. military have been in the Mosul Dam area. As of Monday evening, that number sat at 90. In comparison, the Pentagon used 38 missiles to defend U.S. personnel in Irbil and four near the town of Amrili.
Over the past two days, however, the tempo of airstrikes has increased to keep up with the growing threat near Haditha Dam, according to the tally.
Also Monday, Mr. Obama called Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to congratulate him on the approval of a new Iraqi government. The White House said Mr. Obama “underscored the need for the United States and Iraq to continue working closely with the international community” to counter the threat posed by the Islamic State.
⦁ Maggie Ybarra contributed to this report.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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