Rep. Adam B. Schiff called Monday on President Obama to ask Congress for authorization to continue or expand U.S. attacks against the terrorist army known as Islamic State, stressing 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’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall.”
Mr. Obama is scheduled Wednesday to address the nation to outline a new strategy to combat the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIL or ISIS.
Mr. Schiff, a California Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that the president “chose his words very carefully” when announcing that he would unveil a new strategy.
“He said that he had the authorization and authority really to protect the American people, and no one disputes that,” Mr. Schiff said. “But if we are going to go beyond that and ’go on the offensive,’ as he says … I think he really does need to come to Congress.”
Mr. Schiff said that he agreed with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, Michigan Republican, that American lives were already being put at risk with the current airstrikes targeting Islamic States troops in Iraq.
Mr. Rogers said that he perceived Mr. Obama’s upcoming address as a “gear shift” for the U.S. strategy against the Islamic State. He said that he hoped the president would outline a plan to completely dismantle the terrorist army, adding that such an operation could not be accomplished by “remote control” and would require American lives to be put at risk, although not necessarily with U.S. infantry boots on the ground in Iraq.
Mr. Schiff insisted that U.S. involvement must not escalate into another Iraq war.
“I think it is important that the president realize that we are not going to be engaged in another Iraq war here,” he said. “We’re not going to … keep occupying large countries in the Middle East. That’s beyond our capacity and what’s more, at the end of the day it’s not effective because ultimately we leave those countries.”
He said that avoiding another prolonged U.S. military operation required Congress to set limits on the president’s war powers.
“What we do authorize has to be very carefully tailored to make sure not only with this president but with subsequent presidents we are not opening the door in unrestrained, poorly drafted authorization that allows him to do basically what they chose,” said Mr. Schiff.
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