Count Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, as among those unimpressed with President Obama’s request to Congress for an authorization of force to combat the Islamic State terrorist group.
“It’s kind of classic Obama: Telling everybody and our enemies what we’re not going to do,” Mr. McCain, a frequent critic of the administration’s foreign policy, said Thursday on Fox News. “No articulation of a strategy, nothing is said about [Syrian President Bashar] Assad, who has slaughtered over 200,000 people, of his own people and driven millions into refugee status.”
Mr. Obama on Wednesday sent a war authorization request to Congress that prohibits “enduring offensive ground combat operations,” but seemingly leaves open the possibility of using U.S. ground troops for limited operations when necessary.
“Listen — this was a study in Obama incoherency and, of course, we’re glad to know they’re going to be defeated, but I’ll tell you [an] ugly truth. … We are going to have to have boots on the ground,” Mr. McCain said. “The Iraqi army is a long, long way from being viable. The work now is being done by peshmerga and — guess what — Shia militia who are Iranian-backed and Iranian-equipped in Iraq.”
“So this is a situation completely in disarray — a total lack of American leadership,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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