As vacation winds down, Obama faces calls for stronger leadership on ISIS
President Barack Obama speaks in Edgartown, Mass., Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014, about the killing of American journalist James Foley by militants with the Islamic State extremist group.
August 24th, 2014
03:41 PM ET
9 years ago

As vacation winds down, Obama faces calls for stronger leadership on ISIS

(CNN) Washington - On President Barack Obama’s last day of a troubled vacation, politicians criticized his leadership and called for action in the growing threat of terrorist group ISIS.

“The President has got to come forward with a cohesive, comprehensive strategy, not only in Iraq, but also in Ukraine, also in other parts of the world. This is an administration - which the kindest word I can use is feckless - where they have not outlined a role that the United States of America has to play, and that’s a leadership role,” Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

In the wake of the beheading of American journalist James Foley, administration officials made clear that they are shifting from defensive operations against ISIS in Iraq to weighing an attack on ISIS where they are strongest, in Syria. But politicians on both sides of the aisle are impatient for the President to construct a plan and consult with Congress on what many see as an imminent threat from ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic State and is called ISIL by some U.S. government officials.
FULL POST


Filed under: ISIS • Jack Reed • John McCain • Kelly Ayotte • Lindsey Graham • Mike McCaul • Obama administration • President Obama
Rogers: ‘Never say never’ for combat troops in Iraq
August 17th, 2014
02:56 PM ET
9 years ago

Rogers: ‘Never say never’ for combat troops in Iraq

Washington (CNN) - Republican Rep. Mike Rogers told CNN Sunday he’ll “never say never” to the possibility of U.S. combat troops returning to the ground in Iraq to fight Islamic extremists.

The question has come up in recent weeks as the Obama administration has watched the Iraqi leadership stumble in a bitter war against the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Rogers, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, cautioned that he doesn’t think sending in combat troops is necessarily beneficial at this point. But he also said President Obama is giving away too much strategically by placing such strict limits on the U.S. military role up front. FULL POST


Filed under: Iraq • ISIS • Mike Rogers • President Obama