Top American lawmakers have supported the Obama Administration’s decision to carry out limited and targeted air strikes against Islamic State (ISIL) militants in northern Iraq and asked the US Government to forcefully confront the challenges being posed by terrorists.
“It takes an army to defeat an army, and I believe that we either confront ISIL now or we will be forced to deal with an even stronger enemy in the future. Inaction is no longer an option,” Chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Dianne Feinstein, said.
“I support actions by the administration to coordinate efforts with Iraq and other allies to use our military strength and targeting expertise to the fullest extent possible,” she said.
“I strongly support the president’s authorisation for airstrikes against ISIL (ISIS). This is not a typical terrorist organisation — it is a terrorist army, operating with military expertise, advancing across Iraq and rapidly consolidating its position,” she added.
New Iraqi towns seized
ISIL, she said, is capturing new Iraqi towns every day, is reported to be in control of Mosul Dam and is engaging in a campaign of ethnic cleansing that appears to be attempted genocide.
“I believe that once this group solidifies its hold on what it calls the Islamic State, its next target may be Baghdad,” she said.
“It has become clear that ISIL is recruiting fighters in Western countries, training them to fight its battles in the Middle East and possibly returning them to European and American cities to attack us in our backyard. We simply cannot allow this to happen,” Feinstein said.
Humanitarian assistance
Senator Marco Rubio said the US is right in intervening in Iraq to provide humanitarian assistance to persecuted religious minorities.
“But America’s security interests extend well beyond the fate of Iraq’s religious minorities. Because ISIS, with thousands of foreign fighters, many of them from the West, will not rest once it has taken Erbil or Baghdad. Its expansionist ideology will lead it to attack US allies in the region and eventually Europe and the US,” Rubio said.
In a strongly-worded letter to President Barack Obama, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher called for assisting Kurdistan militarily in its defence against Islamist terrorists.
The letter was also signed by Congressman Darrell Issa and is expected to pick up more congressional signatures.
“One thing is certain. The stronger ISIS becomes, the harder it will be to defeat. Commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of ISIS, has declared his goal as nothing less than to ‘own the world’,” Rohrabacher said.
Supporting the air strikes, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said, “We shouldn’t wait until terrorists are at the doorstep of US personnel or are threatening thousands of civilians with death on a mountaintop to confront this threat.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid supported Obama’s decision to launch air strikes as long as no combat forces are on the ground.