U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner on Tuesday said President Barack Obama’s strategy to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group is the “same ineffective approach.”
Gardner, a Yuma Republican, joined other senators in sending a letter to Obama after the president’s rare Oval Office address on Sunday. Obama called on the Republican-controlled Congress to authorize military force to fight the terrorist group.
“If Congress believes, as I do, that we are at war with ISIL,” Obama said, using another acronym for the Islamic State, “it should go ahead and vote to authorize the continued use of military force against these terrorists.”
The president has been demanding the authorization for over a year.
The issue has spiraled since last week’s San Bernardino killings, which are believed to have at least been inspired by ISIS. Furthering the debate is last month’s Paris attacks, which left 130 dead.
The president has pushed to train and equip Iraqi and Syrian rebel forces, and he has sent military trainers to Iraq and U.S. special operations to Syria. Obama rejects the idea of sending combat troops, stating that the move would only help ISIS recruit.
In the letter sent Tuesday with Gardner’s support, the senators say the president must “break this stalemate,” while calling on him to outline a military strategy.
“In the near term, our principal strategic goal must be to shatter the ISIS narrative of invincibility, in order to stem this group’s ability to recruit or inspire additional jihadists...” the letter states.
The senators say strategy must include recapturing Ramadi, Fallujah and Mosul in Iraq. They suggest embedding U.S. military advisers to bolster Iraqi security and ground partners, while deploying air support.
Republicans have grown especially concerned with Syrian refugees after the Paris attacks, in which at least one suspect was said to have entered Europe as a Syrian refugee. In the letter Tuesday, the senators propose safe zones inside Syria for refugees in an effort to curb a mass exodus.
“The American people are understandably concerned in the aftermath of the horrific attack in San Bernardino,” the letter states. “To safeguard our own national security, we must step up the military fight against ISIS as soon as possible, but it will require sustained, long-term American engagement to resolve the deeper problems that have allowed ISIS to incubate and gather strength in Syria and Iraq.”
pmarcus@durangoherald.com