Three Senate Republicans are calling on President Obama to change his strategy to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the wake of the terrorist group’s capture of Ramadi.
{mosads}“If you don’t change your strategy… then this country is very likely to get attacked in another 9/11 fashion,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned Obama from the Senate floor.
Graham, who is considering a presidential run, warned Obama to take action now to avoid a “huge mistake.”
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the president will speed up training and equipping of Sunni tribal fighters in an effort to erase gains made by ISIS, also referred to ISIL. But White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters later Wednesday that there is currently “no formal strategy review that is underway,” according to a White House pool report.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) also criticized the administration’s strategy, saying it has become bogged down in a “paralysis by analysis.”
“I hope this is a wake-up call to the Obama administration and that they will provide the Congress and the American people and our troops a clear path forward to defeat ISIL and to rid the world of this terror army,” he added.
The senators’ comments came as Obama spoke Wednesday about the threat climate change poses to national security.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, slammed the president’s focus on climate change, asking if the administration gives “a damn about what’s happening in the streets of Ramadi?”
“[Ramadi] should lead our nation’s leaders to reconsider an indecisive and a total lack of strategy that has done little to roll back ISIL,” McCain said.
ISIS gained control of Ramadi over the weekend, reportedly killing hundreds of people and forcing thousands from their homes.