America must “lead the charge” in the overseas “war” against terrorism, House Republicans declared in a 25-page national security proposal that represents the second plank in a six-part House GOP agenda.
The plan hinges on redefining the strategy to defeat the Islamic State and ensure the United States takes the lead among allies in the region. While there is no direct call for sending U.S. ground troops into the terror-threatened regions of the Middle East and Africa on a large scale, the GOP plan explicitly rejects ruling out a big deployment.
“We are at war,” page 9 of the policy paper declares. Republicans call for “adopting a wartime approach and keeping all options on the table” in the fight to defeat Islamic State terrorists.
House Speaker Paul Ryan plans to roll out the proposal on Thursday at the Council of Foreign Relations in a panel discussion with top House GOP lawmakers.
Republicans have long argued the nation’s security is threatened, and that terrorism has grown due to foreign policy inaction and weakness under the Obama administration.
Republicans staunchly oppose the Iran nuclear deal, Obama’s signature foreign policy accomplishment that ended financial sanctions in exchange for Iran reducing its nuclear arsenal. Republicans believe the deal only emboldened and enabled Iran’s nuclear ambitions and provided the state an enormous infusion of cash to fund terrorism in the region, especially Israel.
“Our enemies no longer fear us and our allies no longer trust us,” the plan asserts. “We must do whatever is necessary to protect our homeland from terror and we must take the fight to the enemy.”
The plan calls for implementing a recommendation made by the Sept. 11 Commission — the elimination of terrorist sanctuaries, which the GOP says Obama has failed to do.
“The rise of ISIS is proof we cannot wait while threats gather, nor can we simply contain them,” the proposal declares. “Ultimately, Washington should use all elements of national power, as the Sept. 11 Commission advised, to keep terrorists on the run, and we must have a plan to do so wherever they emerge.”
It has been ten years since Democrats leveraged opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to win back the House and Senate majorities from the GOP. Since then, lawmakers in both parties have been reluctant to call specifically for a new war to take on the Islamic State, fearing political fallout.
Instead, lawmakers have allowed Obama to take on the terrorist group with targeted airstrikes and the deployment of some troops under authority Congress granted in 2001 and 2002. But the GOP argues in its plan that the United States needs to face the reality of the Islamic State threat.
Washington should “level with the American people by calling the threat what it is,” Republicans propose. “You cannot defeat an enemy you refuse to define, so let’s state it plainly: We are at war with Islamic terrorists.”
The policy paper includes proposals that go far beyond Islamic terrorism. Republicans call for modernizing NATO, for instance, and for “standing up” to Russian aggression in the region.
“America cannot look the other way as Moscow seeks new hegemony,” the GOP states. “We must contest Putin’s advances and deter future actions that threaten U.S. interests.”
The United States, the plan advises, should “scrap the current policy of denying Ukrainians lethal weapons” to fight the Russians.
The GOP said the U.S. should work more closely with allies by selling weapons and holding joint military exercises.
The proposal also pitches “beneficial trade agreements” with American allies, an issue that has deeply divided the GOP. Read the plan below:
