Lawmakers this week plan to raise the temperature on administration officials in their push for a tougher policy against the Islamic State amid signs President Obama won’t make any drastic changes following the Paris attacks.
The House Armed Services Committee has summoned Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford to a hearing Tuesday on U.S. strategy in Syria and Iraq, where they’re expected to get a grilling from Republicans and some Democrats who are dissatisfied with the president’s response to the Nov. 13 attacks, which killed 130 people.
It’s the latest in a year-long series of efforts by the GOP-led Congress to prod Obama to do more against the extremist group. Since the Paris attacks, lawmakers have been joined in their efforts by a host of independent national security experts and former officials, including a number of retired military commanders and former Obama advisers, who complain that the president’s approach only is designed to contain, rather than defeat the group.
Obama has defended his approach, saying it’s the right strategy, and officials have signaled there would be no significant shifts in response to the Paris attacks other than to “intensify” and “accelerate” current efforts.
But lawmakers want more. The annual defense policy bill Obama signed into law on Friday requires the administration to send a report to Congress by February laying out a comprehensive strategy for defeating the group.
“Instead of doubling down on the same failed policies that allowed for ISIS’s rise, the Obama administration ought to be laying out the broad, overarching strategy needed to win. This should include establishing safe zones in Syria, arming fighting forces — including the Kurds — already on the ground, and giving our pilots the authority and flexibility they need to carry out their missions,” said House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., whose panel also has pressed administration officials on the issue in a series of hearings.
On Wednesday, a Foreign Affairs subcommittee will explore whether the Paris attacks represent a strategic shift by the Islamic State, as some experts have suggested. Since its lightning campaign last year to seize territory in Iraq and Syria, the group has largely focused on consolidating its self-styled caliphate.
The panel will hear from experts from the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
