Lawmaker proposes bill to invoke NATO after Paris attack

Poe’s language calls on Obama to invoke Article 5 of NATO, something that was done only once, after the 9/11 attacks against the United States.

“Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, signed at Washington, April 4, 1949, states that ‘The Parties agree than an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all,'” his resolution reads.

In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Poe said that France has the right to invoke Article 5, but said the U.S. could also take that step on behalf of France.

“This is asking the United States to invoke Article 5,” he said of his language.

Poe criticized the Obama administration for having “no strategy” to fight the Islamic State. But he said Congress has the ability to pressure Obama to mount a more aggressive posture through his resolution.

“Congress should be the moving factor to get the United States and other countries involved,” he said.

Poe said constituents he spoke with over the weekend were “very concerned and sympathetic” to France after the attack that killed 129 people. And he said this concern is starting to outweigh the feelings that America shouldn’t commit itself yet again to another long war.

“We have been in a long war in Afghanistan,” he said. “But people I represent are mad that now we’re going through more and more security precautions, more presence of security at airports and stadiums.”

He said those measures are in place because the U.S. is in a war, and said, “people don’t want to live this way.”

“People say it’s time to eliminate ISIS once and for all,” he said.

Poe’s resolution holds that France is a signatory of NATO, and that the terrorist attack against Paris last week “qualifies as an ‘armed attack’ against a member country in Europe.” It also notes that France was one of many NATO members that invoked Article 5 after the 9/11 attack.

Read his resolution here: