ot all Democrats support President Obama’s plan to “destroy” the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Two of the party’s most vulnerable senators in the upcoming midterm elections put out statements critical of the president’s primetime address from the White House on Wednesday night.
Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), who is in a neck-and-neck race in Colorado, said in a statement that he would not give Obama a “blank check” to start another land war in Iraq (even though the president said explicitly this was something he would not do.)
He also voiced disagreement’s with Obama’s contention that he did not need Congress’s authority to execute most of his plan.
”As a member of the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, I believe any expanded U.S. military role beyond airstrikes in the fight against ISIL in Iraq must be approved by Congress. The American people must be assured that we are not pursuing another open-ended conflict in the Middle East, and I will not give this president — or any other president — a blank check to begin another land war in Iraq. As we have seen in the past, American boots on the ground cannot stamp out an extreme ideology and the Iraqis must take responsibility for defending their own people.
I will continue to demand that the administration provide a very clear picture of its goals and objectives. ISIL is a threat that cannot be tolerated, and it will take a strong and cohesive international effort to defeat them”, The Wire informs.
