Sen. Orrin Hatch says Pres. Obama’s ISIS war authorization request places unnecessary and self-defeating restrictions on the U.S. military.
Reports The Hill:
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), in a radio interview, noted the recent death of Kayla Mueller, who died while held captive by the terrorist group, to argue the president needs to threaten ISIS with “all the force he can get.”
“And here we have the president coming up with this — I think it’s utterly stupid — proposal,” Hatch told KSL News Radio. “And he’s binding the next president also with really stupid language.”
“Any president worth his or her salt is going to ask for as much authority as they can get, so at least the ISIS people know that he has the authority to come in on them anyway he wants to.”
Obama’s proposal, which was sent to Congress Wednesday morning, would allow U.S. troops to conduct search and rescue operations, target ISIS leaders and advice and assist operations against the terrorist group.
But in an attempt to win over Democrats, the plan also bans any “enduring offensive ground combat operations” while limiting the authorization for the military campaign to three years.
Hatch said ISIS could use the restrictions in the proposal to its advantage.
