GOP: Senators Call for Iraq Air Strikes
Congressional Republicans stepped up calls to bomb militants in Iraq several hours after President Barack Obama stressed a deliberative approach in a Friday address.
GOP Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina all called for an air intervention in Iraq, where an insurgent Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is threatening Baghdad after routing the Iraqi military in Mosul and areas near the border with Turkey.
“Our most immediate priority must be to reverse the advance of a terrorist force that is more radical, violent, and ambitious than Al-Qaeda. We see no way to achieve this goal without U.S. air strikes,” Graham and McCain said in a joint statement. “A delayed or weak response from the United States will only deepen the Iraqi government’s dependence on Iran, and destroy the prospects of national reconciliation.”