{"id":35395,"date":"2015-02-24T22:37:22","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T22:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2015\/02\/24\/kerry-on-isis-ground-war-no-way-possible\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:53:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:53:50","slug":"kerry-on-isis-ground-war-no-way-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2015\/02\/24\/kerry-on-isis-ground-war-no-way-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"Kerry on ISIS Ground War: &#8216;No Way Possible&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON &#8212; There is &#8220;no way possible&#8221; for the White House&#8217;s proposed Islamic War authorization measure to lead to a third massive US military ground conflict in the Middle East, Secretary of State John Kerry told senators Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"background: #ffffff;\">Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee a White House-crafted <\/span><span>authorization of the use of military force (AUMF) <\/span><span style=\"background: #ffffff;\">would authorize &#8220;no long-term combat.&#8221; He added the Obama administration is not asking &#8220;to build up to a new Iraq or Afghanistan.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;That&#8217;s not what we&#8217;re doing,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>His comments come two weeks after the White House sent Congress an AUMF that would<\/span><span style=\"background: #ffffff;\"> &#8220;not authorize the use of the United States armed forces in enduring offensive ground combat operations.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>But lawmakers from both parties say that the language is too legally murky because, as c<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">Senate Foreign Relations C<\/span>ommittee Ranking Member Robert Menendez, D-N.J., put it, &#8220;<\/span><span style=\"background: #ffffff;\">the definition of what that is is problematic.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"background: #ffffff;\">Searching for just where on the spectrum of armed conflict the White House-crafted AUMF would draw a line across which<\/span><span style=\"background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;\"><span style=\"background-color: #ffffff;\"> military forces could not go, several <\/span><span class=\"rte rte-comment\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff;\"><span class=\"rte rte-comment\">Foreign Relations C <\/span><\/span><span style=\"background-color: #ffffff;\">committee members pressed Kerry.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About 90 minutes into a hearing on the State Department&#8217;s 2016 budget request, the secretary said of the draft AUMF&#8217;s ground-troops section there is &#8220;no way possible for this language \u2026 to allow for the kind of mission creep to take us into a longer war.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also told the panel that under the Obama&#8217;s administration&#8217;s war plan, US military adviso<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">e<\/span>rs might be with Iraqi forces directly engaging Islamic State fighters, adding the proposed authorization measure would cover that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a letter to lawmakers that accompanied the draft AUMF, President Barack Obama stated his draft AUMF &#8220;would not authorize long-term, large-scale ground combat operations like those our Nation conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Local forces, rather than U.S. military forces, should be deployed to conduct such operations,&#8221; Obama wrote, adding his version proposes &#8220;the flexibility&#8221; for US ground forces to do &#8220;limited&#8221; missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kerry walked a tightrope at times on Tuesday, defending the ground-forces language while also urging the senators to make changes to the White House&#8217;s proposal that allow the commander in chief flexibility in waging the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The secretary asked the panel to write an AUMF with language &#8220;broad enough&#8221; to allow Obama and the next president to &#8220;get the job done&#8221; over the three-year authorization period it seeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"background: #ffffff;\">&#8220;If you&#8217;re going in for weeks and weeks of combat, that&#8217;s enduring,&#8221; Kerry said. &#8220;If you&#8217;re going in to assist somebody and fire control and you&#8217;re embedded in an overnight deal, or you&#8217;re in a rescue operation or whatever, that is not enduring.&#8221;<\/span><br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Members also pressed Kerry to define another part of the White House&#8217;s plan for fighting the violent Sunni group on which they have concerns: How do senior US officials intend to carry out the &#8220;degrade and destroy&#8221; part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"594\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635614157716255485-exchange-live-fire-tr-weig-3-001jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14871\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635614157716255485-exchange-live-fire-tr-weig-3-001jpg.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635614157716255485-exchange-live-fire-tr-weig-3-001jpg.jpg?resize=300,178 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635614157716255485-exchange-live-fire-tr-weig-3-001jpg.jpg?resize=768,456 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY MARCH 8 AND THEREAFTER &#8211; In a Feb. 20, 2015 photo, Army soldiers with the 3rd Infantry Division&#8217;s 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team take position atop a wall at a Fort Stewart, Ga.  range as they assault &#8220;enemy fighters&#8221; &#8212; pop-up targets &#8212; and move more than a mile downrange to clear two buildings. The live-fire exercise was part of the brigade&#8217;s Vanguard Focus training. (AP Photo\/Savannah Morning News, Corey Dickstein)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">GOP members wanted to know just how the administration defines &#8220;defeat.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kerry defined it as &#8220;eliminate their presence on battlefield&#8221; and take away the group&#8217;s threat to the United States and &#8220;others.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., pressed the secretary on whether the proposed authorization would allow US forces to defend Syrian rebels that get American equipment and training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kerry replied that Obama has yet to make that determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"background: #ffffff;\">Later, however, Kerry told senators &#8220;we all have to come together on the Syria piece of all this,&#8221; referring to <\/span><span style=\"background: #ffffff;\">the Islamic State fight and his department&#8217;s humanitarian assistance budget. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Obama administration earlier this month sent a draft authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) to Capitol Hill that would place limits on US ground forces, allow the executive branch to go after the Islamic State anywhere it deems necessary and limit US operations to three years. It also would sunset the 2002 AUMF for the Iraq war, while leaving a post-9\/11 authorization on the books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some in Washington doubt Congress, stymied for six years by partisan bickering and intraparty squabbling, can pass a major piece of legislation like a war-authorization measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Republican and Democratic members have told CongressWatch they want the White House to take the lead in explaining to skeptical members and the American public why an Islamic State-specific AUMF is necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kerry replied &#8220;yes&#8221; when asked by Corker whether the White House believes it already has legal cover in fighting the Islamic State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said she is unsure the proposed AUMF &#8220;reflects your strategy.&#8221; Rather, she concludes it is an attempt to get enough votes to pass both chambers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She said she and other Democrats view the proposed measure as opening the door to &#8220;an open-ended conflict.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boxer also concisely described the challenge facing the White House and AUMF proponents in getting something passed: Democrats want strict limitations, while Republicans want very few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i style=\"color: #333333;\">email: <\/i><i style=\"color: #1990e5;\"><a href=\"mailto:jbennett@defensenews.com\" style=\"color: #1990e5;\">jbennett@defensenews.com<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Twitter:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BennettJohnT\" style=\"color: #1990e5;\"><span style=\"color: #5b9bd5;\">@bennettjohnt<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is &#8220;no way possible&#8221; for the White House&#8217;s proposed Islamic War authorization measure to lead to a third massive US military ground conflict in the Middle East, Secretary of State John Kerry told senators Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":77352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[8,33,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1090],"class_list":["post-35395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-home","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FKDNGUFMNBGATNBRGJ723T4D7I","arc_canonical_url":"\/congress\/2015\/02\/24\/kerry-on-isis-ground-war-no-way-possible\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Kerry on ISIS Ground War: &#039;No Way Possible&#039; - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is &quot;no way possible&quot; for the White House&#039;s proposed Islamic War authorization measure to lead to a third massive US military ground conflict in the Middle East, Secretary of State John Kerry told senators Tuesday.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2015\/02\/24\/kerry-on-isis-ground-war-no-way-possible\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kerry on ISIS Ground War: &#039;No Way Possible&#039;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is &quot;no way possible&quot; for the White House&#039;s proposed Islamic War authorization measure to lead to a third massive US military ground conflict in the Middle East, Secretary of State John Kerry told senators Tuesday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2015\/02\/24\/kerry-on-isis-ground-war-no-way-possible\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-24T22:37:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T22:53:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John T. 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