Republican leaders panned President Obama’s national security address Sunday night as more political spin than a real plan for defeating terrorists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For months, Obama’s opponents have leveled much the\u00a0same criticism\u00a0against his Middle East strategy, and the president’s speech came\u00a0just days before Defense Secretary Ash Carter is scheduled to return to Capitol Hill to defend the administration’s military actions in Iraq and Syria before a skeptical Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his Oval Office speech, Obama said extremists like the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS and ISIL,\u00a0pose a serious and immediate threat to the American homeland and vowed to fight terrorist organizations across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
But he also insisted that the U.S.\u00a0will not again be “drawn once more into a long and costly ground war” overseas, pushing back on calls from lawmakers for a larger military presence in Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 3,500 U.S. troops are deployed in Iraq, and Carter just announced plans to put about 100 special operations personnel\u00a0in the region to go after Islamic State\u00a0leaders and gather intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following that announcement, Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, chairman of the\u00a0House Armed Services Committee, said he remains skeptical of the overall administration strategy because he believes Obama is ignoring Pentagon advice in favor of his own predetermined decision to shy away from direct U.S. military action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What we need is not a political sales job but serious, sustained action,” Thornberry said in a statement. “The marginal changes in military tactics [Obama]\u00a0has taken since Paris demonstrate that the president continues to be reactive\u00a0rather than go on the offensive against a dangerous enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He has consistently underestimated this threat and has consistently been a step behind in dealing with it. I see no evidence tonight that he is changing his views or policies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thornberry’s Senate Armed\u00a0Services Committee counterpart, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Obama’s speech ignored the reality that “we are not winning the war against ISIL, and that the threat of terrorism against our homeland is real and growing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He called the current mission for U.S. troops involving airstrikes and training,\u00a0but not combat,\u00a0“an indecisive military campaign” and warned that “if we do not destroy this threat now, and fast, no one should be surprised if America gets attacked again.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the\u00a0House majority leader,\u00a0called Sunday’s speech just a restating of an already questionable strategy, bereft of new ideas or reassurances for the American public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The president is right on one thing: Terrorism has entered a new phase,” McCarthy said in a statement. “But without a comprehensive and robust strategy, we cannot defeat ISIS abroad and the threat of terrorism will only increase at home.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obama preemptively tried to turn that criticism back on Congress, saying lawmakers should take up sensible gun control measures and approve a new military force authorization against the Islamic State group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“For over a year, I have ordered our military to take thousands of airstrikes against ISIL targets,” the president said. “I think it’s time for Congress to vote to demonstrate that the American people are united and committed to this fight.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawmakers don’t appear ready to do that. Despite a draft force authorization from the White House in the spring, Congress has made little progress on passing a new agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Republicans say the national security address was more about politics than responsible planning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":100917,"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":62,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[12,62],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222,1824],"class_list":["post-65101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"IHSKOUOVVFCTXCPV4NB4DE7YLY","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2015\/12\/07\/obama-s-speech-earns-low-marks-from-critics\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n