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A key member of Congress from Southwest Florida says President Barack Obama is “absolutely” wrong for not being more willing to commit American troops on the ground to defeat the Islamic State extremists who have taken root in parts of Syria and Iraq.
U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney
U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, a former Army captain, said in an interview Friday that he is as war wary as anyone and “sick of being in the Middle East.” But he said if the threat from the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq is as serious as the president has told the nation, then Obama must be willing to commit U.S. ground forces to get the job done.
“If we believe ISIS is a national security threat the president says we need to destroy, then arming rebels is a loser of a strategy,” said Rooney, whose 17th Congressional District includes all of Charlotte County and part of Manatee County.
Rooney, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said at minimum, the U.S. should be willing to commit special operations units and other fighting forces to Baghdad and other cities to prevent ISIS from expanding into large population centers that would make airstrikes far more difficult.
“Our responsibility is to keep this country safe,” Rooney said of the U.S. “If we believe ISIS is a threat, we need to do everything in our power to stop that threat.”
But Obama told about 1,000 soldiers at Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base on Wednesday that he will not commit them to a ground campaign.
“As your commander-in-chief, I will not commit you and the rest of our Armed Forces to fighting another ground war in Iraq,” Obama said. “After a decade of massive ground deployments, it is more effective to use our unique capabilities in support of partners on the ground so they can secure their own countries’ futures.”
Rooney, elected to Congress in 2008, said that statement worries him, because it tells extremists in the Middle East not to worry about U.S. troops on the ground. He said ISIS will likely adapt their strategies to make it harder for us to hit targets with airstrikes, making the U.S. efforts even less effective.
“By telling ISIS were not putting boots on the ground, we are giving them a chance to change their strategy,” Rooney said. “Maybe they move to city centers to make it harder to get to them without civilian casualties.”
Rooney, who lives in Okeechobee County, is one of few members in the U.S. House who has publicly indicated a willingness to put troops in Iraq and Syria to fight the extremists. It is a position that has gotten him noticed by national media. Rooney on Friday morning was on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, blasting the “losing strategy” he sees developing in Syria and Iraq.
The Congressman also was one of 108 members of the House to vote against a budget bill last week that included the authorization to arm Syrian rebels. He was among eight members of Florida’s 27-member House delegation to vote against it.
On the other side of the debate, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, joined with the rest of the Tampa Bay region’s delegation in voting for that bill that included arming the Syrian rebels.
Buchanan indicated in a statement to the media he backed the measure partly because it responds to ISIS “without having to commit American combat troops.”
