President Barack Obama said Wednesday that his request for congressional approval to use military force against ISIS is “not the authorization of another ground war like Afghanistan or Iraq.”
The president spoke from the White House after sending Congress a request that would limit American military engagement to three years and prohibit “enduring offensive ground forces.”
Obama said that the war powers authorization “does not call for the deployment of U.S. ground combat forces to Iraq or Syria. It is not the authorization of another ground war like Afghanistan or Iraq.”
“I am convinced that the United States should not get dragged back into another prolonged ground war in the Middle East,” he said.
Still, the request quickly drew skepticism from both parties. House Speaker John Boehner questioned whether Obama’s plan will get the job done, and a leading Democrat in the Senate expressed concern about “a loophole that could lead to another major war.”
The United States has been pounding ISIS from the air since last summer. Obama said in his request that he wanted to work with Congress and show the world a united front.
“ISIL is on the defensive, and ISIL is going to lose,” the president said, using an alternate name for the militants.
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