Dems Decry Obama Decision To Deploy Special Ops To Syria
Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oct 30, 4:13 PM EDT
BY DEB RIECHMANN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional Democrats on Friday criticized President Barack Obama's decision to dispatch a small band of U.S. special operations forces to northern Syria to help local fighters battle the Islamic State, saying they feared "mission creep" from a president who promised to end American involvement in two wars.
Democrats complained the move was being made without a clear U.S. strategy in Syria, torn asunder by years of civil war. They also said the move makes it essential that Congress debate and vote on a new authorization for the use of military force. Obama is relying on war powers given to President George W. Bush after 9/11.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said sending American special forces into Syria represents a major shift in policy that puts the United States on a "potentially dangerous downward slope into a civil war with no end in sight."
Murphy and other Democrats said the deployment, while small, risks drawing U.S. forces into combat missions and will inevitably increase pressure for the United States to enter the war against Syria President Bashar Assad.
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