Obama’s national security team under fire
By Alexander Bolton – 06/13/14 06:00 AM EDT
President Obama’s team of national security advisers is under attack on Capitol Hill for not foreseeing the collapse of Iraq’s army forces who have been routed by Sunni jihadists.
Republicans are calling for heads to roll, and Democrats have been slow to defend Obama’s national security team after a string of questionable performances.
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Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have second-guessed Obama’s decision to release five senior Taliban commanders from Guantánamo Bay and his handling of the civil war in Syria. Now they’re concerned the insurgent’s lightning war across Iraq has taken the administration by surprise.
Obama even took heat Thursday from the editorial page of The Washington Post, which asserted the “pretense” of Obama’s claim to have ended the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan “is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain.”
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called for the wholesale resignation of Obama’s national security team, starting with Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“We need a new national security adviser. We need a new team. We need a new team that knows what America’s national security interests are and are more interested in national security than they are in politics,” he said on the Senate floor.
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/international/209262-obamas-national-security-team-under-fire#ixzz34dxVDCI4
