WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) sees ISIS extremists as “a threat to America,” but he said he does not support all parts of President Barack Obama’s expanded plan to go after the terrorist group.
“We’ve never seen the barbaric actions we’re seeing now. We’ve never seen a terrorist group act in this manner,” Manchin said of his reasons for supporting the continued airstrikes against ISIS that started in Iraq more than a month ago and will continue in Syria.
“Our whole plan should be that, basically, anytime that there’s a threat to America or Americans, anyplace in the world that people are planning and plotting and training to do us harm, we have the right to go and hit them and hit them as hard as we can,” the Senator said on Thursday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
His show appearance came a day after President Obama detailed his ISIS plan during a national address.
“We will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are,” the President said from the White House on Wednesday night. “This a core principle of my presidency: If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.”
In addition to expanded airstrikes, President Obama said nearly 500 additional U.S. military members would be deployed to advise and assist Iraqi security forces. Also, he said members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House would be asked to approve more than $500 million to train and arm the Syrian rebels who are fighting ISIS.
Closed-door briefings on the plan for members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives were scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Manchin said he would be raising questions about that funding request with White House officials. “Who is the Free Syrian Army?” he asked of those the U.S. would be paying to train to fight.
He also said the U.S. cannot fight ISIS without support from a coalition of nations, including those in the Middle East.
“This group called ISIS is a threat to humanity and I want to see if their buy-in is the same,” Manchin said. “They’ve got to engage this time.”
As the Nation marked the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, President Obama said the ultimate goal would be to “degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIS without sending more U.S. combat troops into Iraq and Syria.