Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, D, along with Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., delivered remarks to Congress Tuesday urging them to break the silence surrounding Islamic State and take military action to stop their worldwide threats of terrorism.
This discussion of Islamic State in the legislature comes just days after the group carried out mass terrorist attacks Nov. 13 in Paris. The attacks took place in six locations across Paris, the most casualties resulting from the attack in the Bataclan Theater as the American band Eagles of Death Metal performed a concert. In total, the shootings and suicide bombs left at least 129 people dead and hundreds more injured. Police across Europe are putting continued efforts into tracking down the surviving perpetrators of the attack. In addition to the attacks in Paris, Islamic State attacks also took place in Beirut, Lebanon and Baghdad, Iraq in the past week alone.
Kaine said silence from Congress sends a message, and the legislative body should not remain silent.
“Congress has been strangely silent about the war. We criticize the President, but won’t vote to authorize, stop or refine what he is doing. Congressional silence sends a message. Our allies wonder whether we have the resolve to work with them to stop this threat,” Kaine said.
In wake of the events of the past week, Kaine said the threat does not appear to be subsiding, but is rather “mutating and growing.”
“ISIL is not going away. This is a threat, and the President started military action for a narrow and limited reason, but the threat has mutated. Like a cancer, it's grown and it is now affecting nations all over the world,” Kaine said.
A call for war was also a theme in Kaine’s address. He and Flake are proposing what they call a bipartisan resolution to authorize military force against IS.
“It will force the administration to give thought to, and lay out a clear strategy that encompasses military and non-military dimensions,” Kaine said. “Finally, it will vindicate the Constitutional role of Congress in making the sober decision about when military force is necessary.”
Fourth-year College student Jay Boyd, chairman of the University’s College Republicans, said the silence cast over Islamic State in government is hindering the war on terror.
“It’s definitely something we can’t really afford to ignore, because we ignored Al Qaeda and some of the terrorist groups over in the Middle East in all of their rhetoric towards America for too long,” Boyd said. “They threatened Paris and you saw what happened this weekend, so it’s really not something that we can afford to ignore.”
Boyd also said he believes the part of the problem lies in issues of compromised intelligence. Although he said he does not think the “boots on the ground” method would be the most effective way, he said violence might be the only way
“One thing I do think is that we and the Obama administration may have tired of war, but our enemies haven’t tired of fighting us,” Boyd said. “And I feel like that is something we need to recognize as a country that even though we are weary of it, the people that want to attack us are not.”
The University Democrats declined to comment on this issue.
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