WASHINGTON – Climbing off planes Monday after five weeks of recess, Minnesota members of Congress say they are pressing the Obama administration for more information about plans to battle ISIL, a growing Islamist terrorist army in the Middle East actively recruiting soldiers from Minnesota.
Both Democratic Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar have called on the Justice Department to fortify resources in Minnesota as details emerge that between 20 and 30 Minnesotans have been actively recruited by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a group intent on restoring Islamic rule to a region that stretches from southern Turkey through Syria and includes Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.
GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann on Monday introduced a bill that would revoke passports and re-entry privileges of those fighting against the United States. Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison, who represents an area heavily populated by Somalis, asked that the administration continue engaging with the state's local Muslim community. GOP Rep. John Kline called for a coherent military strategy that could include more American air power and the arming of Kurdish forces.
President Obama is to outline his strategic plans to cripple ISIL in a speech to the American public on Wednesday.
The president will go on the offensive against ISIL with a broader counterterror mission than he previously has been willing to embrace, U.S. officials said Monday. The new plan, however, still won't commit U.S. troops to a ground war and will rely heavily for now on allies to pitch in for what could be an extended campaign.
Since Congress was last here, two American journalists have been beheaded in the Middle East, and Obama administration officials have confirmed that ISIL is actively recruiting some Americans to fight.
Kline, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a Marine Corps combat veteran, said he would welcome the clarity.
"It's not the place of Congress … to sit and develop policy strategy and tactics to implement that," Kline said. "I can't imagine a strategy that doesn't include more American air power. … He needs to lay out the strategy so that we can implement something in a meaningful way."
Bachmann, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, said she was appalled when she heard earlier this summer that naturalized American citizens who left the United States to fight for another army could return to the country legally. Her bill would amend existing law to include membership or association with a foreign terrorist organization as a renunciation of U.S. citizenship and grounds for denaturalization.
Bachmann said she hopes "the president proceeds with the understanding that the Islamic State has declared war on us," adding that "we need to assume that there are efforts underway to attack the United States."
Of Obama's upcoming address, she said, "I look forward to hearing how he intends to defeat the Islamic State and how he intends to keep the people in my state of Minnesota safe."
A CNN/ORC International poll out Monday shows Americans are increasingly concerned about the potential for a direct terror threat, but 61 percent oppose putting U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria.
Franken, who last week sought additional resources from the Justice Department to help fight Minnesota recruitment to ISIL, said Monday he was "satisfied" with the information he has received from the Obama administration and he looks forward to hearing the president's plan. Franken opposes additional ground forces in Iraq or Syria.
"I'm very happy he [Obama] has reached out to our allies in NATO and assembled a large coalition there and I'd like to see stronger support from others in the region, like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates," Franken said. "I look forward to hearing what his plan is going to be."
'Pure evil'
Klobuchar on Monday called ISIL "pure evil," and said she favors working with allies and the Arab League but does not want American combat forces in Iraq.
"I think the president needs to make a very clear national security case for these actions," she said. "He has to lay it out so people understand it and people understand what this means to our own country. … He has to make it very clear that we're not going to put boots on the ground and we have to work with our allies."
Democratic Reps. Rick Nolan and Ellison agreed with Klobuchar.
Nolan, who got his start in Congress at the tail end of the Vietnam War in 1975, called an aggressive military action counterproductive.
"It's naive to think we can go in and in three years straighten out a conflict that's been going on for a thousand years," he said.
Ellison, using another common term for the Islamist group, said that "at the end of the day, ISIS is messaging to the world. If you want to demonstrate devotion to Islam, we need to send an alternative message that ISIS is doing incredibly un-Islamic things, like murdering innocent people." ISIS stands for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
What's increasingly important, Ellison said, is that the administration engage and build trust with the local community in Minnesota. "I am one who believes that you need to counter this in a calm, methodical way."
Allison Sherry • 1-202-383-6120
