SEN. ANGUS KING (I), ME: I think youre talking about a broader kind of conflict where congressional involvement is important. That you know, that pesky Constitution says Congress has the power to declare war. And Im uncomfortable with expansion of presidential authority to basically take military action anywhere in the world if the President decides thats what important. Thats not the way our system is built. CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Esp when Congress seems to be punting on their responsibility for political motives. I want to talk to you about that in a second. But first, from what youve heard, what is the single-most troubling thing you were told? KING: Well, I cant talk specifically as you understand, Chris, about the briefing that I had with the intelligence officials. But I think the broader question is well known. The real issue is safe haven for terrorists. A training ground for terrorists. And the desire, the express desire of this organization to get at us in some way, shape or form. So I think thats the argument. Im waiting to be convinced on that because theres an old saying of Mark Twain, that history doesnt always repeat itself but it usually rhymes. And it bothers me a little bit that were talking about advisers. Were talking about the safe haven argument, which is a reminiscent of the domino theory. And I think we have to be very clear about what our goals are here, whats achievable. And the other piece, Chris, is if the government in Baghdad cant develop an open and inclusive political process that makes the Sunnis in the north and the east, if they dont feel engaged, were wasting our time. CUOMO: Thats a great point, Senator, because thats where ISIS comes from in the first place. When you start unpacking who those guys are, that are fighting for ISIS, many of them were the Iraqi army fighting under Saddam. Many of them have grievance against Iraq. Let me push you one more time though, because given our past, you said this sounds familiar so we have to be sure. The American people have been burned, yellow cake comes to mind and rationales that fell away. Can you give people confidence this morning that you believe what you were told from the government so far? KING: Well, I believe what Im being told. I wasnt given any deep, dark secrets that arent generally public knowledge. I think the real question that we have to face is, is the safe haven argument sufficient to justify significant American engagement. And then the question, Chris is -- what level of engagement? If youre talking about air strikes, OK. I think we can live with that. One thing thats worrying me and bothering me about this is that theres this idea that were going to be able to do this with air power, its going to be clean and surgical and all of that. Thats nonsense. There are going to be boots on the ground. The only question is -- whether theyre American or Iraqi or Kurdish because youre not going to be able to oust ISIS from places like Mosul. CUOMO: We know that. KING: With air power. CUOMO: We know that. KING: Well, we know that but nobody is talking about that. Everybody is acting like - CUOMO: Were going to get to that, Senator, because thats the second part of the problem that I said I wanted to address with you and well do it right now. You do know whose boots are going to be on the ground. Were perpetuating a myth because you dont like it politically down there in Washington, because you know people dont want Americans on the ground. The reason your brothers and sisters are so quiet about the presidents authority is that they dont want to vote because theyre afraid about the midterms. So even though you have a lawsuit right now against the president about his executive orders and action. Too many of you arent saying a damn thing about your constitutional responsibilities, to get involved with issues of war. Why dont you call out the people in Congress? KING: Chris, Ive been saying it for the last 24 hours, you know what Congress is really good at? Second-guessing and criticizing. Were not very good at taking responsibility. And I think were dodging our responsibility. It is ironic as you mentioned that some of the same people who are suing the president for being too active as an executive, are now saying well, were not going to get involved in this decision about war. CUOMO: And you know why. The worst part is why. You should call out Senator Cruz and all his friends and say, you want to criticize the president about this? Come in and vote. Vote. And if you authorize it, dont you start second-guessing it when it starts to be politically expedient because you authorized it. Thats why theyre not voting. Am I wrong? KING: Well, I think youre right. I think everybody wants to have it both ways, they want to be able to criticize, but they dont want to have their hands on the decision. Thats too easy. Thats not what were were hired to do down here. You should talk to Tim Kaine of Virginia, he is saying the same thing. I frankly dont get it. I was in some meetings yesterday and we got to back the president, we got to do this and these guys are really bad. And yes, they are yes, they are. Theres no questions of that. We had those awful beheadings. But were talking about a commitment here, that you never know where a military engagement is going to go. And so I think we ought, the Congress ought to step up and talk about this. And make a decision and take a vote. Thats the position Ive been taking for the last couple of weeks. CUOMO: The poisonous posture of resistance thats down there in Washington right now may be an equal threat to ISIS when you look at what threatens the U.S. stability going forward. Not me saying it, its the polls, 65 percent of people polled in this country say this may be the worst Congress ever. Im not putting that on you, Senator, but you do have a big voice and you should call out your brothers and sisters that they should come in and vote so the American people know where they stand on this. Thank you very much, Senator King, always appreciate your candor. Good luck moving forward on this. We look forward to talking to you. KING: Thanks, Chris. Talk to you later, buddy.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 15:13:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015