http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=2A3BEEA1-6910-4BC8-817F-758BD89244C3 Tim Kaine calls on White House for Iraq plan
By: Jonathan Topaz
June 12, 2014 01:10 PM EDT
Sen. Tim Kaine said Thursday that the situation in Iraq is “very dire” and urged the Obama administration to present a plan to Congress “very, very soon.”
“The way we ought to do this here in Washington is that the president should put a plan on the table and make a suggestion to Congress about what we should do,” the Virginia Democrat said on MSNBC, adding that Congress and the White House underwent such a process last summer with Syria.
“That’s how the process is supposed to work,” Kaine said, just moments before President Barack Obama spoke Thursday saying he wouldn’t rule out any potential responses to the situation in Iraq. “The administration has not provided any plan or a suggestion, although they are deeply and constantly engaged now within the United States and with allies to determine what that should be. They need to come forward with a proposal and bring it to Congress and then let us debate about what we should do.”
Kaine, a member of both the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, participated in a closed briefing Thursday on the situation in Iraq. Speaking after the briefing, he said he agreed with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that the situation is deteriorating. “It’s a very dire circumstance,” he said.
“I would strongly recommend that the administration come to Congress very, very soon and put some options on the table about what we should be able to do,” the senator added.
Kaine is among the first Democrats to join a growing chorus of Republicans that have criticized Obama for lack of a clear strategy on Iraq. Al Qaeda-aligned extremists have made significant advances this week and Iraqi government forces are heavily retreating.
At his weekly press conference Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) angrily denounced what he perceived as Obama’s inaction on Iraq: “What’s the president doing? Taking a nap,” he said.
Senate Armed Services Committee Republicans John McCain of Arizona and Graham also slammed the administration. “Everybody in his national security team, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ought to be replaced,” McCain said, referring to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey. Appearing on 104.1 KQTH in Tuscon later on Thursday, McCain said Iraq was “a total failure of Obama’s policies” and called the situation “the gravest threat to our national security that I have seen” since the end of the Cold War.
