GOP senator: Obama pays "lip service" to ISIS threat
As federal officials continue to investigate any connection the Orlando gunman might have had to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Republican Party is pinning the blame on President Obama for failing to contain and defeat the terrorist group abroad.
"We face a growing and significant threat from ISIL, and contrary to what the administration would have you believe, we face a threat at home and abroad from an ever capable al Qaeda," Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, said in a video released Saturday, referring to another name for the extremist organization. "We have learned from 15 years at war that we cannot sit back and expect to be protected at home by the great expanse of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans."
Burr, chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, criticized the president for simply paying "lip service" to the threat the terror groups pose, rather than taking them seriously.
"The challenge we face today is unlike one we have ever known," he said. "The terrorists are not new, and their message is not new. It is their leveraging of our freedoms, technology and innovation to kill that makes this new and a real threat. That's why the Obama administration needs to treat the threat posed by ISIL seriously and lead a campaign to defeat and not merely 'contain' the terrorist group."
"The administration has paid lip service to the threat and has taken small steps in some areas and not in others," Burr continued. "But it has not directed the full capabilities of this great nation against this problem."
The North Carolina Republican proposed to "take the fight to" ISIS.
"I have said it before and it remains truer today than when I first said it -- we must attack ISIL and al Qaeda and those who want to do us harm, where they raise funds, where they recruit and where they plan their attacks," he added.
Burr's critiques come just as top administration officials have hailed recent military gains against ISIS in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, where U.S. military advisers say a third of the city is secured against the terrorist forces.
In the White House's own video, Mr. Obama chose to celebrate the naming of New York City's Stonewall Inn a national monument dedicated to gay rights.
"Back in 1969, as a turbulent decade was winding down, the Stonewall Inn was a popular gathering place for New York City's LGBT community," the president said in the video released Saturday. "At the time, being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender was considered obscene, illegal - even a mental illness." A police raid of the bar in 1969 sparked riots and protests that eventually gave birth to America's modern gay rights movement.
"Stonewall will be our first national monument to tell the story of the struggle for LGBT rights," Mr. Obama said. "I believe our national parks should reflect the full story of our country -- the richness and diversity and uniquely American spirit that has always defined us. That we are stronger together. That out of many, we are one. That's what makes us the greatest nation on earth. And it's what we celebrate at Stonewall - for our generation and for all those who come after us."
The decision to name Stonewall a national monument also comes just as activists get ready to commemorate the first anniversary of the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, the Supreme Court ruling that declared same-sex couples had the constitutional right to marry nationwide.
The president noted the landmark case, along with other policies, as a step in the right direction for the gay community but also acknowledged that "there's still work to do."
"As we saw two weeks ago in Orlando, the LGBT community still faces real discrimination, real violence, real hate," Mr. Obama said. "So we can't rest. We've got to keep pushing for equality and acceptance and tolerance."