Sen. Feinstein Voices Criticism Of Pres. Obama's ISIS Strategy
(KPIX 5) – Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, is criticizing President Barack Obama's strategy for defeating ISIS.
"I don't see the strategy working. I believe they'd have an expanding capability," Feinstein said.
The senator said last week's terror attacks in Paris was the turning point.
"These attacks, have changed my view," Feinstein said.
A change of view - with a call for a change of strategy.
"We've done 8,000 bombing runs in Iraq and Syria, and they are still expanding, they are still attacking," Feinstein said.
This isn't the first time Feinstein has offered this kind of criticism. In August of last year, the senator also weighed in on the president's ISIS strategy.
"I think I've learned one thing about this president, and that is he's very cautious. Maybe in this instance, too cautious," Feinstein said at the time.
On Tuesday, the senator directly challenged the president's reluctance to engage ISIS with ground forces, using a familiar rationale long touted by Republicans.
"We'll either fight them there, or we're going to fight them here," Feinstein said.
As for what fighting them there should look like, Feinstein did not offer many specifics, but she borrowed another page from the president's Republican critics, warning of Paris-style attacks here.
"I think they do have the capability to hit in the United States," Feinstein said, suggesting that preventing an attack in the United States now requires sending more troops to the Middle East.