Publisher's Synopsis
On Wednesday, the President submitted to Congress his proposalfor an authorization to use military force against ISIS [IslamicState of Iraq and Syria]. Although the President has ordered combatoperations against ISIS take place in Iraq since last Augustand in Syria since last September, only now has he sought the congressionalauthorization required by the Constitution.Despite the airstrikes, press accounts indicate that ISIS has expandedits territory that it controls in Syria. The world has beenhorrified at its barbarism, which seems to have no limit.In the meantime, the United States has suffered a significantsetback in Yemen. We have abandoned our embassy there, a placewhich the President once held out as a model for his counterterrorismapproach. Now we are in a much weaker position to preventattacks by the organization that has posed the most serious threatto our homeland in recent years.Elsewhere, Boko Haram is killing thousands and steadily advancingin Nigeria; Libya has become a breeding ground for terroristgroups; AQIM [Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb] still menacesthe population in several North African countries; and there is concernthat Al Qaeda in the Afghan-Pakistan region is becoming reinvigoratedas U.S. troop levels are reduced.Congress will consider the President's AUMF [authorization foruse of military force] proposal in the context of this wider fightagainst Islamist terrorists. The purpose of today's hearing is toevaluate how that broaderstruggle is going. Among the questionsI have are: What are the trends we see with Islamist terrorists? Istheir appeal growing or diminishing around the world? Is thethreat to the United States becoming more or less serious?
