Key Senate Democrat says ISIL force request too broad

WASHINGTON — President Obama's proposal for legislation to fight the Islamic State contains "largely undefined" wording that could be interpreted as license to wage open-ended war, according to the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The president's request that Congress approve a three-year authorization of military force specifically precludes "enduring offensive ground combat operations," but what that means isn't clear, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey said in a recent interview.

"The last thing we want to do is have an open-ended conflict without limitations," said Menendez, who voted against the Iraq war resolution as a House member in 2002. "That's the challenge... to give the president the authority and the support to defeat ISIL but not to give him and the next president an open-ended ability to conduct a very prolonged war with combat troops on the ground and everything we saw in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Menendez's reservations about Obama's proposed military-force resolution offer another example of his willingness to challenge — or even outright oppose — the administration on foreign policy.

Recently, he said the president struck a "bad deal for the Cuban people" in seeking to normalize relations with the Castro regime. And he accused administration officials of using talking points "straight out of Tehran" as they negotiate a deal aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

"He's an independent person," Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said of Menendez. "If he has a different point of view, he certainly expresses it, and I think he expresses it well."

Menendez, who chaired the committee in the last Congress, is in a key position to shape the use-of-force resolution targeting the Islamic State, also called ISIL or ISIS, a top issue for Congress this year. He said he wants to work with the administration to "put some parameters" around the proposal.

Menendez led the fight in the last Congress for a new military-force authorization targeting ISIL. Under his chairmanship, the Foreign Relations Committee approved — without support from Republicans — a resolution that authorized military force but prohibited ground troop operations except in specifically defined circumstances.

The legislative proposal Obama sent to Congress last week uses elements of that resolution, including a three-year sunset, no geographical limitations and repeal of the 2002 Iraq War authorization. But Menendez said he has warned administration officials that the vague wording on combat operations would be problematic for Democrats.

"Does that mean you can have 'enduring' defensive combat troops?" he asked during the interview on Thursday. "What does 'enduring' mean?"

House Speaker John Boehner is moving in a different direction, calling for an authorization that would give military commanders more flexibility in fighting ISIL.

Menendez said the administration "often has a view that diplomacy can work," he said, even though it hasn't worked in Syria.

"I believe in diplomacy, but sometimes I believe that strength ultimately avoids provocation and weakness invites it," he said.