All of the members of Congress representing San Diego County with the exception of Duncan Hunter voted in favor of training and arming Syrian rebels in the fight against brutal Islamic extremists.
Reps. Susan Davis, Darrell Issa, Scott Peters and Juan Vargas all voted for the so-called McKeon amendment to give President Obama authority to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels waging war against the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant , known as ISIL or ISIS.
“The threat presented by ISIL is very dangerous and very real; I voted for the McKeon amendment because it is the course of action recommended by the commanders of our armed forces who believe it is in the best interests of our national defense,” said Peters. “It gives them the authority over the next three months to train and equip moderate forces in Syria so they are capable of countering ISIL on the ground.
“While I continue to support airstrikes in Iraq that have already proved successful in thwarting ISIL’s advance, this amendment does not authorize, nor do I support, American combat ground troops in Iraq and Syria,” he said.
Hunter, who served in the Marines in Iraq, said on the House floor that he couldn’t vote for the amendment because it doesn’t go far enough.
“This amendment does nothing to destroy the Islamic state…What this amendment does is start training Islamists to fight Islamists, and we may have that Islamist army to fight Islamists in a matter of a few years,” he said. “We need to crush ISIS, not work on training more Islamic radicals.”
The Syria amendment was contained in a continuing resolution that would keep the government funded through Dec. 11 and now goes to the Senate, where a vote is expected on Thursday.
