Republican senator McCain slams Kerry's Congress hearing as 'charade,' calls for fighting al-Assad

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asked Congress on Dec. 9 for new war powers to provide the legal grounding for U.S. military operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), but faced strong criticism from Republicans for not giving authorization to fight Syrian regime troops.

Kerry said any new authorization should not limit the fight to Iraq and Syria and should not bind President Barack Obama from ever deploying ground troops against ISIL if necessary. Moreover, Kerry said the administration wants to make sure that any authorization does not too narrowly define militants found alongside ISIL because it would, for example, make it difficult for the U.S. military officials on the ground to identify enemy forces.

Sen. John McCain, a strong Republican critic of Obama's foreign policy in Iraq and Syria, called the hearing a "kind of charade" because the authorization was not expected to become law before the new Congress starts in January. He said Obama needs to present a draft authorization to Congress in January. "He should lead and tell us what that authorization should be," McCain said.

McCain also accused the administration of failing to come to the aid of the Syrian people, with 200,000 dead in the nearly four-year civil war. The moderate Syrian rebels "honestly do not understand why you won't protect them from" barrel-bombings and attacks by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, McCain told the committee.

McCain further criticized the Obama administration for not giving the Syrian opposition the military equipment and weapons it needs to fight against al-Assad who is "slaughtering" his people.

In the U.S. battle against the Islamic militants, Obama has been relying on congressional authorizations...