WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says Congress should give President Barack Obama authority to train and equip Syrian rebels to fight Islamic State militants, without rushing into a war like the one in Iraq.
Speaking several hours before Obama’s planned prime-time address Wednesday, Reid said Obama has already begun assembling an international coalition to take on the militants, who have overrun parts of Iraq and Syria and beheaded two journalists they had held.
In supporting the president, Reid was harshly critical of former Vice President Dick Cheney and Republicans whom he said take their advice from him.
He said Cheney is more responsible than anyone else for the invasion of Iraq, which Reid called the worst foreign policy decision in the history of the United States.
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