U.S. and coalition forces have conducted nearly 2,300 airstrikes hitting more than 4,800 targets in Iraq and Syria since August 2014, as part of the ongoing campaign to defeat the so-called Islamic State. Three service members have already perished in these ongoing operations against ISIS.
But according to Attorney General Eric Holder, “we’re not at a time of war.”
The comments, during a luncheon at the National Press Club, came just days after the White House sent Congressional leaders a draft bill that would authorize the continuation of the war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
President Obama declared an end to the ‘Global War on Terror’ in 2013, but that was before the emergence of the so-called Islamic State and the operation the president launched to fight them. Last week, the White House proposed a war authorization that set out no geographical limits on the use against ISIS and its affiliated groups, which was criticized by some of the left who said it allowed the president too much leeway to conduct military action.
Holder made the remarks Tuesday while responding to a question about the Department of Justice’s prosecution of journalists over national security matters. The attorney general was making a broader point about the need for reporters to consider whether publishing sensitive information might undercut American national security.
Source: The Daily Beast | Tim Mak
BCNN1 WP 