Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, Representing California’s 46th Congressional District
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 1, 2015
MEDIA CONTACT: Emily Morris, 202-225-2965, Emily.Morris@mail.house.gov
REP. LORETTA SANCHEZ PRESSES DEFENSE OFFICIALS ON SYRIA AND IRAQ STRATEGY
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (CA-46), senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, questioned Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford during a full committee hearing on “U.S. Strategy for Syria and Iraq and its Implications for the Region.”
Congresswoman Sanchez, who also sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, asked tough questions about expanding efforts beyond just military force to counteract ISIL, arming Kurdish forces to effectively fight ISIL, integrating the Iraqi army, and cyber issues regarding ISIL recruitment.
Congresswoman Sanchez asked General Dunford how the U.S. is arming the Kurdish forces and if “it [is] really for the battlefield that they find?” Congresswoman Sanchez noted that Iraqi Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani had told her that Kurdish forces needed heavier duty weapons instead of light arms.
Voicing her concern on cyber issues, Congresswoman Sanchez asked Secretary Carter how the military is countering ISIL’s online recruitment efforts from a global perspective.
Congresswoman Sanchez believes that military force is just one instrument of power. She urged Secretary Carter and General Dunford to incorporate Diplomacy, Information, Military and Economics in their overall strategy in order to effectively roll back ISIL’s advances.
Congresswoman Sanchez is the Lead Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee’s bipartisan Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel, formed in response to the threat from extremists fighting overseas and the danger they pose to the U.S. homeland.
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Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez is proud to represent California’s 46th Congressional District, which includes the cities of Anaheim, Santa Ana, and parts of the cities of Garden Grove and Orange in Orange County. She serves as Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces and as the second ranked Democrat on the Committee on Homeland Security.
That headline is wrong. She was really grilling carne asada in the backyard of her Palos Verdes place.
Gee, do you think it was accidental that NO QUESTIONS were listed to let the READER judge how “tough” they were?
Glad she is so solicitous for concerns of the KURDISTAN President – any word on what (if any) safeguards are in place to prevent MORE loads of arms being dropped into the laps of ISIS? The next time we spend MILLIONS of DOLLARS in training the natives there, will we get more than FIVE graduates ?
Somebody check under the ‘grill’, I think the pilot light went out.