Levin: No military action without unified Iraqi request
The Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Iraqis must come together to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) or risk seeing their country splinter.
The powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is ruling out airstrikes in Iraq unless the country's religious and ethnic groups join together in a formal request for US military support.
The comments from Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., come as the Shiite government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has asked the United States to bomb the Sunni militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) as they make their way south toward the capital, Baghdad. Some Republicans are urging the administration to act now, but the White House and many lawmakers of both parties are worried about getting sucked into a sectarian conflict if Maliki does not mend fences with Sunnis and other groups.
