Senator Accuses Obama of Only Paying 'Lip Service' to Threat of Terrorism

Republicans are seizing on the recent mass shooting at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub to criticize the President Obama’s strategy to protect the country from terrorism, according to CBS News.

The network noted that investigators have not determined whether the Islamic State or another extremist group was involved in the massacre, which resulted in 50 deaths.

However, GOP Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina proclaimed in a video released Saturday: “We face a growing and significant threat from ISIL, and contrary to what the administration would have you believe, we face a threat at home and abroad from an ever-capable al Qaeda. We have learned from 15 years at war that we cannot sit back and expect to be protected at home by the great expanse of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.”

Burr, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, accused Obama of merely paying “lip service” to the issue. “The challenge we face today is unlike one we have ever known,” he warned. “The terrorists are not new, and their message is not new. It is their leveraging of our freedoms, technology and innovation to kill that makes this new and a real threat. That’s why the Obama administration needs to treat the threat posed by ISIL seriously and lead a campaign to defeat and not merely ‘contain’ the terrorist group. The administration has … not directed the full capabilities of this great nation against this problem.”

The senator added: “We must attack ISIL and al Qaeda and those who want to do us harm, where they raise funds, where they recruit and where they plan their attacks.”

Source: CBS News
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