The Hill – June 08, 2015- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is running for president, said the lack of a complete strategy to combat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also referred to as ISIL, “is commander-in-chief malpractice.”
 
“The threat posed by ISIL is growing exponentially, and President Obama’s lack of strategy is commander-in-chief malpractice,” the South Carolina Republican said a statement. “It’s long past time we upped our game to confront this dangerous and growing threat to the American homeland.”
 
Graham added that “radical Islam, in its most vicious form, is gathering momentum. …Today they are large, rich, and entrenched. We must make them small, poor, and on the run.”
 
Separately, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, took to the Senate floor to criticize Obama, saying “I’d like to see the incomplete strategy. I’d like to see something.”
 
The Arizona Republican added that U.S. troops aren’t firing weapons on 75 percent of the combat missions they are currently flying in Syria.
 
“When is this administration going to figure out that if you want to destroy the enemy, you’ve got to be able to identify the enemy that requires air controllers on the ground, and that means U.S. troops,” he said.
 
He acknowledged that “whenever I and some others say that we need additional U.S. troops, people recoil,” but added that “what’s going on now is ISIS is succeeding.”
 
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) added that Obama’s comments “indicate an alarming attitude toward this threat to our national security.”
 
“A soldier learns one must always have a plan for battle, it’s troubling that our Commander-in-Chief doesn’t follow that same logic,” Cotton, who is a veteran, said in a statement. “President Obama claims we aren’t losing the fight against ISIS, but he won’t say we’re winning. I fear his incomplete strategy has only emboldened ISIS and put our national security at greater risk.”
 
The comments from the three senators come after Obama told reporters that the administration doesn’t “yet have a complete strategy” to combat the terrorist group.
 
The National Republican Committee quickly slammed the president, comparing his comments on Monday to remarks made in August that “we don’t have a strategy yet.”
 
The remarks come as Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) are trying to tie a war authorization proposal for the fight against ISIS to a State Department policy bill expected to be taken up this week in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.