Rep. Peter King blasted President Barack Obama's leadership in Iraq on Sunday, saying America faces terrorism on its own soil if the terror group ISIS isn't stopped.
"This is not just Iraq. ISIS is a direct threat to the United States of America," the New York Republican said Sunday on "Meet the Press."
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin appeared just before King, echoing Obama's words that Iraq should be left to deal with its own troubles.
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Host David Gregory pressed Durbin on whether the Obama administration is under-reacting to the global terror threat by addressing it on a limited basis.
"This is a big, expansive terrorist threat that has amassed on his watch," Gregory told Durbin.
Durbin said "perhaps they can do it themselves" if Iraqis elect a coalition government. "But we cannot send the troops. We must not send the troops."
That did not sit well with King, who responded, that Durbin's and Obama's words are "a shameful abdication of American leadership."
"I want to hear what he says when they attack us in the United States," King added.
King noted that thousands of his constituents died on 9/11, and that ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, is far more powerful now than al-Qaida was on 9/11, partly due to seizing American weapons from Iraqi troops who fled as ISIS moved into their cities.
"Every day that goes by ISIS builds up this caliphate, and it becomes a direct threat to the United States of America," King said.
ISIS controls a large section of northern Iraq and eastern Syria and has vowed to establish a Muslim state, eventually raising their flag over the White House.
King said he wants nothing taken off the table, including "massive air attacks" against ISIS. He also called it a "false argument" to say American boots on the ground is the only way to defeat ISIS.
He suggested arming the Kurds in northern Iraq and working with the Iraqi army now rather than waiting for a coalition government to be elected.
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