A Republican lawmaker says the Obama administration must immediately send predator drones to Jordan to help it battle Islamic State militants
— reversing a refusal last fall because Jordan reportedly wasn't seen as a strong enough ally.
In a letter to President Barack Obama, California GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter urged San Diego-based General Atomics to be approved to export its unarmed Predator XP.
"Given our mutual interests, and our strong relationship, it's absolutely critical that we provide Jordan the support needed to defeat the Islamic State," Hunter wrote,
Defense News reports.
And drones, he wrote, are "much needed for a nation such as Jordan," giving it "critical mission capability… "
Fox News reports.
King Abdullah II visited Washington last week, cutting it short after a video was released showing a
Jordanian pilot captured in Syria being burned alive by the bloodthirsty jihadists.
The Jordanian monarch expressed gratitude to lawmakers for U.S. assistance but said he was experiencing delays obtaining certain types of military equipment, Defense News reports. Last fall, the State Department denied General Atomic's request for a DSP-5 export license to market it drone to Jordan, Defense News reports.
An aide to Duncan told Fox News the department had effectively argued Jordan wasn't a strong enough ally to receive the technology under U.S. export control laws.
"With the stroke of a pen, somebody could fix this," the aide told Fox News.
Asked about the license request, a State Department official said "internal deliberations" couldn't be discussed, but told Fox News "Jordan is an invaluable ally with whom we coordinate closely on a range of issues throughout the region."
Hunter, a Marine Corps veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, has criticized Obama's response to the Islamic State group.
"ISIS is now going to regret this more than anything else,"
he told Fox News Tuesday, referring to the Jordanian pilot's death.
"Because King Abdullah is not President Obama. They're gonna increase air sorties, increase people on the ground,and hopefully they will lead from the front and they will crush ISIS, that is what has happened here and that is what the King said they were going to do."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.