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Sen. Murphy Wants Ban on U.S. Ground Troops in Iraq and Syria

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Sen. Chris Murphy speaks on the Senate floor about banning the use of ground troops in Iraq and Syria.
"What we know is that those troops inside Iraq also made Iraq what our own intelligence community called the cause celebre for the international terrorist movement."
Sen. Chris Murphy

Senator Chris Murphy is pushing for congressional action to ban the deployment of U.S. ground troops to Iraq and Syria. Murphy spoke about his amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act on the Senate floor on Wednesday.

"We think it's important that congress weigh in here and state what we believe to be the desire and imperative of our constituents: that we learn from the mistakes of the Iraq War, that we don't repeat them by inserting thousands of American ground troops back into Iraq or perhaps into Syria," Murphy said.

Murphy did praise the efforts of U.S. troops who served in Iraq after the 2003 invasion. "But what we know," he said, "is that those troops inside Iraq also made Iraq what our own intelligence community called the cause celebre for the international terrorist movement, drawing in thousands of would-be terrorists to fight the Americans."

Murphy said he still hopes for a full debate on the Authorization for Use of Military Force, which has not yet made it through committee. The AUMF would more directly put limitations on military ground forces, but Murphy wants it attached to the NDAA in the meantime.

The Senate is scheduled to continue discussion on the NDAA on Thursday morning. The amendment is co-sponsored by Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal, Brian Schatz, and Tom Udall.

Tucker Ives is WNPR's morning news producer.

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