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Hanna shows support for president's plan to fight ISIS

Ryan Delaney
/
WRVO file photo
Rep. Richard Hanna (R-Barneveld) on primary night earlier in June.

Rep. Richard Hanna, a Republican, is backing the president’s plan to try to root out an Islamic extremist group in the Middle East.

"I think there are some things in life you don’t have a choice," he said. "These people have declared what they mean, what they intend to do, through many different type of media and I think we have to take it very seriously."

Hanna, a moderate conservative from the Utica area, says the fight against the Islamic State militant group, or ISIS, should be taken to them, before it comes here.

"This terrorist group has indicated the types of damage and that there are no limits to what they’re willing to do. And for us to do anything other than to meet that head on would be a mistake," he said Thursday.

President Barack Obama said in a national address Wednesday evening the U.S. will send support troops to Iraq and conduct an aerial assault against the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria.

Obama didn’t lay out an end date for the attacks, but Hanna says that’s okay.

"I think that’s a mistake, to telegraph that kind of thing to your enemy," he said. "I think everybody understands that it’s a long battle and there is no end in sight at this time."

The Islamic State has taken over vast stretches of Iraq and Syria in brutal fashion. It drew attention and condemnation with the broadcasted beheadings of two American journalists this summer.

Hanna says he expects Congress to approve the president’s plan.