Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Chairman Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., center, flanked by the committee's ranking member Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ., right, and Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, listens on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 11, 2015, as Secretary of State John Kerry, center, back to camera, testifies. Three of America's top national security officials face questions on Capitol Hill about new war powers being drafted to fight Islamic State militants, Iran's sphere of influence and hotspots across the Mideast. WASHINGTON -- America's top military officer says that while Iran's support in the fight against Islamic State militants is helpful, the U.S. remains concerned about what happens "after the drums stop beating" and the Islamic State is defeated.
Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., on Wednesday that anything anyone does to counter IS is a "positive thing." But he said there is concern about whether Iran-backed militiamen, who are Shia, will turn against Sunni Iraqis, further destabilizing Iraq.
"We are all concerned about what happens after the drums stop beating and ISIL is defeated, and whether the government of Iraq will remain on a path to provide an inclusive government for all of the various groups within it," Dempsey said, using an acronym for the militant group. "We're very concerned about that."
Dempsey joined Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter in testifying at a committee hearing about President Barack Obama's proposal for new war powers to fight the Islamic State. The debate comes amid Democratic worries that the move could lead to a full-scale U.S. ground war in the Mideast and GOP concerns that it should not tie the hands of the commander in chief.
The legislation will set up the first war vote in Congress in 13 years.
"Everyone cares first and foremost that we have a strategy to deal with ISIS that's in line with our national interest," Corker said during the hearing.
He said he hopes the hearing will help start a process where both parties can reach agreement on a new authorization to fight Islamic State militants, who have seized territory across Iraq and Syria. Obama sent his draft to Capitol Hill last month.
"As we have received that authorization for the use of military force, what we have come to understand is that -- and this is not a pejorative statement, it's an observation -- we don't know of a single Democrat in Congress, in the United States Senate, anyway, that supports that authorization for the use of military force," Corker said.
Committee members asked questions including what some termed the vagueness of the proposal language, and whether other groups like Africa's Boko Haram, which recently swore allegiance to ISIS, would be included in the authorization to use force.
Obama's proposal would allow the use of military force against the Islamic State for three years, unbounded by national borders. The fight could be extended to any "closely related successor entity" to the organization, which holds about one-third of Iraq and neighboring Syria. However, the proposal ruled out large-scale U.S. ground combat operations reminiscent of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Republicans expressed unhappiness that Obama had chosen to exclude any long-term commitment of ground forces, while some Democrats voiced dismay that he had opened the door to any deployment whatsoever.
The 2002 congressional authorization that preceded the American-led invasion of Iraq would be repealed under the White House proposal, a step some Republicans were also unhappy to see. But a separate authorization approved by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks would remain in force, to the consternation of some Democrats.
The struggle to define any role for American ground forces is likely to determine the outcome of the administration's request for legislation. The White House has said that the proposal was intentionally ambiguous on that point to give the president flexibility, although the approach also was an attempt to bridge a deep divide in Congress.
During Kerry's testimony, an anti-war protester from the group Code Pink shouted: "We're tired of the endless war ... the killing of innocent people." Corker called for order. Kerry responded, asking, "Killing more innocent people? I wonder how our journalists who were beheaded and the [Jordanian] pilot, who was fighting for freedom, who was burned alive -- what they would have to say to their efforts to protect innocent people?"
The discussion took on a decidedly more political tone when two potential 2016 presidential hopefuls had their opportunities to speak.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., connected the force authorization to the Obama administration's nuclear negotiations with Iran, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., brought up the recent letter signed by 47 Republican senators to the leaders of Iran, saying that Congress could undo current nuclear negotiations between the two nations in the future. Paul said the letter, which purported to be a lesson on the U.S. Constitution, was "to Iran but should have been cc'd to the White House."
Kerry responded, calling the letter "erroneous" and "irresponsible."
Corker noted that the United States has signed on to train and equip forces to fight the Islamic State, yet once they are fielded, they will be subject to barrel bombs dropped by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Corker said the president's proposed authorization would allow ways to protect the forces, but bemoaned the lack of particulars.
"I don't think we've made those decisions yet," Corker said. "From my perspective, that shows a lack of commitment on the front end by the White House that they're not going to protect those in the train-and-equip program."
Dempsey said the U.S. has undergone two rounds of talks with Turkish officials about a possible air-exclusion zone in Aleppo, Syria, that would provide overflight to protect the troops.
"We are continuing to develop that option should it be asked for," Dempsey said.
Staff writer Will Healey and The Associated Press contributed to this story.