Reed seeks input on foreign threats

PENN YAN--A visit by Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) Friday, Feb. 20, was dominated by discussion about how to address the foreign threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which is an Islamic rebel group that controls territory in Iraq and Syria. Reed held a town hall meeting attended by some 16 residents to get their thoughts on the issue. While many in the audience agreed some sort of action needs to be taken, opinions ranged from negotiation to a full military operation from audience members.
"We want to make sure we get as much info from people in district as possible before coming to a decision," Reed said, referring to a resolution from President Barack Obama for the use of force in the Middle East.
Reed described ISIL as "a radical extreme group that is of the jihad extremist movement of the Muslim world," estimating their strength to be anywhere between 20,000 to 30,000 people. He said they formerly bring in $1 million to $2 million in revenue per day in black market oil sales, adding while that revenue source has been neutralized, they are still expanding their revenue through other means. Reed said they have also been conducting a strong online recruitment movement by using the Internet to bring in more followers.
"Their goal is very simple, it is to bring on the jihad," Reed said. While he said the "threat to the homeland is low," the threat of an attack is not completely eliminated. While Reed said he wished Obama would have a "clear, decisive position," regarding supporting Israel, he added he is happy the president put the resolution for the use of force in front of Congress instead of acting on his own.
Solutions from the crowd were somewhat divided as several different options were explored. Jerusalem Supervisor Patrick Killen cited his concern with ISIL beheading hostages, calling them "truly evil people."
"Morally we can't stand for that," Killen said. "We are better people than that." He said the United States needs to approach it from "a very serious standpoint with the military," adding "you can't win a battle against 20,000 people with air power alone."
Resident Peter Gamba took the opposite standpoint, saying "war is not the answer," asking the congressman what amount of energy has been spent on negotiations with ISIL. Reed responded by saying "our enemies are potentially our friends in this situation," in other Midde Eastern nations who wish to combat ISIL. He said certain nations need to reach out to ISIL to "put pressure on this extreme organization," adding "they don't want this just like we don't want this."
Reed said he has visited several towns within the district discussing this issue and plans to take the opinions of his residents to Washington, D.C. to argue before Congress takes action on this resolution.