Senator: Debate attacks on ISIS

NEW YORK – U.S. Sen. Bob Casey says it would be “very healthy” for the United States if members of Congress spend about two weeks getting briefings, holding hearings, and having a real debate about authorizing the use of force against the Islamic State terrorist group.

The Pennsylvania Democrat said in an interview Monday that even if members believe, as he does, that President Barack Obama has the legal authority to mount an aerial bombing campaign against the terrorist group, a debate and even some votes could be helpful for his strategy.

Casey said the administration also has to prepare the country for a counterterrorism campaign that is going to take years, “and I think we should not only say that, we should have a strategy that reflects that.”

Mexico mass graves show a troubled state

IGUALA, Mexico – Revelations of mayhem, murder and mass graves have shed light on another deeply troubled region of Mexico, the southern state of Guerrero, where federals officials Monday disarmed local police and took over security after an attack on students that left at least six dead and 43 missing.

Officials say that police officers were in league with a local gang called the Guerreros Unidos in carrying out the attack, and sent a new preventative unit of the federal police to keep order and help look for the missing.

As state officials worked to determine whether some of the missing students are among 28 bodies found Saturday in a clandestine grave, President Enrique Pena Nieto called the deaths “outrageous, painful and unacceptable.”

Pena Nieto said he dispatched federal security forces to “find out what happened and apply the full extent of the law to those responsible.”

Associated Press