McCain says U.S. airstrikes in Iraq can't stop Islamic State: NY Times

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to the media on the situation in Iraq on the South Lawn of the White House, before his departure for vacation at Martha's Vineyard, in Washington August 9, 2014. Obama said on Saturday U.S. airstrikes have destroyed arms and equipment that Islamic State insurgents could have used to attack Arbil, the Iraqi Kurdish capital, but warned the current operation in Iraq could take some time. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senator John McCain said on Saturday that President Barack Obama's limited military action against Islamic State militants in northern Iraq showed a "fundamental misunderstanding of the threat," and called for strikes against the group's positions in Syria, The New York Times reported.

McCain, a frequent critic of Obama's foreign policy including his handling of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the airstrikes authorized by the president are not enough to deal with a growing threat to the United States that he called "the richest, most powerful terrorist organisation in history," the paper said.