Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Calls for Sending Troops to Fight ISIS: South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham Suggests Sending 10K Soldiers
In an interview, Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham proposed that the U.S. send thousands of troops to win the fight against Islamic extremist group ISIS. Now, presidential hopeful Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has expressed the same sentiment.
Gov. Walker, who may run for president next year, expressed similar beliefs on ABC's "This Week" about the ISIS crisis, reports MSNBC.
"I think aggressively, we need to take the fight to ISIS and any other radical Islamic terrorist in and around the world," Walker said. "We have to go beyond just aggressive air strikes ... and ultimately, we have to be prepared to put boots on the ground if that's what it takes."
When pressed further on the subject, Gov. Walker clarified his position,
"No, I don't think that is an immediate plan," he said. "I wouldn't rule anything out."
In an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation," Sen. Graham discussed the ISIS crisis, how to defeat the group and how to prevent any more possible scenarios like the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Sen. Graham argued Syria and Iraq were the best places from which to launch an attack against the U.S.
"Foreign fighters flow with passports that can penetrate the United States or our Western allies, so you'll see Paris on steroids here pretty soon if you don't disrupt this organization and take the fight to them on the ground," he said on Sunday.
Sen. Graham and former Secretary of State James Baker, who appeared on "Face the Nation" with Se. Graham, both agreed the U.S. should do more than conduct airstrikes against ISIS but disagreed on how. While Baker argued in favor of improving the Iraqi army and approaching allies in the region like Turkey and Arabic nations to battle the extremists, Sen. Graham said we should deploy American troops.
"You're going to need boots on the ground, not only in Iraq, but Syria. And there's got to be some regional force formed with an American component somewhere around 10,000 American soldiers to ally with Arab armies in the region and go in to Syria and take back territory from ISIL. That's what will make it stop," the South Carolina Republican said.
Although both GOP politicians believe U.S. troops back in Iraq may be the solution to ISIS, the American people remain skeptical. A Quinnipiac University poll from November found 55 percent of those polled were against deploying ground troops.
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