As presidential hopefuls in the crowded Republican field strive to break out of the pack, the question of sending U.S. troops back to the Middle East, this time to tackle Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists, is gaining prominence.
Leading the running on the issue is Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has gone beyond anyone else in the race by calling for tens of thousands of American troops to be deployed to Iraq and Syria.
“I would take the fight to these guys, whatever it took, as long as it took,” he said in one of two GOP debates in Cleveland earlier this month.
Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Graham doubled down.
“If you’re not willing to commit more American boots on the ground in Iraq from [the current deployment of some] 3,500 to about 10,000, if you don’t understand we will never destroy ISIL in Syria without a regional army of which we will have to be part, you’re not ready to be commander in chief,” he said.
“And really, nobody on our side seems to be willing to put a plan forward that truly would destroy ISIL,” Graham added.
President Obama’s anti-ISIS strategy includes a campaign of air strikes and a train-and-equip program involving around 3,550 U.S. troops in Iraq. No U.S. forces have been deployed to Syria, but vetted Syrian rebels are being trained, although at a much slower-than-forecast pace.
Graham painted the White House strategy as a failure: “You can’t do this from the air,” he said.
Graham said GOP rival “Jeb Bush is a fine man, but his plan to destroy ISIL doesn’t have a ground component.”
In a foreign policy speech last week, Bush, a former Florida governor, was cautious about the need for more U.S. troops on the ground against ISIS.
“We must make better use of the limited forces we have by giving them a greater range of action,” he said. “Right now, we have around 3,500 soldiers and marines in Iraq, and more may well be needed. We do not need, and our friends do not ask for, a major commitment of American combat forces.”
On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Ohio Gov. John Kasich was asked whether as president he would commit U.S. ground troops to confront ISIS.
“I would have a coalition of other countries, including us, on the ground beginning to degrade and destroy ISIS,” he said, although without indicating how big a U.S. force he would envisage.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press” entrepreneur Donald Trump said he would target ISIS wealth by seizing oilfields now controlled by the jihadists.
Asked about the ground troops needed to do so, Trump said, “That’s okay, we can encircle it, we can encircle it” – but did not directly answer the question or specify troop numbers required.
Neurosurgeon Ben Carson has also spoken recently about seizing land and oilfields from ISIS. Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, he was asked about U.S. ground troops.
“Ground troops may well be necessary,” he said, although when asked about numbers he deferred to “generals and people who really are able to figure out what needs to be done.”
On the same program, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina took up a theme she brought up at the Cleveland debate – that the campaign against ISIS is the Arabs’ fight, and that she would use her good contacts among regional leaders to help them wage it.
“The Jordanians, the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, the Kurds, and the Egyptians are all fighting ISIS, as we speak, on the ground. They know this is their fight,” she said. “Yes, they need leadership, resolve, support, and material from us. We haven’t provided any of it. And if we did, it will make a big difference.”