As for U.S. forces, however, “I disagree that we’re at that point where we need to put tens of thousands of boots on the ground,” Fiorina said.
When Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was asked in the Cleveland debate how he’d destroy ISIS, his response did not address troops on the ground. But Cruz told ABC earlier this year Kurdish peshmerga fighters were the “boots on the ground” against ISIS.
Pressed on the question of deploying U.S. troops, he conceded that “if need be, we should go that step.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called last May for “Arab boots on the ground” in the fight against ISIS.
“If the Iraqis are not willing to fight for their country, I don’t think I would send American GIs to do it for America, if the Iraqis are not willing to fight for it.”
In Cleveland, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie sidestepped a question on whether he would have used U.S. military force against the Assad regime for using chemical weapons, focusing his response instead on the “weakening” of the military and the need to “shore” it up.
But last April Christie said in New Hampshire that the U.S. must be ready to put American troops “into the fight” against ISIS, if need be.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker told ABC last February the U.S. needs to go beyond air strikes against ISIS “and ultimately, we have to be prepared to put boots on the ground if that’s what it takes.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) spoke last September of the need for a permanent U.S. troop presence in the Middle East.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal criticized Obama in a newspaper column last February for ruling out sending U.S. forces into the fight.
“Politicians on both sides of the aisle need to stop pretending that we will never use ground troops, and they have to stop telling our enemies what we will not do.”
Former New York governor George Pataki said in the Cleveland debate the U.S. must destroy terrorists’ training camps “and then get out.”
“I would not place one American life at risk unless it was absolutely necessary. But to destroy ISIS, it is necessary.”
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said earlier this year that U.S. troops on the ground were necessary.
“I think if American and western values are in jeopardy and U.S. troops working with a coalition force is how you stop ISIS, I think the bulk of the American people are going to say, thank you, Mr. President, for standing up for our values,” he told CNN.
Former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore in the Cleveland debate did not touch on sending U.S. troops, but said he proposes “a Middle East NATO” to stop “this ISIL thing before it becomes an actual state.”
After Obama last June authorized the deployment of another 450 troops to Iraq, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) said to avoid the spread of ISIS “we must be prepared and have the will to fight. This means more personnel than what this president is offering to support and advise our allies …”
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said in an interview last month that U.S. ground troops must remain an option in the fight against ISIS.
(CNS News)