International Shia News Agency

US should consider ground troops in fight against ISIL: McCarthy

Kevin McCarthy on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program on Sunday said “If we need special forces there, if that’s what the generals say, then we need to do it”,

SHAFAQNA – The United States should consider deploying ground troops in fight against the ISIL terrorist group in Iraq and Syria, says the Majority Leader of the US House of Representatives.

“If we engage in a conflict that we know this is a threat to America, we should make it so one-sided that it gets over very quickly. So, we should have everything on the table to make sure we win this,” he added.

He also said that “I don’t think we should ever sit back and tell our enemies what we will and will not do.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, McCarthy said the rise of ISIL “was a lack-of-action failure on [the part of] the administration.”

“Former CIA Director and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta talks about those actions that the administration knew of this and did not take. So our options are more limited today. Maybe we could have handled this differently,” he stated.

The Pentagon has announced that it plans to deploy 2,300 Marines to the Middle East to quickly respond to crises in the conflict-ridden region.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said on September 30 the United States is establishing a task force in the Middle East which will include several fighter aircraft and be prepared to take rapid actions in the case of “contingencies”.

The US and several of its allies began striking ISIL targets in Syria on September 23. American warplanes have already conducted hundreds of strikes against ISIL in Iraq since mid-August.

However, US President Barack Obama has ruled out American boots on the ground in a combat role, a promise many experts say might soon be broken.

Top military officials have said an air campaign alone would not be sufficient to achieve the announced goal of defeating ISIL, and that the US might ultimately be forced to send ground troops to combat.

According to a new survey, the majority of active-duty troops in the US military are opposed to sending ground soldiers to Iraq to battle ISIL, and believe the US war in Iraq was not successful.

 

Source: Press TV

www.shafaqna.com

 

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