Nov 30 2015

ICYMI: Graham Details Strategy to Destroy ISIL

Contact: Kevin Bishop (864) 250-1417 or Clint Riddle (202) 224-5972

In interviews from Erbil, Iraq earlier today, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) discussed his strategy to destroy ISIL and the threat posed to our own national security by radical Islam.

Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, traveled to Baghdad and Erbil, Iraq with Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) to assess and evaluate the current failing strategy against ISIL.

GRAHAM ON CURRENT STRATEGY AGAINST ISIL:

  •  “Our foreign policy is in free fall. Nobody is going to follow us until we change our strategy”. – WATCH/LISTEN: http://bit.ly/1NiCOlO
  •  “We don’t have enough forces on the ground to really deal with Mosul. Mosul is a very large city in the hands of ISIL. You can't fix Iraq without dealing with Syria. There is no credible ground component in Syria. So if you don’t get Syria right, you’re not going to fix Iraq, now Libya. The story that's not being talked about is Ramadi falls, take it away from ISIL, they pick up Gaddafi’s hometown in Libya. We need a regional strategy and we don't have one”. – WATCH/LISTEN: http://bit.ly/1lUoIky

GRAHAM ON DESTROYING ISIL WITH REGIONAL COALITION:

  •  “I'm suggesting we need 10,000 American troops to help the Iraqis destroy ISIL in Iraq. We have 3,500. At this pace, ISIL will still be in Iraq. I'm suggesting that we create a regional army to go into Syria, because there's nobody left in Syria to destroy ISIL and if we don't destroy ISIL in Syria they're going to hit the American homeland.” – WATCH/LISTEN: http://bit.ly/1TnMvol
  •  “ISIL is a threat to the Sunni Arab kingdom and it’s a threat to Turkey and they have an interest in destroying ISIL. They have an interest in making sure Iran doesn't control Damascus. They want Assad out. So, I think a regional ground force is possible with American leadership. The good news is a regional ground force would be ninety percent from the region, ten percent from the West, because we don't need a large Western army. Let's put the region out front this time and make them pay for the war. But, without that, I don't see how we take Raqqa back. There's nobody left in Syria that can do the job in my view”. – WATCH/LISTEN: http://bit.ly/1PW79gE