U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI)
Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate Republican supports President Obama’s strategy to eradicate ISIS, but Ron Johnson says the United States needs to be fully committed to destroying the terrorist group.
Johnson, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says Obama took a “necessary step” in setting a goal to destruct the Islamic State. Johnson says Islamic terrorism is a “regional disaster” that is not going away. He says Americans can’t turn away from the graphic videos and the reality in the Middle East. “We may want to turn our face away from this brutality, away from this evil, but we can’t bury our head in the sand.” He says, “The last time we did that in the ’90s when al Qaeda declared war on us and we refused to acknowledge it we saw the disastrous results 13 years ago today in 9-11.”
Obama told the nation last night that he authorized U.S. air strikes in Syria for the first time, plus expanded air strikes in Iraq, in an effort to “eradicate a cancer-like ISIL.” Johnson believes the actions Obama outlined in his speech are appropriate, but perhaps not enough to eliminate ISIS. “We should try to arm vetted, moderate Syrian rebels. We do need to assemble that coalition. We do need to begin degrading ISIS, but we also need to be fully committed to ISIS’ destruction.” Johnson says that’s where he’s seeing a contradiction is Obama’s speech, “In which he says ‘we’re going to do what it takes,’ but really what he meant is ‘we’re going to do what it takes up to a point.'”
AUDIO: Johnson says not enough Americans are paying attention to the severity of terrorism by these barbarians. 1:16
Johnson says that’s not the kind of commitment our allies, the American public, or even the enemy needs to hear. He stresses, ISIS is known for its beheadings, crucifying individuals, burying people alive, and horrific abuse of women. In addition to air strikes, Obama will dispatch almost 500 more U.S. troops to advise and help Iraqi security forces, but insists his plan doesn’t involve combat troops.