Obama plan can’t destroy ISIL: Boehner
US House Speaker John Boehner has criticized President Barack Obama’s strategy as not “enough” to defeat the ISIL terrorist group, which is operating in Syria and Iraq.
Boehner said on Thursday that Congress should give the president what he wants to confront ISIL, but added that Republican lawmakers have doubts about whether Obama’s plan can destroy the group.
“We only have one commander in chief,” Boehner said. “He laid out his plan. I would never tell the enemy what I was willing to do, or unwilling to do. But he is the commander in chief, he made that decision. At this point in time, it’s important that we give the president what he’s asking for. And we gotta keep our eye on the ball. The issue here is about defeating a terrorist threat that is real and imminent.”
He said that House Republicans feel Obama’s plan for a limited US military campaign against ISIL will not be enough to beat it. “I’m not sure we’re doing all we can to defeat ISIL.”
Boehner criticized Obama’s insistence that the fight against ISIL could be won with airstrikes alone. “An F-16 is not a strategy. And airstrikes alone will not accomplish what we’re trying to accomplish. The president made clear he doesn’t want US boots on the ground, well somebody’s boots have to be on the ground.”
Boehner said Republican leaders will make a decision next week on how to proceed with Obama’s ISIL strategy at the congressional level.
According to the Pentagon, the United States already has conducted 154 airstrikes against ISIL targets in Iraq.
In recent weeks, manned and unmanned US aircraft have flown surveillance flights and targeted ISIL strongholds.
Washington has also deployed over hundreds of troops to Iraq to bolster security for American diplomats and provide advice to Iraqi government forces fighting the militants.
The ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, control large parts of Syria’s northern territory. ISIL sent its fighters into neighboring Iraq in June, quickly seizing large swaths of land straddling the border between the two countries.
GJH/GJH