By The Iowa Statesman
Republican presidential candidates former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum responded Wednesday to reports President Obama has decided to commit 450 troops to Iraq.
“How many death marches, decapitations and tortures have to take place before President Obama opens his eyes and accepts responsibility for his foreign policy failures?” Huckabee said. “The Islamic State has forcibly taken and now controls a landmass larger than the state of Florida, and this dangerous cancer continues to spread, destabilizing the entire Middle East. On Monday, President Obama admitted he has no ‘complete strategy’ to defeat ISIS which is deeply disturbing and greatly unsettling. But today, with no ‘complete strategy’ and no clearly defined mission, the President decided to send 450 military advisors to Iraq.”
“The United States should arm the Kurdish Peshmerga, stop the ISIS propaganda machine, and build a broad coalition of Arab states to fight the ISIS cancer in their own backyard,” Huckabee added. “President Obama’s failed leadership has created a power vacuum in the Middle East that has allowed the Islamic state to grow in numbers, lands and terrorist capabilities. It’s time for President Obama to develop a comprehensive strategy that can be clearly outlined and clearly defined. He owes it to our allies in the region – and more importantly to the troops under his command and the American people.”
“If history has taught us anything, when you fight you must fight to win or else you will be forced to deal with even graver consequences down the road,” Santorum said. “Today’s decision by the Obama Administration is a piecemeal effort. If we want to avoid the spread of ISIS and Radical Jihadists, 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, more aid for our allies in Jordan and Egypt, and arming the Kurds so that the fight can be taken to ISIS and their efforts to form an Islamic caliphate.”
By The Iowa Statesman
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