Republicans question how President Barack Obama's campaign against the Islamic State (ISIS) will succeed, since his administration has not provided "clarity" about how he intends to defeat the terrorist organization, said Sen. Dan Coats.
"They have yet to give (Republicans) concrete numbers, in terms of what they will do, and put those boots on the ground that are needed," the Indiana Republican told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "We've yet to see the clarity of it."
Obama has outlined his plan for attacking ISIS, which includes U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, and building a coalition of forces and resources from other countries. So far, 40 nations have reportedly agreed to assist with the effort, but the White House has not named the specific countries and the extent of their involvement.
Coats, a member of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, said arming the Free Syrian Army and U.S. airstrikes would not "solve this problem" of the president's stated goal of defeating the terrorist organization. He said that a strategy and resolve from the White House on how to battle ISIS had "yet to be demonstrated."
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The U.S. would not defeat ISIS without assistance from other countries in the Middle East, Coats said, especially since past American involvement had not succeeded after "over a decade in Iraq with nearly a half a million troops."
"There's got to be a lot more than just 5,000 trained Syrian troops over in Syria to achieve the goal that the president has decided," he said. "Unless the moderate states in the Middle East join with us in this effort — after all they're in the crosshairs, too, from ISIS — we're not going to prevail at this."
ISIS militants continued to advance in Iraq, as Coats described
new U.S. strikes against the terrorist fighters in southwest Baghdad.
"That means ISIS is south of where a lot of people thought they were, trying to circle Baghdad. This is a serious situation that's going to require a lot of effort to succeed," he said.
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