Ben Carson: Put Ground Troops in Iraq, Don't Go Into Syria

GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson said he would favor putting ground troops into Iraq to eradicate Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists, but not Syria.

"I wouldn't go into Syria," Carson said Thursday on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor." "What I would do is I would drive ISIS out of Iraq. I think we are capable of doing that."

Host Bill O'Reilly countered that ISIS then wouldn't then be destroyed because it still would be functioning in Syria, where its command and control operation is located.

ISIS' self-declared caliphate covers parts of Iraq and Syria, and Carson said pushing them out of Iraq would hurt their recruiting efforts.

"That's the majority of the caliphate in Iraq. That will make them look like losers," he said.

"It will make it much more difficult for them to recruit people when they look like losers."

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