Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio was on ABC’s Good Morning America Thursday to discuss his veterans’ policy speech later today in Iowa when he was asked about how to deal with ISIS.
Several candidates, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, have suggested intensified airstrikes. Rubio said that is only a start to a successful strategy against the Islamic State.
“There is not a single credible military official either active or inactive that would say that we can simply defeat them from the air,” he said. “It will have to be confronted on the ground.”
Rubio said a ground force to confront ISIS must be made up primarily of Sunni Arabs who reject ideologically what ISIS represents. Meanwhile Kurds and Christians should be armed in areas that they control, he added.
“We will have to increase the number of Special Operators to call in those air strikes,” he said. “We will need more logistical and intelligence support and we’ll need more support from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE, other kingdoms that are immediately impacted by ISIS’ presence in the region. But they must be defeated on the ground. We will not be able to defeat them simply with air strikes.”
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