House Speaker John Boehner says the United States may have "no choice" but to send American troops to fight ISIS militants if the current U.S. strategy fails to extinguish the extremist group.
Boehner said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday morning that he doesn't believe President Barack Obama's approach will accomplish his stated goals without more effort. The Ohio Republican said it will take more than airstrikes to destroy the ISIS group, and he criticized Obama for saying he won't send in American ground troops.
"If I were the president, I probably wouldn't have talked about what I wouldn't do," Boehner told host George Stephanopoulos. "And maybe we can get enough of these forces trained to get ‘em on the battlefield. But somebody's boots have to be there." When asked if American troops would have to engage in a ground fight if “somebody” didn’t step up, Boehner said: "We have no choice. These are barbarians. They intend to kill us. And if we don't destroy them first, we're gonna pay the price."
Obama has said that he would like to rely on Iraqi forces, Kurdish fighters and soon-to-be trained Syrian "moderate" rebels for a ground campaign.
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