Jeb Bush Calls for Massive Military Operation Against ISIS!

Dear Commons Community,

Jeb Bush in an attempt to revitalize his Republican presidential candidacy is calling for a massive military operation against ISIS.  As reported in the New York Times:

“Seizing on the Paris terrorist attacks, Jeb Bush called Wednesday for a United States-led global coalition, including troops on the ground, to take out the Islamic State “with overwhelming force.”

Mr. Bush’s speech at The Citadel was originally meant to focus on his vision for overhauling the nation’s military to combat the threats of the 21st century. But after Friday’s terrorist attacks in the French capital, Mr. Bush decided to call for deploying ground troops and having the United States take the lead in the global fight against the Islamic State, and as he reworked his 24-minute speech to address what he called the “brutal savagery” that serves as “a reminder of what’s at stake in this election.”

“The United States should not delay in leading a global coalition to take out ISIS with overwhelming force,” Mr. Bush told an audience of cadets at the military college. “Militarily, we need to intensify our efforts in the air — and on the ground.”

Mr. Bush called specifically for removing self-imposed restraints on the Air Force, enforcing a no-fly zone over Syria and creating safe zones there, allowing the nation’s Special Operations teams to go after terrorist networks, and arming Kurdish forces already battling the Islamic State.

“We are at war with radical Islamic terrorism,” Mr. Bush said. “Radical Islamic terrorists have declared war on the Western world. Their aim is our total destruction. We can’t withdraw from this threat, or negotiate with it. We have but one choice: to defeat it.”

While the Republican presidential candidates have generally been critical of President Obama’s approach toward the Islamic State, they have shown some reluctance to offer detailed plans of how to respond. Further complicating matters for Mr. Bush is that his candidacy is viewed by many through the lens of his brother George W. Bush, who invaded Iraq in 2003 and lost support as the conflict dragged on.

At The Citadel, Mr. Bush was careful to stress that the United States should not work alone to spearhead a global fight against radical Islamic terrorism, and said that the majority of the ground troops would come from the forces of neighboring states in the region.”

I am sure Jeb Bush’s rhetoric will resound with some elements of the Republican Party but he needs to be reminded that it was his brother’s decision with the advice of war mongers Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld to invade Iraq in 2003 that destabilized the entire Middle East and has left the world with the mess we have today.

Tony

 

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