Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, called for U.S. air strikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Sunni militant group that’s taking over major cities in Iraq and destabilizing the country.
“I don’t think the president has a choice now. I’ve been disappointed with his decisions a hundred times in the past. But when you have a group that makes Al-Qaeda look like a bunch of puppy dogs … I think our best for hope is the preservation of the Iraqi state, and that’s going to include some form of air strikes,” Kinzinger told reporters Wednesday. “It’s not going to be pretty, it’s not the panacea, but I think it gives breathing room for the Iraqi government to be able to counter-attack, to be able to buy some time.”
Kinzinger, who was first elected in 2010 and sits on the House Foreign Relations Committee, said air strikes are America’s “best bet” when it comes to fighting the violent insurgency, arguing that they’d help “button down and pin down ISIS in the cities that they move in.” He said if the U.S. waits for a political solution “we’re not going to have a state left.”
Does he want to send back U.S. ground troops?
“I know it’s politically impossible to introduce ground troops,” Kinzinger said. “But I do think there have to be special operations … that can work with the Iraqi military and can also pinpoint targets where they need to be pinpointed.”
Kinzinger a real puppy dog.
Iraq doesn’t belong to us, it never did.
Not sure why you give a fuck about it.
It’s ‘Wargasm 2003’ all over again.
If Republicans think Iraq is so [v]ital to the U.S. – why don’t they build settlements and live there, so they can fight for the Iraqis full-time? It’s not like we’ll miss 'em.
And a a goddamn STUPID one at that!
News flash for the idiot: Iraq was NEVER a state; it was piece of land cobnbled together decades ago by the Europeans and preserved by the Americans. Its natural borders will be quite different going forward.
The Maliki coalition (not government) is tenuous at best. It doesn’t need time; it needs to be rid of Maliki. But, in the event that happened, then what? Saddam understood that the only way to preserve an “Iraq state” was to have a brutal strongman at the helm acting as the glue that keeps it bound together. It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. I think if it were, it would have happened by now.
As for airstrikes, who EXACT:LY are we going to be bombing? Which one’s the enemy, now??