It will take American leadership to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS), as other countries in the Middle East do not have the power, Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Thursday.
"A lot of folks say let Jordan or Saudi Arabia do it," the Illinois Republican commented on the MSNBC "Morning Joe" Show. "Jordan, I think they're good and understand what stability in the region means, but they're the size of Illinois without Chicago."
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Instead, it will take American leadership to do the job, Kinzinger continued, pointing out that it won't take thousands of troops.
"Nobody has said we need to send 150,000 troops back to Iraq and sometimes you hear the president frame it like that," the lawmaker said. "Nobody said that. But what I think needs to happen is we'll have to get involved with more direct action."
Kinzinger said more "robust intelligence," like what happens when high-level operatives are captured or killed and then the person's cell phone or other devices are used "to find 10 more targets, get those 10, and then find another 100."
It will take that kind of intelligence, and to come to a reconciliation between the Sunni and Shia, to push back on ISIS, said Kinzinger, and he fears if militias enter Ramadi after the ISIS takeover "you'll probably see civil war in Iraq."
Syria is the key to solving the ISIS issue, as leader Bashar Al Assad "created the environment where they're flourishing," said Kinzinger. But the days of a political solution to the issues ended after President Barack Obama made his "red line" threat and didn't follow through when that line was crossed, he continued.
"Frankly we failed to enforce our own red line, and it was after that that we've never heard a real serious discussion," said Kinzinger.
And he does not believe Assad will ever again regain control of his whole country again.
"It will always remain lawless until the people of Syria frankly say 'we don't want to live under the thumb of ISIS, we also want freedom,'" Kinzinger said.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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