Even if terrorist "Jihadi John" Mohamed Emwazi is dead, which Pentagon officials believe he is, Sen. Lindsey Graham said Friday that that's not enough to stop ISIS and its growing influence.
"Just like when Osama bin Laden was killed, al-Qaida has not been decimated, but they're stronger," the South Carolina Republican and GOP candidate told
Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program. "Jihadi John may be dead, but ISIS is alive and well and what is happening in Sinjar will not change the equation much at all."
The problem, said Graham, is that there is "no ground component" engaging with ISIS in Syria, so "it is just a matter of time that they will hit us or hit Europe if we don't go in on the ground in Syria."
Graham has made the call for a strong troop presence to attack ISIS, but he still ridiculed GOP front-runner Donald Trump Friday for his claims during a speech in Iowa Thursday night that he would "bomb the s--- out of them" and blow up "every single inch" of the region's oil facilities, which ISIS uses to finance its operations.
"The bottom line is the oil revenue is 20 percent of [the money] they generate," Graham said. " You're not going to destroy ISIL from the air. If you bomb a oil refinery, that doesn't destroy ISIL."
Further said Graham, the United States wants to stop a war, not start a new one, and he would like to leave the oil facilities intact for the people of Iraq and Syria.
"If I make no other impression, I want to you understand this," said Graham. "You will not destroy ISIL by killing one person. You will not destroy them by blowing up an oil field. The only way you destroy them going in on the ground, with a regional army, large in nature, we're part of it, to pull the caliphate up by the roots."
And while Trump has called to allow Russia to fight ISIS, which would mean Syrian President Bashar al Assad will stay in power, Graham vowed that won't happen if he's elected, as Assad is "a puppet of Iran."
Graham also said that he believes Trump "melted down last night"
while giving a 95-minute Iowa speech in which he blasted nearly all of the people competing for the Republican nomination, especially his main competitor, Dr. Ben Carson.
"I think this is the turning point," said Graham. "Dr. Carson has found redemption in the Lord. He is a good, decent man. Donald Trump is the most uninformed person I have ever met running for president when it comes to foreign policy. He has no clue of what he is talking about."
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.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.