The Islamic State (ISIS) can't be defeated with a military strategy alone, Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said Sunday, voicing concerns that the "realistic political strategy" that is also needed may not be in place in Syria and Iraq.
"I just don't think we have that today in Syria right now, if we are betting on the so-called Syrian moderates to be able to defeat both ISIS and Bashar al Assad at the same time," Murphy told CNN
"State of the Union" host Candy Crowley.
He said he is also concerned about not being able to further debate the actions going on in Syria and Iraq in Congress, as there are serious questions that need to be asked.
"What is our end game?" Murphy said. "Are we ultimately going to be conducting air strikes not just against ISIS, but against Assad in furtherance of our new ally in the region, the Free Syrian Army ... there's no appetite in the American public for an open-ended military conflict in Syria."
There has to ultimately also be a political strategy in Iraq, said Murphy, to determine if the new government is serious about reaching out to Sunni moderates.
"I don't see the political strategy, at least a realistic one in Syria and then that begs the question, how long are we going to be there and is there any end?" said Murphy.
But Murphy does believe the Obama administration has done a good job of building a "robust and unprecedented coalition" to target ISIS. "You're seeing broad, public support for the president's plan here because people do understand the threat that ISIS presents and they are impressed with the fact that you are seeing a growing number of Arab nations, especially Sunni nations, joining the fight here."
However, he questions how committed some of those nations are.
"As much as Saudi Arabia says they want to take on ISIS, they're still looking towards other enemies' arrivals in the region that may have other interests, like Iran," said Murphy. "You're seeing the Turks hedge right now as to how committed they're going to be to this fight because they're worried about what will happen as a byproduct of this conflict to rise up the Kurdish constituency."
But he does think the exit strategy for Iraq is more clear, especially if the new prime minister reaches out to the Sunnis and makes an effort to multicultural government.
"It's about releasing the political prisoners, sharing oil revenues, bringing more Sunnis and Kurds into the government, then you can see an exit strategy in Iraq," said Murphy.
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