President Barack Obama is capable of taking on the bloodthirsty Islamic State, but he may not have the nerve to do it, according to Dr. Ben Carson, the rising conservative powerhouse and potential presidential candidate.
"I'm sure he's capable of it. Does he have the will to do it? That's really the question," Carson said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV. "Until he actually is able to utter the words 'we're at war' with these terrorists, I don't know that he would ever be able to do much necessary. If he can't even utter the words, how will he actually be able to execute the actions?"
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Carson, former chief of pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, said the United States has the muscle to battle the militant Islamist group, which has been slaughtering Christians and beheading journalists.
"We have incredibly intelligent leadership in the military and in our covert operations, but we tie their hands behind their back," Carson said. "If we were to let them loose with a good plan — that doesn't have to be publicized to everybody — they can do the job relatively quickly.
"As the others were seeing them doing the job, believe them, they'll jump on that bandwagon in a heartbeat."
Carson is not impressed with the president's plan to spell out the nation's plan to deal with ISIS during a nationally televised speech on Wednesday.
"This is amateur night. When did your enemies know what you were going to do? The element of surprise and mystery is one of the key factors in victory," Carson said. "We're just going to go around blabbing what we're going to do, and what we're not going to do. It seems like that's the only benefit there is, a political benefit."