President Barack Obama is now forced to play catch-up in his strategy fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) after months of ignoring the growing terrorist threat, says House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul.
"ISIS does not fit in this president's narrative," McCaul said Sunday on
"Face the Nation." "His narrative was, 'I'm the president to end these wars. And so now when he looks at his legacy he can't get his head wrapped around the idea of what ISIS is and how to defeat it and what an imminent and urgent threat that it really is."
McCaul said he agrees with the White House's strategy of letting Sunni Muslim moderates fight the Sunni extremists of ISIS. But even without American ground troops, a number of advisers will be needed, he said.
A
pre-recorded interview with Secretary of State John Kerry aired just before McCaul's appearance in which Kerry told host Bob Schieffer that the United States was not looking for troops to fight ISIS on the ground.
McCaul called that "unwise," and said he recently met with the Prince of Jordan, who said he's willing to send his troops to Syria to fight ISIS.
"So I don't know why we wouldn't consider that option of all the Arab nations," McCaul said.
He also suggested Egypt as a possible ally and said the United Arab Emirates have said they would be willing to supply air power as well.
The United States must defeat ISIS wherever they are "by any means necessary," he said.
ISIS has been a threat for more than a year, but Obama didn't pay attention until after the recent beheadings of two American journalists and a British aid worker, McCaul said.
"Now it's catch-up time" to get a strategy and a coalition together, he said.
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