Rubio: Putin ‘Deliberately Targeting All Non-ISIS Rebels’
MACCALLUM: “The White House is claiming that anyone that we have trained that has been hit on the ground is an indiscriminate attack on the part of Vladimir Putin and the Russians. Given your background, what’s your take on this?”
RUBIO: “That’s absurd. That’s absurd. Vladimir Putin is deliberately targeting all the non-ISIS rebels. The more moderate they are, the more he is going to target them. And here is why, if he can wipe out all the non-ISIS elements on the ground in Syria then they can turn to the world and say, ‘OK guys, here is your choice, ISIS or Assad’, because there is no one left, because we killed all the other non-ISIS people. That’s exactly what he's doing. He’s trying to thin out the opposition so that the only opposition left in Syria to Assad is ISIS. And at that point he will be able to force the world to support Assad. That’s what he's doing. I don't understand why the White House doesn’t see it, why the president and his administration don't understand that.”
MACCALLUM: “For the past couple of years, we’ve heard about the refugee crisis, we’ve heard about the need to back moderate rebels in Syria. The White House has talked about, you know, the efforts to help them in a myriad of ways, whether it’s aide or weapons -- over the past several years. And it appears that Vladimir Putin sized up the situation as you accurately said in the debate -- the past debate, most recent debate. Look to the situation and said look, the United States isn't really doing anything here. There is no reason for me not go in and defend Assad.”
RUBIO: “Right. In fact, if you look at that region for example, this is going to sound absurd to your viewers. But in the region, there are a lot of people who believe the United States actually supporting ISIS, that we created ISIS. It’s a conspiracy theory, it’s absurd but it's taking root in the mind of a lot of people. And one of the reasons why, is because they know what American air power looks like, they saw it during the war in Iraq and they are saying what you are doing now is not real American air power. That’s why it's important, not just to do a better job of targeting ISIS for purposes of defeating them. But also winning the confidence of the people on the ground that we are trying to work with. And in the absence of that confidence that's what creates the space for Putin to step in and try to replace us. And he has been very cunning about it and this president and this administration have been, quite frankly, incompetent about it.”
