Graham: ‘None’ of the other Candidates ‘Are Making a Whole Lotta Sense’ on Syria

‘Tell me how any of our leading candidates are different than Obama on Syria’

HEMMER: “Jeb Bush said Donald Trump needs to bone up on foreign policy.”

GRAHAM: “Yeah.” 

HEMMER: “What do you think of that?” 

GRAHAM: “Well I think Jeb Bush needs to be a little more aggressive himself. What is Joe Bush going to do about Syria? Tell me how any of our leading candidates are different than Obama on Syria. Senator Cruz said that he wouldn’t get involved in Syria. Well, let me tell you this my friend, if you don’t get involved in Syria, where the headquarters of ISIL exist and destroy ISIL soon, another 9/11 is coming. And it’s going to originate from Syria. If you don’t understand we don’t have enough troops to change the tide of battle in Iraq, you’re not ready for this job. So at the end of the day, none of our candidates are making a whole lot of sense to me —“ [crosstalk]

HEMMER: “But you —“ 

GRAHAM: “— that like if Syria and Iraq are not threats to our homeland, they are.”

HEMMER: “But you have said —“

GRAHAM: “[indecipherable] differently than Obama.”

HEMMER: “You have said 10-20,000 —“

GRAHAM: “Obama is not doing a damn thing it regarding Iraq and Syria. Their policies are not — not appreciably different. If you don’t have ground forces to destroy ISIL, then you’re never going to destroy ISIL.”

HEMMER: “But you have said 10-20,000 American troops in Syria and Iraq. You’re sticking to that?

GRAHAM: “3,500, I go to 10,000 in Iraq, as General Keane suggested, that would turn the tide of battle. You’re not going to destroy — ISIL in Syria without a ground force. I’d get all the Arabs and Turkey together. They have a large armies. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us are going on the ground and I destroy ISIL. Letting ISIL take Assad down, then the Russians taking ISIL down — this Trump stuff makes no sense to me. This hands off policy, this Obama light policy is not going to work. Yes, I would have a ground force to go into Syria. It be more — mostly people from the region but we’d be part of it. If we don’t destroy ISIL Bill, they’re going to hit us here.”

HEMMER: “We will wait to hear the response now from Donald Trump and Ben Carson. Lindsey Graham, thank you Senator —“ [crosstalk]

GRAHAM: Yeah, please don’t tell to somebody he knows what the hell they’re talking about —“

HEMMER: “We’re — we’re on standby —“

GRAHAM: “— for making stuff up that makes no sense.”

HEMMER: “Got it. We’re on standby for that. Greenville, South Carolina.”

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