McCain Unloads on Obama: We Can Wipe ISIS off the Earth — But We Need a Strategy

RUSH TRANSCRIPT: 

“Not eventually but as soon as possible. unfortunately, unfortunately, almost tragically, this president, President Obama, remains as ideologically committed as ever to staying the course he is on and impervious to new information that would suggest otherwise as he made quite clear during his incredible press conference yesterday in turkey, according to the president, the united states -- according to the president of the united states, anyone who disagrees with him is -- quote -- popping off. Popping off.

I guess Michael Morrell, former deputy secretary of the CIA was just popping off when he said recently the downing of a Russian airliner, only the third such attack in 25 years, the attacks in Paris, the largest in Europe since the Madrid bombings in 2004 make it crystal clear that our ISIS strategy is not working. that comes from Michael Morrell, a former deputy head of the CIA under this president. I guess Senator Dianne Feinstein, vice chair of the senate intelligence committee, was just popping off when she said that ISIL is not contained, ISIL is expanding and that we need new military strategy and tactics. i guess general Jack Keane, one of my heroes, architect of the successful surge strategy in Iraq, was just popping off when he said -- quote – ‘we are, in fact, losing this war. Moreover, I can say with certainty that this strategy will not defeat ISIS.’ this strategy will not defeat ISIS. That comes from the author of the surge which succeeded which the president by withdrawing all troops allowed to go completely to waste and the lives of brave young Americans were wasted. I guess Hillary Clinton, the president's former secretary of state and desired successor, was just popping off when she declared her support for a no-fly zone in Syria to -- quote – ‘stop the carnage on the ground and in the air. i guess general David Petraeus was just popping off when he testified to the armed services committee that the president's strategy has failed to create the military conditions to end the conflict in Syria and that ISIL will not be defeated until we do so. And I guess James Jeffrey, a career foreign officer and the president's ambassador to Iraq was just popping off when he wrote in The Washington Post today that the president needs to send thousands of ground troops to destroy ISIL.

What all of these national security leaders recognize is the reality that is staring us right in the face. It is the president who is once again failing to grasp it. ‘He fails to understand even now that wars don't end just because he says they are over’, that our terrorist enemies are not defeated just because he says they are. And the threat posed by ISIL is not contained because he desires it to be so and that maybe, just maybe, the growing group of his bipartisan critics might just be right. And why won't he listen to them? Why won't he listen to these people of experience and knowledge and background? Who does he listen to? Who does the president listen to? It couldn't be anybody knowledgeable and make the comments that he made at that press conference. The president has had to go back on everything he said he would not do to combat the threats now emanating from Syria and Iraq. He said he would not arm moderate Syrian rebels because that would militarize the conflict. He was wrong. He said he would not intervene militarily in Iraq or Syria. He was wrong. He said he would not put boots on the ground in Syria. He was wrong.

Now he says that his strategy is working, that all it needs is time and that no further changes are required despite ISIL's campaign of terror. Let me get this straight. After the bombing in Paris, after the Russian airliner, after the other acts of terror -- quote -- he needs time, he needs time, and that no further changes are required. does anybody, does anybody believe him anymore?

What the president has failed to understand for nearly five years is that unless and until he leads an international effort to end the conflict in Syria and Iraq, the costs of this conflict will continue to mount. those consequences have grown steadily from mass atrocities and hundreds of thousands dead in Syria to the repeated use of weapons of mass destruction to the rise of the world's largest terrorist army and its rampage across Syria and Iraq. To destabilizing refugee flows that have shaken the stability of Syria’s now are potentially changing the character of European society. Now we see the latest manifestation of this threat, global terrorist attacks directed and inspired by ISIL that has killed hundreds across the world. The Paris attacks obviously should be a wake-up call for all Americans, most of all for the president. If we stay the course, if we don't change our strategy now, we will be attacked. i don't know where, when or how, but it will happen. do we need to wait for more innocent people not to die before we address the reality that is right before us?

ISIL has said it intends to attack Washington, D.C. do we not take them at their word? Do we think they're not capable of it? do we think time is on our side? It’s not. Time is not on our side. The lesson of the September 11 attack was that mass murders cannot be permitted -- mass murderers cannot be permitted safe havens, cannot be permitted safe havens from which to plot our destruction. Do we really have to pay that price again through the blood of our citizens? For nearly five years, we have been told that there is no military solution to the conflict in Syria and Iraq, as if anyone believes there is. In fact, one of the things that's most frustrating about the president's rhetoric is that he sets up strawmen. He says we either should do nothing or the republicans -- the critics, now Democrats as well, wanting to send in hundreds of thousands or a hundred thousand. We do not. We do not. We believe and I am convinced that we can send in a force composed of Sunni Arabs, of Egyptians, of Turks and Americans about 10,000, establish the no-fly zone, allow the refugees a sanctuary and make sure that no barrel bombing will be allowed in those areas, and we can succeed. ISIS is not invincible. The United States of America and our allies are far stronger.

We are the strongest nation on earth. And to say that we can't defeat ISIL is a matter of will, not a matter of whether it's capability or not. So I say, say to my colleagues, the American people, we can defeat ISIS and we wipe them off the face of the earth, but we've got to have a strategy, and this president has never had a strategy. For nearly five years, we have been told there is no military solution, there are no good options, that our influence is limited, but that's not always the case. we won't succeed overnight, because if our problem is one of time, not policy, then we can't solve every problem in the Middle East, as if that be a solves us of our responsibility to make the situation better where we can.

This isn't a question of our capacity, our capabilities or our options. We've always had options to address this growing threat, but the longer we wait, the longer we wait, the more difficult and risk of cost going is there.”