Kasich: Obama’s ‘Dithering’ on Syria ‘Reminiscent’ of Jimmy Carter with Russia
RADDATZ: "Back now to 2016 and Ohio Governor John Kasich who joins us from Columbus this morning. Good morning, Governor Kasich."
KASICH: "Good morning, Martha."
RADDATZ: "I want to start, governor, with Ben Carson and the Syrian refugees saying what we need to do is give more money to Jordan and other places to help those refugees out there. Is that the answer?"
KASICH: "Well, I don’t mind if we give some humanitarian aid to the Jordanians or, you know, the Saudis if need be, but you know, I’ve been for this no-fly zone so that we can have a sanctuary for people to be safe. And it was the Kurds and perhaps the Jordanians who could defend the sanctuaries so the Syrians could feel safe in the sanctuary, but the president has done nothing. And he’s created a very big void.
"And Martha, as I mentioned earlier, the Russians have now deployed S-400 air defense system that not only threatens our ability to move around, but the Turks also have coverage in northern Israel, this is profound implications for the region, profound implications for us.
"And we dither and we delay and it is just not working out. And frankly the president ought to be encouraging the president of Turkey and say we stand with him against the fact that the Russians invaded his airspace, but we’ve done nothing. And so the Russians have moved forward to deploy an air defense system that we, at this point, really can’t penetrate and it limits our ability."
RADDATZ: "Well, what would you do about that air defense system?"
KASICH: "Well, at this point — I mean, you know, the only thing you can do with that air defense system is to take it out. And of course that’s very serious. So you make it clear..."
RADDATZ: "You would take out a Russian air defense system?"
KASICH: "No, what I”m saying to you, Martha, that’s all you can do right now, because we don’t have the capability. No, I think that we should proceed with moving forward on a no-fly zone. And I think we should proceed by putting boots on the ground and a coalition with Europeans and with our friends in the Middle East like we had in the first Gulf War to destroy ISIS once and for all. But I have to tell you..."
RADDATZ: "You called for boots on the ground before. You’re talking about an invading force, an occupying force, give us more specifics."
KASICH: "No, I’m not talking about an occupying force, I’m talking about a coalition that looks awfully like the coalition we had in the first Gulf War. It would involve our friends in the Middle East who want to contribute, also to our NATO allies, because we’re not going to solve this problem with ISIS by just sitting back and delaying or dithering, which is what we’ve done. And the longer we do this — we did not support the Syrian rebels in the beginning, so Assad survives. We did not create the no-fly zones. And now all of a sudden, not only are the Russians there, but they’re there with a very strong air defense system that not only could potentially limit what we do, but also of course threatens the northern part of Israel and Turkey. I mean, it’s just amazing what’s happening. This is reminiscent — yeah, this is reminiscent of what happened when Jimmy Carter showed weakness to the Russians all the way back in the late-70s. It’s a very serious problem, Martha."
