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Republican
pres candidates: Ground war with ISIS now!
RT,
12
March, 2016
The
four remaining Republican presidential candidates clamored during
their latest debate to be considered most likely to begin another
massive ground war in the Middle East, this time in pursuit of an end
to jihadist group Islamic State.
'Civil'
GOP debate: Trump, Cruz, Rubio attack Washington, not each other
Despite
a year and a half of airstrikes on supposed IS targets by a US-led
coalition of nations, the Republican contenders scoffed at the Obama
administration's military efforts aimed at IS, vowing to send waves
of US troops "to
wipe them out," as
Kasich put it.
Trump,
the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, said that as
president, he would have his eye on sending "20,000
to 30,000" US
troops to Iraq and Syria to dismantle IS, depending on advice from US
generals. He appealed to the idea of reclaiming pride in US military
power after drawn-out wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that have not
offered Americans the clear-cut "win" or
glory that came following World War II, feelings for which many
Americans, especially Republicans, hold in high regard.
“We
don't fight like we used to fight,” Trump
said. “We
used to fight to win. Now we fight for no reason whatsoever. We don't
even know what we're doing.”
Max Boot
Trump suddenly endorses 20,000-30,000 US troops to fight ISIS after saying for last year that air strikes and "take the oil" enough.
Ohio
Governor John Kasich embodied the glib ambiguity with which
candidates described their military plans to counter IS, saying the
US must "bring
all the force you need" to
defeat the sprawling jihadist network borne out of Al Qaeda in Iraq,
which coalesced and then flooded Iraq following the US invasion of
that nation in 2003.
“It
has got to be ‘shock and awe’ in the military-speak,” he
said. “Then
once it gets done, and we will wipe them out, once it gets done, it
settles down, we come home and let the regional powers redraw the map
if that's what it takes.”
RT
Senator
Ted Cruz of Texas, running second behind Trump in the race, said the
next US president must "do
whatever is necessary to utterly defeat ISIS," claiming
the Obama administration's airstrike regime and arming of
so-called "moderate"fighters
on the ground in Syria is not enough.
“Right
now we're not using a fraction of the tools that we have,” he
said. “We're
not using our overwhelming air power. We're not arming the Kurds.
Those need to be the first steps. And then we need to put whatever
ground power is needed to carry it out.”
The
US is indirectly arming Kurds in northern Iraq via the central
government in Baghdad, as the Kurds do not have a nation-station.
Directly arming Kurds, as Cruz and other Republicans have
called for and
even failed
to pass in
Congress, is against the law, specifically the
Foreign Assistance Act and Arms Export Control Act.
As
of March 9, the US-led coalition of nations fighting IS has conducted
10,870 airstrikes against IS targets, with more than 7,000 of those
strikes occurring in Iraq. The US has conducted 8,321 of those total
strikes. As of February 15, the cost of "kinetic
operations" against
IS, which began in August 2014, was $6.4 billion, according to
the US Department of Defense.
Not
enough guns: More Americans concerned US military no longer #1
A recent
poll found
that a rising number of Americans believe the US spends too little on
the Pentagon's operations despite a military budget greater than the
next seven countries' budgets combined. Republicans were more than
three times as likely as Democrats to think that the US spends too
little on its military, with 66 percent of Republicans saying so.
Trump,
meanwhile, was forced to defend his past assertion that the world's
Muslims are at odds with the United States. Trump has infamously said
he would consider a registration system for Muslims in the US and
possibly limit travel of Muslims into the country.
When
asked if he meant all 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, Trump
said, "I
mean a lot of them. I mean a lot of them," to
a round of applause from debate attendees.
Rubio,
the senator from Florida, decried rhetoric like Trump's that, he
said, is alienating "friendly
Muslims" in
the world.
"If
you go anywhere in the world you're going to see American men and
women serving us in uniform that are Muslims and they love
America," Rubio
said.
Trump
responded, saying, "I
don't want to be so politically correct. I like to solve problems. We
have a serious, serious problem of hate. There is tremendous hate.
There is tremendous hate."
The
candidates also excoriated what they called an unaccountable,
oversized Department of Veterans Affairs, which has been accused of
underserving the nation's ever-growing numbers of military veterans
in need of medical services
Trump
calls for ground troops in Iraq, Syria
Donald
Trump would deploy up to 30,000 American soldiers in the Middle East
to defeat the Islamic State, he said at Thursday night’s debate.
Trump
was answering a question about comments from General Lloyd Austin
III, the head of U.S. Central Command who said more troops on the
ground would be needed to defeat ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
“We
really have no choice, we have to knock out ISIS,” Trump said. “I
would listen to the generals, but I’m hearing numbers of
20,000-30,000.”
Trump
typically rails against American military involvement around the
world, but he was not alone in calling for ground troops in Iraq and
Syria at the debate.
“We
need to do whatever is necessary to utterly defeat ISIS,” Senator
Ted Cruz said. “We need to put whatever ground power is needed.”
“You
have to be in the air and you have to be on the ground,” said Ohio
Gov. John Kasich.
Trump
Postpones Chicago Rally After Massive Protest Outside Venue
12
March, 2016
The
Donald Trump rally at UIC Chicago Pavilion in Chicago was postponed
on Friday evening after thousands of his supporters had already began
to fill the venue, due to a massive protest surrounding the building.
Many
different activist groups converged for a march to the venue where
they began to link hands to block the roadway. Protesters were both
inside and outside the building, and many of them appeared to be UIC
students.
Anyone
who was wearing anti-Trump clothing or carrying protest signs were
not allowed into the event, however, many demonstrators made their
way inside and were met with a hostile crowd.
After
the announcement that the event was cancelled, fights broke out both
inside and outside the venue. A demonstrator also made his way to
Trump's podium.
Approximately
180 members of the university's faculty had signed a letter to the
chancellor expressing concern about the candidate speaking at the
campus. UIC is said to be one of the most diverse universities in the
nation.
CBS
Chicago station WBBM reported that a Chicago police officer was
injured during the clashes. CBS said its news reporter Sopan Deb was
detained by law enforcement while covering the protest.
Earlier
in the day, as Trump spoke in St. Louis, a black Ferguson activist
was beaten and bloodied by one of the candidate's supporters as he
used a bullhorn to denounce racism. Videos uploaded to social media
also showed Trump's followers shouting hate speech at the protesters,
unsurprisingly, as Trump himself seemed to encourage violence from
the podium. After being interrupted, the presidential hopeful
lamented that it was a “shame” that protesters had to be treated
“gently” by police.
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