Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called for U.S. ground troops to fight the Islamic State in the Middle East, and said America’s mission needs to be to destroy the terrorist group.
“We’re going to kill every one of these bastards,” Graham pledged with regard to the Islamic State.
“I’m running for president to destroy radical Islam, to win the war on terror, to protect you and your family,” Graham said in his opening remarks at the CNN Reagan Library debate. He’s 15th on the Washington Examiner‘s power rankings.
After pledging to commit 10,000 troops, Graham asked other candidates on the state to make the same commitment, and former Sen. Rick Santorum responded by saying Graham’s figure matched those in his own plan.
“These are barbarians,” added fellow candidate Governor Bobby Jindal, R-La. Santorum is 13th on the power rankings, and Jindal is 11th.
Graham later chimed: “How does President Obama sleep at night?”
He critiqued the president from withdrawing from Iraq, and not engaging in the Syrian civil war. “We spent 50 million dollars training 54 people” in Syria, Graham said. In a Wednesday hearing, military officials acknowledged that just “four or five” of those Syrians are still in the fight.
