Donald Trump said Tuesday that those Americans who were wounded and the families of those killed while fighting terrorism in the Middle East should receive a portion of the oil that’s now helping to fund the Islamic State’s activities.
“I said keep the oil and we should’ve kept the oil believe me and, you know what, we should have given big chunks to the people who lost their arms, their legs, their families and their sons and daughters,” Trump said during the fourth GOP presidential debate hosted by Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal.
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Trump also said he would support other actors, including Russia, stepping up in the fight against the Islamic State. Allowing other countries to contribute to stability in these countries would allow America to invest more at home, he said.
“We can’t continue to be the policemen of the world,” he said. “We owe $19 trillion, we have a country that’s going to hell, we have an infrastructure that’s falling apart, our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country.”
Jeb Bush, however, pushed for a more aggressive U.S. role in the world, saying that history shows that “when we pull back, voids are filled.” He said a lack of American leadership in the Middle East has allowed Russia to set the agenda in the region that was previously held solely by the United States.
“Without American leadership, every other country in the neighborhood begins to change their priorities,” he said.
Ben Carson also said the U.S. needed to “oppose” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to spread his influence in the region.
Asked about the effectiveness of sending 50 U.S. special operations troops to Syria, Carson suggested that they could make a difference in the campaign.
“Putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there because they, that’s why they’re called special ops, they’re actually able to guide some of the other things we’re doing there,” Carson said.
