America won’t be able to defeat the Islamic State unless it uses ground forces, the former chief of staff of the Army said Tuesday.
Retired Gen. Ray Odierno, speaking on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” joined the growing chorus calling on Obama to change course and build up U.S. military strength in Iraq and Syria to crush the burgeoning jihadi menace.
“You can’t defeat ISIS without having people on the ground,” Odierno said, “The intelligence we’re missing is the intelligence you gain on the ground. We need unit intelligence.”
Odierno said he was “surprised” at the lack of conversation about a coalition to fight the Islamic State.
“The Kurds are only going to do so much,” Odierno said of the regional group President Obama often cites as a key partner in the war against the Islamic State. “You need a plan that goes after Iraq, that goes after Syria.”
Odierno noted the fight needed to involve several different facets, including an effort to crack down on the terror organization’s funding sources.
“Special ops can only do so much,” he said of the American forces already in place. “Let the people on the ground tell you ‘this is what we need.'”
The former Army chief said conventional forces will likely be necessary to deploy at some point.
