Just days after French President Francois Hollande vowed to wage a “merciless” war against Islamic State militants in the wake of the terrorist group’s attacks against Paris, Donald Trump wondered why the European country has waited until now to intensify its involvement.
France joined the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq in mid-September when it launched a series of airstrikes against insurgents in the region. On Oct. 8, the country again launched airstrikes in the area, this time against a training camp for Islamic State militants in Raqqa, Syria.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2575923
Nevertheless, Trump suggested Tuesday that “all of a sudden France is engaged.”
“Why is it that France got engaged now? They knew about these training centers that they blew up, they blew them up right after the attack,” the Republican presidential candidate told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham.
“Why didn’t they do it a year ago? Why didn’t they do a thing earlier?” he asked.
French forces resumed their aerial attacks against the Islamic State in Syria late Sunday night, reportedly dropping 20 bombs over Raqqa. The country is also expected to deploy its only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, on Wednesday into the Indian Ocean where it will add 20 additional warplanes to the fight against the radical Islamist terrorist organization; the move was announced on Nov. 5, ahead of the attacks in Paris.
Trump added Tuesday that, as president, his strategy to defeat the Islamic State would center around “knocking the hell out of [it] and doing it rapidly.”
“I would bomb the s*** out of them,” the billionaire told supporters in Knoxville, Tenn. during a campaign rally Monday night.
