The top Army officer said Wednesday that he disagrees with presidential candidate Donald Trump’s plan to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
As commander in chief, Trump said this week he would put American boots on the ground to seize Iraqi oil fields, which the Islamic State is using for funding.
“Take the oil, knock the hell out of them,” he said Tuesday on “Fox and Friends.”
But Gen. Ray Odierno, the outgoing Army chief of staff, said military power can’t solve every problem plaguing the Middle East, and that part of the reason U.S.-secured stability didn’t last after a decade fighting in Iraq is that political and economic problems weren’t solved.
“There’s limits to military power,” Odierno told reporters at his last press conference as Army chief. Odierno also commanded U.S. forces in Iraq. “Do we achieve sustainable outcomes? It’s about sustainable outcomes. The problem we’ve had is we’ve had outcomes, but they’ve been only short-term outcomes because we haven’t properly looked at the political and economic sides of it.”
When pressed as to whether he disagreed with Trump, Odierno responded, “I do.”
