Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Monday night that if America wants to defeat the Islamic State through military force, it could do so by deploying a mere 500,000 troops and support staff.
“If you want to send half a million American sons and daughters back over there, we can militarily defeat ISIS … that’s what you would need. I think it’s silly to send 50, that’s what the president has done,” Paul said on Fox News’ “The Kelly File.”
Paul was ultimately against sending more ground troops to do this. Although he believes a strong combat response in Syria and Iraq would be enough to end the organization’s control in the region, he predicted this might produce more terrorism, not less.
“If you militarily defeat ISIS, my fear is they sliver off and another generation arises,” he added.
Instead, Paul, ranked sixth in the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings, recommended letting Sunni Muslims be the ones to marshal the forces and reject the religious “aberration” of Islamic State jihadists.
