House Speaker John Boehner appeared on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday and suggested that President Obama’s proposed plan to defeat ISIS will not destroy the terror group.
“If the goal is to destroy ISIS, as the president says it is, I don’t believe the strategy that he outlined will accomplish that,” Boehner told George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview.
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The Ohio Republican affirmed that it will take “more than air strikes” to eliminate ISIS terrorists from Iraq and Syria.
“At some point somebody’s boots have to be on the ground,” Boehner added. “That’s the whole point.”
Criticizing Obama’s public assertion that he does not want to put American boots on the ground in the Middle East, Boehner explained, “If I were the president, I probably wouldn’t have talked about what I wouldn’t do.”
Stephenopoulos then asked if Boehner would recommend putting American soldiers on the ground if no other nations stepped up.
“We have no choice,” replied Boehner. “These are barbarians. They intend to kill us. And if we don’t destroy them first, we’re gonna pay the price.”
The speaker of the House also told Stephanopoulos that he would be “happy” to call Congress back if Obama wanted an authorization vote on military force in the Middle East.
“The president typically in a situation like this would call for an authorization vote and go sell that to the American people and send a resolution to the Hill,” detailed Boehner. “The president has not done that. He believes he has authority under existing resolutions to do what he’s done.”
“I think he does have the authority to do it,” he added. “But the point I’m making is this is a proposal that the Congress ought to consider.”
