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Scott Walker on War & Peace |
A: America has permanently settled some 70,000 refugees, many of which are from Syria. Throughout the last several years, we put some $4 billion into humanitarian relief to help with the Syrian crisis. America is leading but at some point, you can't just look at the symptoms. You've got to address the problem and the problem is squarely with ISIS and it's with Assad.[President Obama] is not allowing our military personnel to do what they're trained to do, if we would just lift the political restrictions, empower the over 3,000 troops that are there to do what they're trained to do to help the Kurd and the Sunni allies reclaim the territory taken by ISIS.
WALKER: Well, I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with ISIS. It is tied together, and, once and for all, we need a leader who's gonna stand up and do something about it. It's yet another example of the failed foreign policy of the Obama-Clinton doctrine.
WALKER: For the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian & Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress.
Q: What would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize NATO allies Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, mirroring the actions Putin took in the early days of Ukraine?
WALKER: Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with NATO to put forces on the eastern border of Poland and the Baltic nations, and I would reinstate, put in place back in the missile defense system that we had in Poland and in the Czech Republic.
Scott Walker seized the opportunity to attack Obama. He emphasized that American troops should play a larger role in the fight against the Islamic State terror group and that the president should reach out more to Kurds and Sunnis for cooperation. "For political reasons, President Obama isn't willing to expand the role of American troops," said the Wisconsin governor in a statement posted on the website of his Our American Revival PAC. "Politics should never dictate what needs to be done to ensure our safety and ensure victory when we deploy military power."
WALKER: I believe we should not take any action off the table. I don't want to run into the war. But I don't want any of [our soldiers] to have died in vain. I think when we look at that and say there's radical Islamic terrorism, it's like a virus, we needed to be prepared to do what it takes to make sure it doesn't spread.
Q: You say you wouldn't take anything off the table, but that doesn't quite answer my question. Would you commit US ground forces?
WALKER: For me to do something like that would require a number of things. Listening to the chain of command, particularly the Joint Chiefs, your national security advisers and others, as to what's necessary and listening to the people who are actually out in the field is the best way to do that. But then also bring together a coalition. Certainly, reaffirming our major asset, our major ally in the region, that being Israel, but also our other allies around the world.
WALKER: Well, I'd go back to the red line [that Obama defined against use of chemical weapons].
Q: Let's not go back. Let's go forward. What is your big, bold idea in Syria?
WALKER: I think aggressively, we need to take the fight to ISIS and any other radical Islamic terrorist in and around the world, because it's not a matter of IF they attempt an attack on American soil, but it's WHEN. We need leadership that says clearly, not only amongst the United States but amongst our allies, that we're willing to take appropriate action. I think it should be surgical.
Q: You don't think 2,000 air strikes is taking it to ISIS in Syria and Iraq?
WALKER: I think we need to have an aggressive strategy anywhere around the world.
WALKER: I think we need to have an aggressive strategy anywhere around the world.
Q: I don't know what "aggressive" strategy means.
WALKER: I think anywhere and everywhere, we have to go beyond just aggressive air strikes. We have to look at other surgical methods. And ultimately, we have to be prepared to put boots on the ground if that's what it takes, because I think--
Q: Boots on the ground in Syria? U.S. boots on the ground in Syria?
WALKER: I don't think that is an immediate plan, but I think anywhere in the world--
Q: But you would not rule that out?
WALKER: I wouldn't rule anything out. I think when you have the lives of Americans at stake and our freedom loving allies anywhere in the world, we have to be prepared to do things that don't allow those measures, those attacks, those abuses to come to our shores.