2016 MO Senate race: on War & Peace

Jason Kander: Iraq War was a huge strategic error, and I said so then

KANDER: No.

Q: Why?

KANDER: At this point, everybody agrees that that was a huge strategic error. If you watch, for instance, what's going on in the Republican debate for the presidency, you see, overwhelmingly, everyone on both sides of the aisle seems to agree that was a mistake. And that's something I understood that at the time, and Senator Blunt did not.

Q: Should President Obama should have kept troops in Iraq instead of a complete withdrawal?

KANDER: I think that the focus at this point has got to be what we do now. I feel the president could have done a better job explaining what we need to do now to combat ISIS rather than talk about what we've been doing.

Q: You don't think the president did a good job addressing the nation about ISIS?

KANDER: I thought the president could have done a better job.

Jason Kander: Engage ISIS, including ground troops as a last resort

KANDER: We have to be willing to engage ISIS militarily, economically, and even on the Internet without delay. For instance, I think we waited too long to engage al-Qaida and the Taliban in Pakistan. And we should not make a similar mistake with ISIS elements throughout the world.

Q: You think we should send additional troops in Syria or Iraq?

KANDER: Ground troops have to be a last resort. I think they should always be a last resort. But as I think we have that conversation going forward, we need to make sure it's not just a conversation of whether we should send people in, but also how those people get out. I think in the past we have not always had that conversation. But it's clear that as we go forward, if military leaders say that that is the only way we are going to be able to destroy ISIS, then that's what we're going to have to.

Roy Blunt: Iran deal lets the nuclear genie out of the bottle

Blunt devoted much of his talk to threats posed by Russia, China, Syria and the Islamic State, and he was critical of the response by Pres. Obama's administration. He was especially pessimistic about the administration's recent negotiations with Iran, and he devoted almost 10 minutes of his approximately hour-long speech to a deal meant to contain Iran's nuclear capabilities in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. "What this agreement really does is let the nuclear genie out of the bottle," he said.

Speaking about Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, Blunt said he could "almost guarantee" that "some, if not all of them, will have nuclear weapons before the Iranians."