Page 230 - Ground Force News Today

>> to push back isil there in any effective way. look, the idea theres one opinion on this would be simplistic. certainly many in the military, as im sure both of you gentlemen know, think you need a bigger presence. the question becomes, then wa? if you push them back as you did with the al qaeda forces, the taliban, how do you hold that land and deal with the political change that needs to happen? youre fighting an idea, not just a ground force. what about those concerns? >> real concerns. the...

Ground force into syria or iraq, into the territories where the caliphate for the islamic state has been growing? is the united states supposed to go it alone almost the way of iraq and afghanistan and take on the brunt of the blood and treasure that would be sacrificed? >> no, of course we shouldnt go it alone. by the way, right now france is leading. not the united states. and the idea that it takes france to lead to defending our freedom and western values to me is just outrageous. by the way...

From greece. the belgiums brought in. the cia to try to locate him. but he escaped the dragnet so figures are giving isis a new capability to get into terrorism. >> colonel, can the war really be won against isis without thousands of u.s. and other coalition ground troops there battling in addition to air power? >> i think its going to have to be because obviously the president is not of a mind to put american boots on the ground in significant numbers in either iraq or syria. but there is a pos...

>> no. because we need a coordinated effort for this to work. america knows that what happens when you go all alone in a country and your liberation force are seen as occupation force and this doesnt turn out very well. it needs to be coordinated, especially the arab countries in the area, also in the e area. we need to have an agreement with russia and iran about what the transition should be in regards to assad. >> do you believe after an attack like this there can be appetite in france for mo...

So they can spread out. if you throw a ground force against them, they all have to coalesce to fight the ground force. as soon as they coalesce, they are a lucrative target for air power. in the meantime, we will fly anywhere from 20 to maybe 25 sorties a day or driving uavs in there. but that is all were going to be able to do. until you get a ground force against another grouped force, there is no reason for those guys to mass force. >> but, you know, when we were talking about that and you ar...

Continues these attacks, for instance, air strikes in syria, then they will carry out more attacks and at the same time, we know from our interviews, i just interviewed the turkish prime minister, you know a major frontline state against isis and this whole war, unless the war in syria is stopped and unless isis is defeated, none of this will stop. isis will not be defeated from the air. it has to be a ground force of some kind. this may be a turning point, we dont know. the bottom line is from ...

Syria. do you think that this might make france, the french people, or the french leadership more serious, maybe, about a ground force for syria? >> ground force, i dont think so. i dont think we are ready for any ground force. i dont think so. but, no, i dont know what the president will tell you. on monday, we have a special day for the congress. the president is going to speak to the parliament. >> only the third time in the last 55 years. >> two. >> only the second time. >> for very simple r...

I think the republican candidates at large will be required to respond to this in a public way and those of us involved in the race and those of you who analyze it and comment on it will see what response makes the greatest sense? it seems to me that the united states is very reluctant to deploy massive groups of ground force. i understand that. weve also seen the value of some of the operational expertise working with the kurds just the other day. i do think that the global community looks to a...

Christiane? >> in terms of what youve actually seen and what youve just experienced, you know, the world has been scratching its head trying to figure out how to stand up some kind of force against isis. you have watched now the peshmergas do it and do it successfully. can they do more? what more do they need, and how much pressure are they under in terms of how much military they have, how many foot soldiers they have, ammunition, all the wherewithal that they would need if nobody else is going...

Tehran-backed shia government. there has to be a political answer for the sunni population as well as a ground force capable of defeating isis. >> thomas anderson, i want to ask you about the drone strike, whether it got jihadi john or not, we know that there was a u.s.-led zone strike. tell us about how much we know about the scale of the use of these drone strikes and their effectiveness given the unrest were dealing with. . >> sure. we have to turn to drones to do a lot of the work but withou...