Bush wants increased USA presence on ground in Iraq

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush wants the United States to devote more resources to the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) – including boots on the ground.

“The United States, in conjunction with our North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies and more Arab partners, will need to increase our presence on the ground”, he added, calling air power insufficient.

Bush initially disagreed with many the Republican candidates and governors – including New Hampshire’s Maggie Hassan – who have called for a halt to Syrian refugees being admitted into the U.S. But he then walked back the comments, saying that he is in favor only of admitting persecuted Christians from Syria. His speech, though, was more about making the case for his candidacy than about carving out a distinct national security policy.

The speech came as European nations hunted for conspirators in the attack and amid a fierce political debate within the US over whether to limit or halt the resettlement of refugees surging fleeing war-ravaged Syria.

“I think the biggest threat today… is Islamic terrorism, this asymmetric threat that is organized to destroy Western civilization”, Bush told the FOX Business Network.

Amid a failing presidential campaign, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has promised to keep open Guantanamo Bay if he can somehow win in 2016.

“The last seven years under President Obama have taught us that problems do not take care of themselves in the absence of American leadership”, Bush said.

“Their aim is our total destruction”.

But Bush hinted Tuesday, campaigning in Columbia, that the Paris attacks could change the focus for choosing the next commander in chief.

Bush also blamed President Barack Obama for Isis’s growth into an influential and unsafe terror group. “It does mean we have to lead”, Bush said. “We can’t withdraw from this threat, nor negotiate with it”.

Bush made the promise to hundreds of Citadel cadets during a campaign stop Wednesday.

The Paris attacks have reopened the Republican Party’s divide between its traditional “peace through strength” hawks and the fiscally conservative, libertarian-leaning Tea Party wing. Mr. Bush would replace their defense cuts with increased spending and substitute force reductions with an expansion of the Army by 40,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps by 4,000 Marines. He said “I’m looking at my father and he’s the exact same age in that photo that I am right now and look how much younger he looks than I do!” “We need to lead and this President refuses to do so”. Bush said that if elected, he would seek to restart it “to ensure we have the ability to connect the dots between known foreign terrorists and potential operatives here in the United States”.

“No, I never – I never responded to that question”, Trump said.

None of the other candidates endorsed sending in USA combat troops.

During the event, attended by former president George W. Bush and his wife Laura, Bush also took a few time to throw shade at his Republican competitors, particularly Marco Rubio, saying that his rivals are “in the witness protection program” for flip-flopping on their stance on immigration reform.

He also won by criticizing Clinton who was a US senator in 2002 when she voted to authorize George W. Bush to send USA troops to Iraq. “We need to have a resolve that will bring the world together to root out the kind of radical jihadist ideology that motivates organizations like Isis, the barbaric, ruthless, violence jihadist, terrorist group”.