U.S. and Coalition Military Forces Continue Strikes in Syria and Iraq

But the coordinated attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and the downing of a Russian airliner suggest that the organization has embarked on a campaign of exporting terror globally. The terrorist group has claimed responsibility for all three incidents. However, experts say, it’s too early to know if the trend will continue.

“Putting tens of thousands of USA troops in there is not a near-term solution”, Gates said. “It would take months and months, even if you decided you wanted to do it, to put the logistics in place, get the troops trained, and so on”, Gates continued.

If MPs examine our recent history of military involvement in Middle East wars, then they must realise the dangers of voting for such an engagement bearing in mind our disastrous interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya: countries now left in chaos and ruin.

Marco Rubio has proposed a coalition led by Sunni allies of the United States to bear the brunt of taking on the Islamic State. The administration reportedly is considering tripling the 50 special-operations forces Mr. Obama has said he will dispatch to Syria, and the Pentagon may increase the frequency and severity of USA airstrikes, especially those targeting oil facilities, which provide a source of revenue for ISIS.

The ex-CIA chief added that the U.S. needs more military advisers in Iraq to work in coordination with tribal groups and Iraqi security forces. “The Saudis are mostly anxious about Iran”. But they both are united in the fact that Assad has to go before you can make any real progress against ISIS.

ROBERT GATES: Well, I think it does need to be sped up and intensified.

However, he noted, the United States should not expect those two countries to send their own troops into battle.

“So, to talk about containment is really a joke”.

“You hear people talk about sending combat formations from Arab nations into Iraq to fight ISIS – that’s just not going to happen”, Gates said.

“We’ve got to stop talking about containment, and we’ve got to talk about elimination of the terrorist threat”, Burr said in the interview. Any time we have intelligence that may have been altered to fit a narrative that might be the narrative set by the White House is concerning to me.