Rubio, Kasich Would Send More American Ground Troops to Syria, Iraq — And Now Libya...

Susan Jones 
CNS News
March 4, 2016

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says he would send more American ground troops to Syria, Iraq and now Libya, where Islamic State terrorists are gaining a foothold.

“[I]t will require a specific number of American special operators, in combination with an increase in air strikes,” Rubio said at the Fox News-hosted debate in Detroit Thursday night.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich went a step further, saying special operators won’t be enough:  “We have to be there on the ground in significant numbers…And we have to be in the air.”

The exchange began with moderator Bret Baier asking Rubio, “If you’re for putting more U.S. ground troops in Iraq and Syria, are you also ready to send U.S. ground troops on the ground in Libya?”

Rubio responded: “What I’ve argued from the very beginning is ISIS — in order to defeat ISIS, you must deny them operating spaces. This is how ISIS or any radical group, for that matter, can grow. It’s how Al Qaida was able to carry out 9/11, is that the Taliban gave them an operating space in Afghanistan.

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