The fall of the critically important Iraqi city Ramadi to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is a “terribly significant” event that shows the need for more U.S.
forces on the ground, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Monday.
“I think it’s, unfortunately, terribly significant, capital of Anbar Province, the deaths of hundreds, the displacement of thousands and thousands,” he said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“Not the 82nd Airborne, but we’ll have to have more people on the ground and this is really serious, the fall of Ramadi,” he said.
The defeat marks a blow to the Iraqi government and is a setback for the Obama administraiton, which has been training Iraqi forces to take back ground from the terrorist group.
U.S. Senator John McCain criticized Obama Administration in the region and said the Iranian regime gaining control of Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon is causing great concern among U.S. allies in Middle East.
Senator McCain warned that focusing only on ISIS has led to the Iranian regime taking control in these countries of the region.
John McCain said: “One of the biggest problems here is that the fact that the Turks and others view Iran as a greater threat than ISIS. And unless we are willing to allow these people, for example, people trained, to go in and take down Assad, then they won’t cooperate.”
“If we said to the Turks tomorrow we’ll take out ISIS and help take out Bashir Assad through no-fly zone and through other assistance, use of for example Turkish air base for our air operations… then I think you would get a lot more cooperation from them,” he added.
“Unfortunately, our focus seems to be only on ISIS while we see Iran, four countries, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, basically in control,” he said.
