WASHINGTON DC - Kurdish Peshmerga forces can be the American boots on the ground in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) and America should use “overwhelming air power” to defeat the group, US presidential candidate Ted Cruz said on Tuesday.
“We have boots on the ground right now with the Kurds; Kurds are there, the Peshmerga, they are fighting forces, they're effective,” said Cruz, the Republican candidate for the 2016 presidential election and Texas junior Senator, in an interview with CBS News.
“I think the Kurds can be our boots on the ground, at least our principal boots on the ground and we should use overwhelming air power,” he added.
Cruz called the Kurds American allies in the region, despite America’s unreliability to the Kurds in the past. “They have been allies of the United States for decades, even though America has not been terribly consistent allies to the Kurds. The Kurds have stood with us, they are fighting ISIS right now,” he said.
Iraqi Kurds have had bittersweet experiences with various US administrations. They generally blame the US for the collapsed 1974 Kurdish revolution under the leadership of Mustafa Barzani: the US halted financial and military aid to the Kurds, after Iraq and Iran signed the Algiers accord.
The presidential candidate said, ISIS has been using weapons it seized in Iraq against the Kurds, and the Obama administration continues to send weapons to the Iraqi government.
“ISIS is using American military equipments they seized in Iraq and the Kurds don't have weaponry. Unfortunately the administration is sending weapons to Baghdad.”
Kurdish officials have been requesting weapons supplied directly to them, but the White House has been reluctant to bypass Baghdad and begin direct supplies. Meanwhile, the Kurds accuse Bagdhad of delays and reluctance in handing over weapons meant for the Peshmerga.
The Texas senator said that ISIS needs a military solution and that Washington is trying to resolve it politically.
“Part of the problem is this is debated as a political matter in Washington. This should be a military question,” Cruz argued. “We need seriousness to destroy ISIS and you do whatever it takes militarily to accomplish that.”
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