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Statement by Senator Lindsey Graham Responding To President Obama's Remarks On ISIL

November 16, 2015


"Walking faster in the wrong direction is not redoubling our efforts; it's just going the wrong way." - Senator Lindsey Graham, CNN, 11/16/15

Today, Senator Lindsey Graham responded to comments made by President Obama stating that it would be a "mistake" to put troops on the ground in Syria and that our current strategy is the "right strategy and we're going to see it through":

"I was incredibly disappointed to hear President Obama reject the introduction of American ground forces as part of a regional force to destroy ISIL, which is a growing threat to the American people. The president's policies are failing and ISIL is getting stronger. The president seems to have learned nothing from the recent attacks against a Russian airliner, bombings in Lebanon, and the wholesale slaughter in Paris.

"President Obama is holding on to a failing construct that ISIL can be destroyed from the air and that there is an army inside of Syria that can do the job without substantial regional and American support. The statements made by President Obama today will be disheartening to all those in the region who are looking for American leadership.

"President Obama is doubling down on a failed strategy that is inevitably going to lead to a second 9/11. He just doesn't seem to understand that we only have two choices regarding ISIL - fight them in their backyard or fight them in ours. I choose to fight them in their backyard."

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Lindsey Graham, Statement by Senator Lindsey Graham Responding To President Obama's Remarks On ISIL Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/312565

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