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August 22, 2014

Top General Hints at U.S. Military Intervention in Syria 
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The Obama administration is continuing to ramp up its rhetoric against
the Islamic State following the group's release of a video showing the
beheading of journalist James Foley. On Thursday, the chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, Martin Dempsey, hinted at possible intervention
in Syria.

Gen. Martin Dempsey: "This is an organization that has an apocalyptic,
end-of-days strategic vision and which will eventually have to be
defeated. To your question, can they be defeated without addressing that
part of their organization which resides in Syria, the answer is no.
That will have to be addressed on both sides of what is essentially at
this point a non-existent border. And that will come when we have a
coalition in the region that takes on the task of defeating ISIS over
time."

Dempsey was also asked directly whether the campaign against the Islamic
State, also known as ISIS, would require airstrikes.

Gen. Martin Dempsey: "It requires a variety of instruments, only one
small part of which is airstrikes. I'm not predicting those will occur
in Syria, at least not by the United States of America. But it requires
the application of all of the tools of national power —
diplomatic, economic, information, military."

 

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