WASHINGTON
One of more than a dozen Republican presidential hopefuls laid out his plan Wednesday for beating back Daesh, and it includes another large-scale invasion force in the Middle East.
Sen. Lindsey Graham said, if elected, he will assemble a coalition of regional forces led by a 10,000-strong U.S. military contingent to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rout Daesh in Syria.
“I’m looking for a large regional army where the vast majority of the ground component would be Arabs and Turks. But I fear that if they go in without us they could actually lose,” he said during public remarks at the Atlantic Council think tank. “At the end of the day no Arab army is going in on the ground in Syria to destroy ISIL for our benefit and leave Assad in power.
“There would be an American component on day one. There would be an American component during the building and the holding,” Graham said in apparent reference to the massive reconstruction needed in Syria, of which he said regional actors would foot the bulk.
Under the prospective GOP nominee's plan, U.S. forces would generally be tasked with special forces operations and would help carry out airstrikes.
He added that Assad is likely to be “in power after Obama leaves,” saying that President Barack Obama’s foreign policy has been “a disaster”.
“When it comes to foreign policy, Lindsey Graham offers a very clear and different path,” the South Carolina senator said. “The path that I embrace is going to be tough, but the outcome would ensure a safe America.”
Regarding Iran’s nuclear program, he said that he would support a peaceful program, but added, “if you want an enrichment program, large in nature that will lead one day to a nuclear breakout like North Korea, you will not have it. If you want a war, you will lose it.”
While Graham has consistently polled low compared to the crowd of 16 Republican candidates vying for the party’s nomination, it’s still early in the race with the first party caucus in Iowa tentatively scheduled for Feb. 1, 2016.
He has amassed more than a decade of experience as a senator, and before that spent nearly a decade in the House of Representatives.
