Rep. Tom Cole: Be 'Smart About What We Do' on ISIS - East Idaho News
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Rep. Tom Cole: Be ‘Smart About What We Do’ on ISIS

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Tom Cole?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1409516382433 Win McNamee/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — While some Republicans have criticized President Obama for not acting quickly enough to combat the growing threat from ISIS in Syria and Iraq, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said Sunday on This Week that the U.S. has to be “smart about what we do” and not rush to act.

“I think frankly there’s way too much emphasis on acting now and doing something immediately instead of being smart about what we do,” Cole said on the This Week roundtable. “I think the elements of a strategy are already there. We know we’re going to use air power. We know we’re going to use special operators. We know we’re going to have to build alliances on the ground. That’s a very doable thing.”

“They’re tougher in Syria than they are in Iraq. We don’t have any preexisting relationships there,” Cole added. “But I think at the end of the day, look I think there’s a consensus that we are going to do things, but again being a little bit thoughtful might be a good idea.”

While Cole said Obama “made some bad mistakes” in pulling all U.S. troops out of Iraq in 2011 and “not taking this threat seriously earlier,” he said, “I still think the elements are there to be successful.”

Cole, a member of the House Republican leadership, also said he believes “there can be bipartisan support” for action against ISIS if Obama comes to Congress.

“I think the important thing for the president here is to move with Congress — that is, to not do this on his own, to make everybody put their fingerprints on the decision and say yea or nay and go home and justify it,” Cole said.

Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson called the current foreign policy challenges a “potential 9/11 moment,” but said more has to be learned about ISIS.

“They’re bad, but what is their goal? Can they reach the American homeland?” he said.

Richardson acknowledged the regional threat posed by ISIS, but said the U.S. shouldn’t act without allies and “go it alone” with military action against the group in Syria.

“You do have to have a coalition,” he said.


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