The White House vowed no major shift in U.S. strategy in the fight against the Islamic State on Sunday in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Paris, despite clamors for change from key Republicans.
Making the rounds on the major Sunday morning news shows, President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, said there would be an “intensification” of U.S. war efforts against the Islamic State, but no major shift in U.S. strategy, such as sending large numbers of combat troops to Iraq and Syria to fight ISIL.
“We do not believe that there is a solution to the challenge in Syria or Iraq that involves significant numbers of U.S. combat troops going in,” Rhodes said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“I think what you are going to see is continued intensification of the air campaign,” he added in an interview from Turkey, where the president is attending an economic summit of world leaders, who are now focusing in large part on Friday’s attacks in Paris.
“We absolutely agree that this was an act of war by ISIL,” Rhodes said on ABC’s “This Week.” “Anytime you have this type of indiscriminate targeting of innocent civilians, we see that as an act of war by a terrorist group.”
Addressing the Paris attacks during this visit to Turkey, Obama praised Turkey as a “strong partner” with the U.S. and other allies in the fight against ISIL.
“As a NATO ally,” the president said, ”we have worked together to bring about pressure on ISIL, even as we also try to bring about a political transition inside of Syria that can relieve the suffering of so many people and eliminate the environment in which ISIL can operate.”
Rhodes also said on Fox the administration does not intend to halt its plan to take in over the next year up to 10,000 Syrian refugees. “We have very robust vetting procedures for those refugees,” he said.
But Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who serves on the House Homeland Security and Intelligence committees, disputed Rhodes.
“What he just said about the robust vetting of refugees is untrue,” King said on Fox. “There’s virtually no vetting because there are no databases in Syria. There are no government records. We don’t know who these people are.”
Pressed by Fox host Chris Wallace whether the president should then suspend the program, King said, “He should absolutely suspend it unless they can show 100 percent that a person is not involved with ISIS.”
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, also called for an end to the program.
“There’s no possible way to screen them,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “It should be stopped immediately.”
Also appearing on the Sunday shows, Republican presidential candidates offered up their own strategies for combating the Islamic State after the Paris attacks.
Asked on ABC what he’d do if he were president, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio called for stepping up support for the Kurds, whom he called “the best fighters on the ground.” He also said he favored an “increased number of special operations attacks,” targeting leaders of the Islamic State.
Jeb Bush, meanwhile, laid out a detailed set of steps on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he said Obama should take quickly.
“Declare a no-fly zone over Syria,” the former governor of Florida said. “Directly arm the Peshmerga forces in Iraq. Reengage with the Sunni tribal leaders. Embed with the Iraqi military. Be able to create safe zones in Syria. Garner the support of our European allies and the traditional Arab states. Lead. That’s what I want him to do. I want him to lead.”
Bush struck a more aggressive posture than some other Republicans, saying he “absolutely” supporting putting more U.S. combat forces on the ground in Syria.
“We should declare war, and harness all of the power that the United States can bring to bear, both diplomatic and military, of course, to be able to take out ISIS,” he said on NBC.
Rubio, though, declined to detai how many U.S. forces should be on the ground. And Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, also seemed reluctant.
“We’re not going to put 100 U.S. combat troops on the ground, nor should we,” McCaul said on ABC.
Both Rubio and Bush were quick to criticize Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, with Rubio going after her for saying she didn’t believe the U.S. was “at war with Islam” during the Democratic presidential debate on Saturday night in Des Moines, Iowa.
“I don’t understand it,” Rubio said, referring to Clinton’s refusal to say the U.S. was at war with “radical Islam.” “That would be like saying we weren’t at war with Nazis, because we were afraid to offend some Germans who may have been members of the Nazi Party but weren’t violent themselves.”
Bush didn’t call for halting the administration’s plans to take in Syrian refugees but said he would prioritize Christians over other refugees.
“I do think we have a responsibility to help with refugees after proper screening, and I think our focus ought to be on the Christians, who have no place in Syria anymore,” Bush said. “They’re being beheaded, they’re being executed by both sides.”
McCaul, though, was skeptical of the whole proposal to bring Syrian refugees to the U.S.
“There are a lot of holes, gaping holes,” he said on NBC.
Particularly, he said, there were “grave concerns” within the intelligence community about reports that two of the terrorists behind the Paris attacks were Syrian refugees.
And McCaul said he was hopeful the administration would shift from containing ISIL to destroying it. “They have to” change, he said.