Lindsey Graham calls for 10K U.S. ‘boots on the ground’ to battle Islamic State

Sen. Lindsey Graham said 10,000 American “boots on the ground” are needed to stop the spread of the Islamic State through Iraq and Syria — with targeted attention given to “deal with Assad,” he said during a televised interview on “Face the Nation” on CBS.

Targeted airstrikes aren’t enough, he said.

“We cannot successfully defeat ISIL on the ground in Syria with the Free Syrian Army and regional coalitions of Arab nations until you deal with [Syrian president Bashar] Assad because he will kill anybody that comes in there that tries to defeat ISIL,” Mr. Graham said during the interview.

And, he warned, the price for failing to stop the Islamic State was “a Paris on steroids pretty soon,” he said, The Hill reported.

He also said that the U.S. forces had to be accompanied by soldiers from Arab nations, The Hill reported.

Mr. Graham is reportedly mulling a run for the White House in 2016. On that, he said: “I believe I’m the best qualified of anybody on our side of the aisle to offer an alternative to a failed foreign policy of Barack Obama,” The Hill reported.