Weekly Standard founder and editor Bill Kristol appeared on the nationally syndicated radio program The Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the growing humanitarian crisis in Iraq.
While discussing the deadly threat posed by ISIS and the gruesome stories of mass murder following demands of conversion to Islam, Kristol called for "a few thousand troops maybe in Kurdistan, just to help them stabilize the situation," and said there would be bipartisan support for President Barack Obama if he made such a move.
HH: I agree. What about, last question, Bill Kristol, Erdogan, who has been, being as anti-Semitic as any national leader has been in the last 50 years, who is not already well-known by the American people, does Erdogan have to rethink this, because ISIS isn’t going to stop at the border of Kurdistan and Turkey.
BK: He might, and of course, sometimes the enemy of enemies becomes friends and all that. And the good news is these groups, that a lot of people are split in the Middle East, so they can fight each other and stop each other to some degree. But at the end of the day, and you and I have discussed this several times, there is no substitute for U.S. leadership, and there is no substitute for a willingness to use force. Otherwise, it’s all just talk. And some of that force has to involve at least the possibility of boots on the ground. No one wants American kids to go back in and fight in Iraq, but a few thousand troops maybe in Kurdistan, just to help them stabilize the situation, some air power to bash ISIS, whether killing Christians or killing other sects, and just to stop their advance, at least, to stabilize the situation, I think the President would have huge bipartisan support if he ordered such things.