Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain talked to Chris as the duo traveled through New Hampshire this weekend. This wide-ranging conversation goes in-depth on the threat from ISIS and goes inside the friendship that binds the two senators.
One area of common agreement between Senators McCain and Graham is their low opinion of President Obama’s handling of the ISIS/ISIL crisis. According to Senator Graham, Obama has oversold our successes and undersold the threats. Senator McCain wants to know why we are only now attacking ISIS/ISIL’s oil trucks after an entire year of air strikes. He compared the mishandling of this war to the political interference by the Johnson administration during the Viet Nam War. Senator McCain believes that the United States has no credibility today as the result of Obama making so many statements about how the threat of terrorism has been contained by his policies which have turned out to be untrue.
Of all of the candidates running this year–both Democrats and Republicans–Senator Graham is the only one with military experience. The South Carolina Senator served in the Air Force from 1982-1988 and has continued his service as a colonel in the National Guard and Reserves. Graham has been consistently in favor of committing ground troops to defeat ISIS/ISIL. He rejects the idea that Americans are against “boots on the ground.” Graham believes that we are skeptical about Obama’s ability to lead. Senator Graham sees two options, “We can put boots on the ground before we are attacked or after we are attacked.” The senator believes that the ISIS fighters which number between 30-40,000 are without tanks and an air force could be wiped out with a coordinated attack using air power and ground troops. Graham wants the United States to make up about 10% of the force which would include troops from NATO and the Middle East region. Both Senators McCain and Graham believe that the current debate and concern over Syrian refugees is meant to distract us from thinking about how the Obama administrations policies over the last 2 years have caused the problem.
Chris Ryan tried to find out about the friendship which has brought these two men together. One thing in common is their service on the Armed Forces Committee and their military service. John McCain is concerned about the many problems which face the country today. He pointed out that many former Secretaries of State from Kissinger to Albright testified to the Senate Armed Forces Committee that the world hasn’t seen this many crisis situations since the end of World War II. Senator McCain believes that his good friend, Senator Lindsey Graham, is best equipped to be a wartime Commander-in-Chief. Despite Senator Graham’s low standing in the polls, Senator McCain is steadfast in his support. Senator Graham then said that John McCain is the closest thing that he has to a brother.
The last segment of the interview dealt with the threat of cyberterrorism. Both men feel that the country is threatened because president Obama has no policy or rules of engagement. The steady budget cuts which are taking place have decreased what is set aside for the military, NSA, FBI, and the CIA at a time when we need to upgrade our cybersecurity.
