Rubio Campaign Press Release - This Republican Has a Realistic Plan to Defeat ISIS — Others Don't

December 10, 2015

In an appearance on Good Morning America today, Marco outlined what needs to be done to defeat ISIS, and how his plan differs from some of his opponents.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Ted Cruz is coming on strong now and this new polls put him ahead in Iowa and says "we need to carpet bomb ISIS." Says "I don't know if sand can flow in the dark but we're going to find out." Would that be part of your strategy, as well?

RUBIO: We're going to increase air strikes but you cannot defeat ISIS simply by air strikes. There is not a single credible military official either active or inactive that would say that we can simply defeat them from the air. It will have to be confronted on the ground. It must be a coalition of which the bulk of it is made up of Sunni Arab, obviously the Kurds are doing a great job in the Kurdish areas. We should even empower Christians to defend themselves in their areas and their families but the bulk of that ground force needs to be Arab Sunnis that reject ideologically and defeat militarily ISIS and they will need our help. We will have to increase the number of Special Operators to call in those air strikes. We will need more logistical and intelligence support and we'll need more support from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the UAE, other Kingdoms that are immediately impacted by ISIS' presence in the region. But they must be defeated on the ground. We will not be able to defeat them simply with air strikes.

Marco has consistently laid out a plan to defeat ISIS and protect Americans and our allies.