President Barack Obama explained why he won't be sending troops to Syria after the Islamic State's barbaric terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday.
When asked about his strategy to fight ISIS at the G-20 summit in Turkey on Monday, he replied:
"There have been a few who have suggested that we should put large numbers of US troops on the ground... It's not just my view, but the view of my closest military and civilian advisers that that would be a mistake, not because our military could not march into Mosul or Raqqa or Ramadi and temporarily clear out ISIL, but because we would see a repetition of what we've seen before, which is that if you don't have local populations that are committed to inclusive governments, and who are pushing back against ideological extremes, that they resurface unless we're prepared to have a permanent occupation of these countries. And let's assume that we were to send 50,000 troops into Syria, what happens when there is a terrorist attack generated from Yemen? Do we then send more troops into there? Or Libya, perhaps? Or if there is a terrorist network that is operating anywhere else in North Africa or in Southeast Asia. So a strategy has to be one that can be sustained."
At least 129 were killed in various terror attacks across Paris on Friday, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility. France and the United States have already responded with numerous airstrikes on ISIS targets in Syria.
Story by Allan Smith and editing by Chelsea Pineda
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