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Former Military Strategist: Significant Ground Troops Needed To Defeat ISIS

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Former Lieutenant Colonel, current Headmaster at the Haverford School and author of multiple books on military strategy, John Nagl assessed the military effort confronting ISIS following the terror attacks in Paris and says we are not doing enough to win the war.

Nagl, talking with Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, stated that American resolve is severely lacking.

 

"We are not taking this war seriously and that the French and the Russians are now leading [on] this threat to global order and decency is, quite frankly, appalling. We are providing intelligence support. We doing some ineffectual airstrikes. We've kept 50 boots on the ground in Syria and it's going to take 50,000 troops in Syria from an international coalition that will include France, Russia and the United States, probably, as its key contributors to wipe these people out."

He believes the current approach, of solely engaging in airstrikes, will never accomplish the intended mission.

"We've been bombing ineffectually. We've been bombing half-heartedly, if one can bomb half-heartedly. Currently, the French are striking mostly empty buildings. They are not actually killing the people who need to be killed. The truth is, as I've been saying for many years, until we put humans on the ground, with precise intelligence of where the targets are to vector in airstrikes, airstrikes will not defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Currently, what France is doing is making the French people feel better, but what we need is real live humans on the ground, with eyes on intelligence."

 

Nagl has concluded the only way to completely defeat ISIS and other terror groups in Syria and the surrounding region is an international coalition with significant ground forces.

"What we need is a Desert Storm style operation reuniting the critical allies from World War Two: Russia, France, Britain and the United States...Those would be real boots on the ground. I'm talking tanks. I'm talking Bradleys. I'm talking we do the fighting in Syria with advisers inside Iraq and Kurdish units in Iraq. So, a total of, probably, 50,000 Americans to eradicate these people."

 

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