Feinstein: We Need a ‘Wake Up Call’ Obama’s 50 Special Forces Won’t Destroy ISIS

Pam Key

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” while discussing the strong evidence that it was an ISIS bomb that brought down a Russian passenger airplane over Egypt, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said she hopes this is a “wake up call” for the Untied States and we realize President Barack Obama’s 50 special forces won’t destroy ISIS, thus she said the United States should consider other options.

When asked if she do believes it was a bomb Feinstein said,  “I think there’s a strong probability it was. I can’t say it’s dead bang certain but there’s a strong probability that it was…This means I think a very big thing for Russia. This was a Russian plane with Russian people. A Major attack. Russia is in the area. Russia is at three bases, has planes, has people. My hope is that Russia will take a strong stance against ISIS and they are not now so doing. Most of the attacks are directed toward the moderate opposition and I think the time has come for us also to begin to develop a joint strategy with Russia.”

She continued, “I hope it’s a wake up call to Putin and I hope to some extent it’s a wake up call to us. I have said before and I really believe it. We will fight them now or we will fight them later. It’s only a question of time. And they’re now in 12 countries. They’ve done 25 major attacks in these countries outside of Syria and Iraq in the last two years. This is a huge worldwide problem and we’ve got to play a major role. The Russians should as well.”
She added, “I’m most worried about is the one that there have been four attempts to bring into this country and that’s the one that goes through a magnetometer. The bomb maker is still alive and that bomb is a recipe for which is easy to get and it is very serious. It can take down a plane. So we need to totally be on our guard. We need to do those things that are prudent and direct and I think Homeland Security realizes that and we are toughening in those places which are important to toughen security in now.”

When asked if Obama is doing enough she said, “No. The special forces are limited. I think 50. that won’t do it. If we’re really going to use special operations, quick in, quick out, you have to do in the a much more comprehensive way to get at ISIS. This isn’t just one facility. It’s not one building in Raqqa or somewhere else. It’s many different places. The other thing that seems to be emerging is the belief the bombing alone isn’t going to do it. We’ve had over 7,000 sorties. Others have made sorties as well. We have made the majority of the sorties and that hasn’t changed the dynamic. So I think we’ve got to look at those things which can be major in scope and this means put together a strategy with Russia and move ahead.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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