Former Navy SEAL and newly-elected Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) believes the Obama administration is showing weakness and emboldening America’s enemies by refusing to explicitly tie radical Islam to terrorism.
“When we don’t even recognize the tie between Islamic radicalism and terrorism, then we show weakness,” Zinke said on Breitbart News Saturday, noting that the Obama administration does not even link “Islamic to terrorism.”
Zinke, who was awarded two bronze stars, told host and Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon that “the truth is, we face an ideology” in radical Islam that wants “to destroy the West and America.”
“That’s not complicated,” he said. “It’s truth. And the American people can handle the truth.”
Zinke also reiterated that radical Muslims “are not reformable.”
“You are not going to reform evil that decapitates children and crucifies villages,” he said. “The only way to combat it is to go on the offensive.”
After reiterating that “air operations alone will not be effective against ISIS,” Zinke said America needed to show allies on the ground “that have stuck with us with great risk” that the United States will “be there when the going gets tough.”
For instance, he mentioned the possibility of isolating Iraq from Syria with blocking forces. But Zinke also warned against blindly throwing money at the Middle East and relying on Iraq’s central government to combat ISIS. He said that Iraq’s central government “is notoriously corrupt and has developed a close relationship with Iran,” and he acknowledged that ISIS now has some of America’s best weapons and tanks because of that corruption.
But Zinke emphasized that America had to be a “consistent and trusted” ally in the Middle East because “no other nation is capable of doing the things that we can do.”
“Everyone is looking to America for leadership,” he said. “And If we don’t lead from the front, then no one else will follow.”