On his debut as NBC 'Meet the Press' host 9/7/2014, Chuck Todd grills President Obama: - Are you preparing the country to go back to war? - You realize you're giving that speech (Wednesday) the day before the 13th anniversary of 9/11. - ISIS is not a JV team. Was that bad intelligence or your misjudgment? - You've ruled out boots on the ground. And I'm curious, have you only ruled them out simply for domestic political reasons? Or is there another reason you've ruled out American boots on the ground? Because your own-- your own guys have said, "You can't defeat ISIS with air strikes alone." - I got a somewhat snarky email from a-- from a casual viewer who said, "The United States gives a lotta military aid to Saudi Arabia. It's about time they use it." What do you say to that? - Did you-- did you see those messages they sent to you, naming you, when they-- when they-- when they beheaded those American journalists? - They sent messages addressing you personally. Did you watch 'em? - I got to ask, so-- so during that vacation, you made the statement on Foley. You went and golfed. Do you-- do you want that back? - Not surprisingly, I'm getting a little bit of hot signs. So let me get you to this last question here. I've had former aides of yours, plenty of supporters of yours, say to me, "He looks exhausted." And understandable, lot going on. This is not-- been a rough year. Are you exhausted? CHUCK TODD: You've not said the word, "Syria," so far in our conversation. Obviously, if you're going to defeat ISIS, you have used very much stronger language. It's gone through the week during your trip to Wales. You got to go to Syria in some form or another. You've ruled out boots on the ground. And I'm curious, have you only ruled them out simply for domestic political reasons? Or is there another reason you've ruled out American boots on the ground? Because your own-- your own guys have said, "You can't defeat ISIS with air strikes alone." PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, they're absolutely right about that. But you also cannot, over the long term or even the medium term, deal with this problem by having the United States serially occupy various countries all around the Middle East. We don't have the resources. It puts enormous strains on our military. And at some point, we leave. And then things blow up again. So we-- CHUCK TODD: That’s what happened with Iraq. PRESIDENT OBAMA: --so-- so we've got to have a more sustainable strategy, which means the boots on the ground have to be Iraqi. CHUCK TODD: What about Syria-- PRESIDENT OBAMA: And-- and in Syria, the boots on the ground have to be Syrian. And that's why-- CHUCK TODD: Who? PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well we have a Free Syrian Army and a moderate opposition that we have steadily been working with but we have vetted. They have been on the defensive, not just from ISIL, but also from the Assad regime. And what-- you know, if you recall, at the West Point speech that I gave, I said, we need to put more resources into the moderate opposition in part because, unless we have people we can work with who are Sunni in these Sunni regions, then we're going to continue to have these problems. And so the-- the strategy both for Iraq and for Syria is that we will hunt down ISIL members and assets wherever they are. I will reserve the right to always protect the American people and go after folks who are trying to hurt us wherever they are. But in terms of controlling territory, we're going to have to develop a moderate Sunni opposition that can control territory and that we can work with. The notion that the United States should be putting boots on the ground, I think would be a profound mistake. And I want to be very clear and very explicit about that. President Barack Obama's Full Interview With NBC's Chuck Todd - 'Meet The Press' 9/7/2014 President Barack Obama's Full Interview With NBC's Chuck Todd - 'Meet The Press' 9/7/2014 President Barack Obama's Full Interview With NBC's Chuck Todd - 'Meet The Press' 9/7/2014 President Barack Obama's Full Interview With NBC's Chuck Todd - 'Meet The Press' 9/7/2014

• published: 07 Sep 2014
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