US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton calls for more aggressive action in Syria
Democratic presidential candidate of the United States, Hillary Clinton, has urged for a more intensified move against the Islamic State than what has been already pursued by President Barack Obama on Thursday. Clinton called for no-strike zones for protecting the Syrian population, more aggressive airstrikes against Islamic State bases and deployment of bigger number of special operations troops for assisting the ground forces in the war-torn regions.
Clinton offered her views in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. "Our goal is not to deter or contain ISIS, but to defeat and destroy ISIS," Clinton said. Her call for a new phase in the fight with the Islamic State came after the deadly attacks in Paris that resulted in the death of 129 people. According to the former secretary of state, the U.S. led airstrikes have to be combined with the ground forces for effectively taking back territories. She also pointed out that such an exercise would require more local intelligence.
"We cannot allow terrorists to intimidate us into abandoning our values and our humanitarian obligations," she said. "Turning away orphans, applying a religious test, discriminating against Muslims, slamming the door on every Syrian refugee: That is just not who we are."
The urgency with which she addressed the issue distinguished her plan from what Obama has been following. She, however, avoided criticising the president directly and said she only seeks a more intensified action against the terrorist organisation.
Even though Clinton’s views matched with the Republicans who held that the president is not being aggressive enough in dealing with the United States, she also criticised those who were against accepting Syrian refugees.
She pointed out that given what happened in Paris over the weekend, it is no longer time to focus on scoring political scores. She added that social media companies can help by taking off terror group-affiliated social media accounts.
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