ISIS 'a cancer that metastasized' under Obama's watch

Washington Examiner ^ | 11/15/15 | Daniel Chaitin 

Mitt Romney is blaming President Obama for "doing the minimum" to fight the Islamic State.

In an op-ed published Sunday, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate criticized Obama for having said "we have contained" the Islamic State in an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos one day before a series of attacks hit Paris, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility. Romney said the U.S. needs to "eradicate" the Islamic State, not contain it.

"The president was right when he called the Islamic State a cancer," Romney said, "but it is a cancer that metastasized on his watch. Paris is proof."
The U.S. year-long airstrike campaign has not been sufficient, Romney added, and called for military experts from the U.S. and NATO to create a comprehensive strategy that would incorporate the forces of the Kurds, Turks, Saudis, Egyptians and Jordanians.
His remarks come as France launched airstrikes against the Islamic State on Sunday, carried out in coordination with U.S. forces, in retaliation for the terror attacks in Paris that left 127 dead and over 350 injured.

Romney decried the Islamic State's propaganda campaign and urged Muslim nations to come together and "immediately engage in a sustained global campaign to promote tolerance and eschew violence."

Romney also addressed the potential threat of the stream of refugees escaping conflicts in the Middle East, one day after a Greek official announced that a Syrian passport was reportedly found near the body of one of the gunmen responsible for the Paris attacks. A Greek official announced that the passport was processed on a Greek island in March.

"The West must stop the insanity of welcoming hundreds of thousands of people from the Middle East without knowing who exactly they are," Romney said.

"Only America can lead this war, and that leadership means being willing to devote whatever resources are required to win — even boots on the ground," Romney continued. "We have the best-equipped and most dedicated military for good reason. The president must stop trying to placate his political base by saying what he won't do and tell Americans what he will do."