Newt Gingrich On War Against ISIS: 'We're Engaged In A War That Is Going To Be Around For 50-75 Years'
By Rich Zeoli
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Rich Zeoli talked with former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT from the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington DC about the mistakes the White House in making in the war against ISIS.
Gingrich said he is worried that President Obama is not taking the necessary steps to confront terrorism at home or in the Middle East.
"You currently have an administration which is totally out of touch with reality and, whether for psychological or ideological reasons, is unwilling to tell the truth about what threatens us. I really to believe that we have a tremendous challenge in taking on the national debate about what are we going to do in order to survive as a free country."
He stated ISIS is small part of a fight against radical extremist Muslims that will last for generations.
"ISIS is just a tiny part of global radical Islamist system that has representatives in Minneapolis and New York and Chicago and that we're engaged in a war that is going to be around for, I think, 50-75 years and we had better figure out how we can sustain it, develop it, and wage it worldwide."
Gingrich is also hesitant of a plan to send ground forces into Iraq and Syria to fight ISIS and fears the consequences of doing so could have global ramifications.
"We don't today have a strategy and a doctrine and a system for defeating radical Islamists. Could we send troops in in huge forces and have a big impact? Sure. But what would happen? The minute we begin to build that kind of structure, 10 or 15 thousand of the people currently with ISIS would go home. They'd go to the US. They'd go to France. They'd go to Germany. They'd go to Belgium. They'd go to Great Britain. You'd, all of the sudden, find that folks who have been trained in Syria and Iraq were now back in home in London, or back home in New York, or in Washington DC or Philadelphia. I think you have to realize, this is a world wide phenomenon and we have to be prepared to think through how do we defeat it everywhere."