CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Islamic State Strategy

Interview

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BLITZER: Anna Coren in Irbil in Northern Iraq for us, Anna, be careful over there. Thank you very much. Joining us now right here in THE SITUATION ROOM, a vocal critic of the president and a potential Republican presidential candidate, Senator Ted Cruz.

Senator, welcome to THE SITUATION ROOM.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Thanks, Wolf. Good to be with you.

BLITZER: All right, let's talk a little bit about ISIS.

You have suggested that the United States needs to bomb ISIS, in your words, back to the Stone Age. What's the most important thing, one element, the most important thing you want to hear from the president tonight?

CRUZ: The most important thing is to demonstrate seriousness, seriousness in confronting this threat and a clear, concrete military objective that is directly connected to U.S. national security.

BLITZER: Because he says the objective is ultimately to destroy ISIS.

CRUZ: Well, but he's gone back and forth on that. He also suggested a few days ago that the objective was simply to render ISIS manageable.

In my view, we should not get distracted by side issues that the president has suggested, such as I hope tonight we don't hear him say that our defending our national security interest and preventing ISIS from attacking us is dependent on resolving the civil war in Syria.

I hope we don't hear tonight, as he has suggested before, that it's dependent upon seeing reconciliation in Iraq between the Sunnis and Shiites. That is a sectarian civil war that's waged since 632 A.D.

BLITZER: Do you really think the U.S. and its partners, whoever those partners might be, can defeat ISIS without what they call combat boots on the ground?

CRUZ: I think we can do it predominantly through overwhelming air attack.

I think we have air superiority. But what has been missing and what I very much hope we hear tonight is a strategy. A week ago, as you know, he admitted he didn't have a strategy. I'm hoping we hear one tonight and I'm hoping it is directly tied to our national security interests.

ISIS, at this point, poses a serious threat. They are crucifying Christians. They are beheading children. They tragically beheaded two American journalists on the world stage. And they have pledged to carry that jihad here, and they are securing control over parts of a nation-state with billions of dollars of oil revenue.

BLITZER: So I just want to be precise. You want to expand the air attacks against ISIS in Iraq and then begin them in Syria as well, right?

CRUZ: The objective should not be Iraq or Syria.

The objective should be taking out ISIS, preventing them from attacking America. And what's been missing so far, we have had an air attack here, we have had a bomb or missile there, but it's been photo- op foreign policy.

It hasn't been driven by a concrete military objective directly connected to our national security. We should do what is necessary, using overwhelming force to take ISIS out, before they secure control and before they use the revenues they're getting control of to project force and to carry out terror here at home.

BLITZER: Because one of the problems, if you don't have boots on the ground in Syria -- you do have good intelligence in Iraq. You know more or less where they are.

Syria, the U.S. doesn't have that kind of ground intelligence, so you really need some people there who can coordinate where these bombs will go. Otherwise, a lot of innocent civilians are going to be killed.

CRUZ: What we shouldn't be doing is partnering with those who are enemies of this country.

So at times, for example, the administration has suggested we might partner with Iran. Look, ISIS are radical Islamic terrorists who want to kill us. But Khomeini and the mullahs in Iran are also radical Islamic terrorists who want...

BLITZER: The State Department says they don't want to coordinate with Iran.

CRUZ: Well, that is encouraging today, but it's changed.

It's changed on almost a daily basis. It wasn't too many months ago when the Obama administration was arguing for arming the rebels if Syria who were fighting alongside ISIS. And in this instance, the enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend.

BLITZER: Some of those Free Syrian Army guys are fighting along the sides of al-Nusra, another terrorist group, but not necessarily ISIS, because there's a real problem there.

CRUZ: Exactly right.

BLITZER: You wrote an important column on CNN.com today.

And let me just read a line from it, because it's provocative. "As long as our border isn't secure," you write, "the government is making it far too easy for terrorists to infiltrate our nation."

Here's the question. Is there credible intelligence information that ISIS is trying to infiltrate the United States through the border with Mexico, shall we say?

CRUZ: Look, there are reports and they are unconfirmed right now of ISIS activity along the southern border.

I can't say right now there's credible, concrete intelligence. But what's clear is ISIS wants to project terror into the United States. Now, right now, they're consumed with this battle in Iraq. But if they're allowed to consolidate power, they will soon -- can be expected to want to project terror here.

It's one of the reasons this week I introduced legislation in the United States Senate to provide that any American -- and there are upwards of 100 Americans fighting alongside ISIS -- any American who takes up arms with ISIS would, through doing so, renounce his or her U.S. citizenship, so we don't allow terrorists who are training with ISIS to use a U.S. passport, come back and carry out acts of terror.

BLITZER: Would you go one step further and authorize the assassination, the targeted killing of those Americans who might be fighting alongside ISIS?

CRUZ: Well, it would depend what the intelligence was. If someone is activity taking up arms against the United States, is waging war against the United States, then we unquestionably have the authority to defend ourselves.

BLITZER: But what if they're waging war in Iraq and Syria, Americans aligned with ISIS?

CRUZ: It depends on what the facts are. That's a very difficult thing to ask -- answer in the abstract, without the specific facts of what is occurring.

BLITZER: So you want the president to bomb ISIS back into the Stone Age, but you also want the president to come to Congress and get congressional authorization to do so.

CRUZ: Absolutely.

BLITZER: That's not necessarily a done deal. You know the mood in Congress.

CRUZ: Well, it isn't. But I think if the president comes with a serious plan, if he comes with a strategy, which he hasn't had up until now, to carry out a concrete military objective, I think Congress will authorize that. Now, I hope tonight...

BLITZER: You would vote for it?

CRUZ: If it is a serious plan to protect our national security, absolutely.

I hope tonight President Obama recognizes this. We have gotten suggestions that he believes he can do this without congressional authorization. The Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war. And I think he should bipartisan calls from both Republicans and Democrats to recognize Congress' authority. And one of the benefits of that, Wolf, is it means that the

president has to come in front of Congress and lay out what the military objective is, what the national security interest is being furthered. He can't just carry out a photo-op attack. It's got to be focused on defending this nation.

BLITZER: We have got to wrap it up, but one final question that I always ask potential candidates out there. Do you want to be the next president of the United States?

CRUZ: Well, I certainly want there to be a different president from a different party who changes the path this country is on.

I think the Obama economy is a disaster. Millions of people are hurting and I think the Obama-Clinton foreign policy is not work -- as we -- working. As we can see, when America has receded from leadership in the world, when we have led from behind, the result is much of the world is on fire.

BLITZER: Sounds like you're already thinking of running against Hillary Clinton.

CRUZ: Well, I'll tell you, what I am thinking about is, I think 2016 will be the most important election of your lifetime and my lifetime.

It will be a fork in the road, where Americans will decide do we want to continue on this path, that failed path that isn't working or do we want to get back to the principles this country was built on that have made America the greatest country in the history of the world?

BLITZER: Sounds like a yes.

CRUZ: Time will tell.

BLITZER: We will see. When will you announce, if you announce?

CRUZ: Time will tell on that as well. I can tell you, for the next two months, my focus is single-mindedly on the 2014 elections. I believe Republicans are likely to retake the U.S. Senate and to retire Harry Reid as majority leader. And I'm devoting much of my time to campaigning to help Republicans win Senate seats so we can retake the Senate and start to change the direction of the country.

BLITZER: Senator Ted Cruz, we will stay in close touch with you as well. Thanks very much for joining us.

CRUZ: Thank you, Wolf.

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