MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
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MATTHEWS: "A manageable problem."
Anyway, Senator Barbara Boxer joins us. She sits on the Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Boxer, what do we do?
SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: Well, I think the president`s acting. You know, you can listen to his speeches all day, but he`s already notified Congress in several letters to us under the War Powers Act that he`s going after ISIS in Iraq. And he did that to protect Americans who are in Iraq and also to free the Yazidis. So he`s already acting.
And the boots are on ground are not American boots. The airplanes are ours. The intelligence is ours. And we have security personnel. But the boots on the ground are the Iraqi boots and the Kurdish boots. So that`s kind of a way we`re going to move forward.
And for those who have complained that the -- you know, the president is too deliberative -- good Lord, I want a deliberative president after, you know, a decade of war and 4,000 dead Americans and tens of thousands wounded. So he is acting.
And when he sends out a signal like he did today, You`re not going to get away with what you`ve done, he means it. I`ve seen him capture bin Laden. I`ve seen him go after the terrorists that brought Benghazi on us. And he`s continuing to do that in Africa.
So he means what he says. Even though he may be calm and wear a tan suit, he means what he says.
MATTHEWS: What about the situation in Syria, where they`re doing these beheadings, apparently? How do we stop these beheadings? I mean, we`ve been listening to these people, especially that fellow with the English accent. They`re talking about doing this every couple of -- at least, that`s the pattern so far. They`ve got who knows how many possible captives.
What`s to stop them? You say hit them on the -- hit them in Iraq. What stops them from doing what they`re doing in Syria?
BOXER: Well, the president is putting together a strategy for working on the Syria issue. The fact is, it`s got to be done carefully with a coalition. ISIS is a threat to the world, Chris, to the civilized world, to that region, to other Muslims. Most people they`ve killed are Muslims. So he is moving forward.
And in Syria -- I happened to meet in Turkey recently, a month ago, with the head of the opposition there against Bashar al Assad, and they want us to come in and they will work with boots on the ground in Syria. And I think that`s all happening.
So we`re not going to sit back and this president isn`t going to sit back. He`s already acting in Iraq. He`s putting together a strategy. He did say it in an inartful way. He said, I don`t have a strategy yet. A better way to put it is, I`m working on a winning strategy to go after ISIL in Syria. It`s going to be happening, Chris, and it`s happening already.
This is a tragic moment in history. You can`t imagine now we would see this barbarism, but we`re seeing it. And anyone in the world who can justify it is an outlier. So we can put together a coalition and go after these people. Frankly, we have to.
MATTHEWS: Let`s take a look at what General Zinni said on "MEET THE PRESS" this Sunday, Senator. Let`s look at this, and then you react to what you hear. Here he is, General Zinni, on "MEET THE PRESS" on Sunday -- talked about two brigades, he said, of American soldiers could defeat ISIS. Let`s watch him, and then you react, please.
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GEN. ANTHONY ZINNI, USMC (RET.): The boots on the ground question`s always the toughest one. I wish we were not so paranoid about boots on the ground. We can`t even define it. There`s going to have to be special operations forces. There`s going to have be people that can call in and adjust air and fires (ph) and advisers to be with these units. And very simply put, if you put two brigades on the ground right now of U.S. forces, they would push ISIS back into Syria in a heartbeat, and probably take less time, less cost, and I think, in the long run, fewer casualties overall.
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MATTHEWS: Well, that`s about 8,000 troops. What do you make of that, that we could do that? And then the question is, do you want to do something like that or not?
BOXER: Well, my position has been that we`re going after ISIS under the theory that this is counterterrorism. And I`m not going to vote to put combat boots on the ground after what we`ve been through. And I think a better strategy is the strategy the president is putting together. We`re there with intelligence, we`re there with counterterrorism, we`re there with security to protect our people. We`re there with air power.
And we have other boots on the ground, people in the region who have more at stake than anybody, who know the region. And that`s what I think is happening right now, and I think it`s showing that it`s working so far in Iraq. It`s -- you know, it`s too soon to know, but it`s looking much better.
So I think that that`s the strategy. I`m not going to go back to sending troops back into Iraq, combat troops. I just won`t do that, and I don`t think there`s a stomach for it in the country or in the Congress, or frankly, this president. I don`t think he wants it.
MATTHEWS: I think you`re right. Thank you very much, Senator Barbara Boxer of California, sits on the Foreign Relations Committee.
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