Madeleine Albright: U.S., Russia Have Common Purpose to Defeat ISIS
During an interview with the FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the U.S. can find common ground with Russia when it comes to defeating ISIL.
“We have some common purpose in terms of trying to defeat ISIL. And that, that is a huge threat to everything that is going on in Syria and the people,” she said.
Albright also discussed Russia’s involvement in Syria.
“The Russians have been trying for decades to have a very strong influential role in the Middle East. They have had a relationship with Syria, with Assad’s father and him now, and they have a port there. So they are delivering more equipment there. I think it’s very hard to figure out exactly how much they are bringing in and I think that there is some suspicion about that,” she said.
She also weighed in on the Syrian migrant crisis and the U.S.’s ability to “absorb” more immigrants.
“Yesterday I saw the king of Jordan… This is a small country right on the front lines, and the number of immigrants they have and refugees in camps from not only Syria but Iraq and Palestine is as if the United States had 60 million refugees… I’ve been suggesting and Secretary Kerry has been talking about increasing our number at least to 100 thousand. I think we can do it.”
Albright discussed the threat of ISIS entering the U.S. through Syria.
“The process of bringing people in can be and should be organized… But I don’t think we can be constantly operating on what I call the ‘fear factor.’ I think that we are a humanitarian nation. There is a way to vet people to make sure that doesn’t happen,” she said.
She also discussed the U.S.’s lead from behind strategy and inability to defeat ISIL.
“The war in Iraq is part of what this is all about. That created this vacuum that then has spread into other countries and President Obama I think has lived up to what he promised is that he would end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and he has in fact made clear that we would be helpful in Syria… American’s don’t want to be involved there and yet I do think that American influence there and importance is very important… Israel is our ally and friend and we want to be able to have its back… It’s one of the most complex situations I’ve ever seen in the Middle East and ISIL is the major problem for us to deal with.”