Sen. Cruz: We Have Obligation to Stand With Ukraine; Obama Administration Not Honoring It
Joins ABC News This Week and CNN State of the Union; Notes Obama foreign policy consistently wrong in regard to Russia, ISIS, and Iran
WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today joined ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on This Week and CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Union from the Munich Security Conference in Germany to discuss important national security concerns facing the United States. In his interviews, he noted that the Obama-Clinton-Kerry foreign policy has been consistently wrong – especially in regard to Russia, ISIS and Iran – and cited important actions the U.S. should take to stand with our allies and against our enemies.
He specifically called on the Obama Administration to once and for all provide Ukraine with the defensive weapons they have been seeking to combat Russia’s aggression. He also spoke of the importance of arming the Kurdish Peshmerga in Iraq to put a stop to ISIS’s terror in the region.
Notable excerpts are below and full interviews may be viewed below.
The Munich Security Conference and how the United States should respond to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine:
Sen. Cruz to George Stephanopoulos:
“This conference in Munich has highlighted the enormous national security threats facing America that are growing and getting worse. And when it comes to Russia and Ukraine, the path we're on doesn't make any sense. We need to be providing defensive arms to the people of the Ukraine. I met yesterday alongside a bipartisan congressional delegation with the Ukrainian President Poroshenko, he made clear they're fighting to defend their nation. We have a treaty obligation to stand with them, and right now, unfortunately, the Obama Administration is not honoring that obligation. We need to come together and provide defensive arms so they can stand up against the Russian aggression.“
Whether the U.S. should send ground troops to fight ISIS:
Sen. Cruz to George Stephanopoulos:
“We have boots on the ground already with the Kurds. The Peshmerga are trained, effective fighters. They are close allies. Today, I met with the President of Kurdistan. He made clear that they're ready to fight. They are fighting ISIS. But it makes no sense that our government is not providing military weapons effectively to the Kurds. Instead, they're shuttling it all to Baghdad. And Bagdad is very slow in getting it to the Kurds. We need to arm the Kurds…”
“We need to accomplish the mission and the mission should be defeating ISIS before they succeed in carrying out more horrific acts of terror, before they succeed in murdering Americans. If need be, we should go that step [of sending ground troops]. But it should be driven by the mission, and the first step should be to effectively arm the Peshmerga, use them as boots on the ground, and to use serious, overwhelming airpower.
“The Obama-Clinton-Kerry policy has been consistently wrong. It's been wrong on ISIS, on Russia, on Iran. When it comes to ISIS, our policy of leading from behind, we have seen photo op foreign policy where we drop a bomb here or a missile there. We need a focused, direct, military objective of taking out and destroying ISIS.”
The importance of funding the Department of Homeland Security while stopping President Obama’s illegal executive amnesty:
Sen. Cruz to George Stephanopoulos:
“This past week, we saw Senate Democrats three times filibuster funding for the Department of Homeland Security. The Democrats need to stop filibustering funding for the DHS. And Republicans need to honor the commitments we made to the voters. We need to fund DHS. We need to act effectively to stop President Obama's illegal and unconstitutional executive amnesty.”
Sen. Cruz to Dana Bash:
“Unfortunately right now the Democrats are working as a unit to filibuster funding for the Department of Homeland Security, and it's one of the patterns we've seen the last six years. Senate Democrats have consistently been unwilling to take on the President… I've been willing to take on my own party when my own party is not standing for the principles we're supposed to stand for. It is time to see some Senate Democrats willing to take on their own President, but right now they're putting partisan politics ahead of principle, and that's why they're filibustering the funding for the Department of Homeland Security.”
Sen. Ted Cruz on ABC's This Week
Sen. Ted Cruz on CNN's State of the Union
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