It's my understanding that we currently have all the authorities that we need to prosecute the campaign against ISIL, but I absolutely believe that a clear and unequivocal statement of support for the men and women that are prosecuting the campaign and our allies from their elected officials would be absolutely helpful.

Joseph Dunford

Categorized in : Politics

Many people have talked about military options [against North Korea] with words like ‘unimaginable,’ i would shift that slightly to ‘horrific.’ It would be a loss of life unlike any we have experienced in our lifetimes. Anyone who has been alive since World War II has never seen the loss of life that could occur if there is a conflict on the Korean peninsula.

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So, I think for all of us, we should give Secretary Tillerson full support in attempting to resolve this diplomatically and economically, even as we recognize that it may not happen, and there may have to be a follow-up option, which is the military option, we can wring our hands and say it will never happen, or we can roll up our sleeves and make an effort to have a concerted economic and diplomatic plan that does cause KJU, Kim Jong Un, to come to the table and begin to have a conversation, at least stop the path that he’s on right now, which is further development of intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear capability. And to me it makes all the sense in the world to prove the theory of the case and to work this for a few more months.

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We had a proposal that we're working on with the Russians right now, i won't share the details, but my sense is that the Russians are as enthusiastic as we are to de-conflict operations and ensure that we can continue to take the campaign to ISIS and ensure the safety of our personnel.

I said, 'Hey, next time I go to Iraq, if you're interested, come... by Joseph Dunford

I said, 'Hey, next time I go to Iraq, if you're interested, come and it'd be good,'.

Those recommendations are being made and the president will have an opportunity to make some decisions here in the coming weeks, i brought it to the secretary (Defense Secretary Ash Carter). The secretary will engage with the president.

The timing really now is focused on the next phase of the campaign, which is towards Mosul, and maintaining the kind of momentum that we had in Ramadi.

There's many adverse effects it would have, one would be on the morale of the force and frankly what you are suggesting are things that actually aren't legal for them to do anyway.

You want to take decisive military action to check ISIL’s expansion and at the same time you want to do it such a way that's supportive of a long-term political process.

We are technically not at war ... Yet declared war. by Joseph Dunford

We are technically not at war ... Yet declared war.

We have not contained ISIL currently. by Joseph Dunford

We have not contained ISIL currently.

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If it had operational or strategic impact and we could reinforce success, that would be the basic framework within which I'd make a recommendation for additional forces to be co-located with Iraqi units.

If it had an operational or strategic impact and we could reinforce success, that would be the basic framework within which I'd make a recommendation for additional forces to be co-located with Iraqi units.

Maybe some people would have characterized it as a stalemate a while ago. I'm not willing to say that, we're going to look at a wide range of things that we can do to help the Iraqis generate momentum and reinforce the successes that they're starting to have.

The one thing I'm going to steer clear of is talking about timelines, you can't set the bar and consider time a success.

If we had one person to talk to that could speak with authority about the campaign ... that's kind of what we need.

So if you want to talk about a nation that could pose an existential threat to the United States, I ’d have to point to Russia. And if you look at their behavior, it’s nothing short of alarming.

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My assessment today, Senator, is that Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security, so if you want to talk about a nation that could pose an existential threat to the United States, I ’d have to point to Russia. - Gen. Joseph Dunford.

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In Russia we have a nuclear power. We have one that not only has the capability to violate the sovereignty of our allies and to do things that are inconsistent with our national interests, but they’re in the process of doing so.

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My assessment today, Senator, is that Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security, so if you want to talk about a nation that could pose an existential threat to the United States, I'd have to point to Russia. And if you look at their behavior, it's nothing short of alarming.

In a major conflict, these shortfalls will result in a delayed response and/or the unnecessary loss of American lives.