Cotton, an Army combat veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, called for the deployment of additional special operations forces and an increase in bombing missions to fight the militant group in Iraq and Syria, echoing comments from veteran Sen. John McCain and other Republican hawks in the wake of the terror attacks in Paris last week.
“We can’t win the war on Islamic terror on defense, we have to win on offense,” Cotton said. “We have to be on the offense around the world and kill them over there before they have a chance to kill us here.”
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Cotton also echoed the criticism of several of his Republican colleagues on the intelligence committee who criticized the President last week for underestimating the threat posed by al-Qaeda and ISIS. The White House announced a summit on violent extremism in the wake of the Paris attacks, and U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies are taking a fresh look at their databases of potential terrorists and are reassessing potential threats.
“The threat around the world is as great as it’s ever been,” Cotton said.
