McCain says Obama’s ISIS strategy reminds him of Vietnam

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says President Obama’s strategy against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) “is beginning to remind me of the Vietnam War.”

McCain criticized Obama for gradually increasing the number of U.S. troops being deployed to Iraq.

{mosads}”This gradualism, unfortunately, is beginning to remind me of the Vietnam War, which we know we lost,” McCain said in an interview with ABC News Radio on Wednesday.

McCain was shot down as a Navy pilot during the Vietnam War and held as a prisoner. 

Obama last week announced plans to send 1,500 more U.S. troops to Iraq to advise local forces in the battle against ISIS militants, doubling the American presence to more than 3,000.

“We knew he was going to have to do that,” McCain said. “We predicted it, and I predict to you he’ll have to send some more, not the 82nd Airborne, but some more forward air controllers, special forces, other specially talented people who have specific specialties, and he’ll have to do it again.”

McCain said Obama still lacked a strategy. But he also expressed hope in a new wave of Republican senators, including midterm winners Dan Sullivan from Alaska, Joni Ernst from Iowa, and Tom Cotton from Arkansas, all who have served in the military.

The “internationalist” caucus, he said, “just got increased with some really remarkable talent.”

McCain is poised to become chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, giving him added leverage to press the Obama administration on its strategy.