Washington, D.C. – This morning, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) spoke with KNX 1070 NewsRadio Los Angeles about the fight against ISIS. Key excerpts are included below. You can listen to the audio HERE.

On the Obama administration’s failed approach:

“Secretary Kerry said the other day, whether we defeat ISIS or not is up to Iran and Russia. And I think it’s incredible that the Obama administration has ceded our national security interests to Iran and Russia. This is part of the discussions we had with the ambassadors… we have an opportunity to arm the Kurds and the Sunni tribes that are fighting ISIS. We should be arming those 180,000 Peshmerga on the ground who do not have the artillery, or the anti-tank weapons, or the mortars that they need.”

On Putin’s destabilizing intervention in Syria:

“What Putin is doing is not attacking ISIS. He’s attacking the free Syrian army. He’s attacking the marketplaces… a very small percentage of his attacks have been on ISIS… And that’s what happens when you don’t have US leadership: others step in and start dictating terms, including the Russians who have very different interests since they’re working with Iran.”

On the need for President Obama to step up and outline a plan to win the fight against ISIS:

“[We need] a strategy from the administration, from the president of the United States, that says the goal is to defeat ISIS. And we’re going to do it… by taking those who are doing the fighting on the ground and giving them the weapons to do it.”

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