John Boehner: Obama may have 'no choice' but to deploy U.S. ground troops against ISIS

John Boehner: Obama may have 'no choice' but to deploy U.S. ground troops against ISIS

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) says the U.S. may ultimately have "no choice" but to put its own troops on the front lines against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

"At some point somebody's boots have to be on the ground," Boehner said in an interview with ABC's This Week. Boehner added that it was preferable for the U.S. to train local forces to wage a ground offensive, but when asked directly if U.S. troops should be used should that plan fail, he indicated he agreed.

"We have no choice," he said. "These are barbarians. They intend to kill us, and if we don't destroy them first, we're going to pay the price."

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An NBC poll out Sunday found that 72 percent of Americans believe U.S. ground troops will wind up fighting against ISIS, despite Obama's insistence to the contrary. --Jon Terbush

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.