Senior House Democrat: 'You don’t just come in and bomb' without a plan

Senior House Democrat: 'You don’t just come in and bomb' without a plan
By Martin Matishak - 08-31-14 09:29 AM EDT

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee on Sunday said President Obama will hammer out a long-term plan for fighting Islamist militants operating in Syria.

“We want to do whatever we need to do to stop” the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) said on CNN's "State of the Union." “You don’t just come in and bomb” without a plan, he added.

His comments come days after Obama said the U.S. didn’t have a strategy yet for combating fighters with the group in Syria.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said the key question confronting the administration is “are we going to contain ISIS or are we going to crush ISIS?”

Kinzinger said it was “unfortunate” Obama said the U.S. didn’t have a strategy because of the perception it sent to the terrorist group.

Ruppersberger, however, said it was extremely important the U.S. doesn’t “rush in.”

“if we’re going to go in, we’re not going to go in to drop some bombs,” Ruppersberger said. However, he hedged on if the U.S. would send troops or other military assets into Syria.

He added that the president shouldn't launch a campaign just because of media reports.

Ruppersberger predicted that U.S. allies, including some on the Middle East, would take some form of action against ISIS “this week.”