Dr. Ben Carson: War Against ISIS Should Come Without 'Rules;' US Soldiers Shouldn't Be Prosecuted for War Crimes
Author and retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson has declared that in a war against the Islamic State, the United States Armed Forces shouldn't have any "rules" holding them back from defeating the terrorist organization.
In an interview with Fox News' Bill Hemmer Monday morning, Carson explained that when fighting ISIS, Western rules of engagement could get in the way of victory.
"Our military needs to know that they're not going be prosecuted when they come back, because somebody has said, 'You did something that was politically incorrect,'" said Carson.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"There is no such thing as a politically correct war. We need to grow up, we need to mature. If you're gonna have rules for war, you should just have a rule that says no war. Other than that, we have to win."
Formed in 2013 as an off shoot of al-Qaeda, ISIS has garnered international attention for their atrocity laden campaign of conquor nations throughout the Middle East and beyond.
ISIS controls large swathes of territory in Northern Iraq, Syria, and most recently the African nation of Libya.
The terror group has shocked the international community with their brutal killings of civilians and prisoners of war, prompting international condemnation and a wave of airstrikes from the United States and other countries.
On Wednesday morning, CNN reported that Kurdish fighters had successfully repelled an ISIS force near the Iraqi city of Erbil.
"Kurdish commanders say ISIS fighters had threatened to overrun Kurdish defensive positions in the area for a while, and the two sides were so close that airstrikes were not possible," reported CNN.
"The commanders said about 40 ISIS fighters were killed, and Kurdish forces suffered several casualties. They said airstrikes contributed to the ISIS deaths."
Carson's comments to Fox News have garnered their share of condemnation as some, including Matt Wilstein of Mediaite, have pointed out notable drawbacks to resorting to war without rules against ISIS.
"While there may be 'no such thing as a politically correct war,' there is such a thing as the Geneva Conventions to which the United States is a party," wrote Wilstein. "And there are such things as war crimes, for which military leaders can be prosecuted if they are committed."
Carson has since expanded upon his reasoning offered to Fox News in an opinion column published Tuesday wherein he called ISIS "the face of evil."
"Understanding that we are not evil makes it easier to identify evil elsewhere and to combat it effectively," wrote Carson.
"When we accept the falsehood that everyone is equally bad and, therefore, we have no right or obligation to interfere with atrocities occurring elsewhere in the world, we facilitate the development and growth of groups such as ISIS, which are not dissimilar to the adherents of Adolf Hitler, who also aspired to world domination."
