Sen. Lindsey Graham Favors US Troops in ISIS Fight, Others Don't

The U.S. cannot destroy the Islamic State (ISIS) militarily without having boots on the -ground, said South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham on ABC News, because "regional forces in the Mideast do not have the capacity to do the job without some American help."

Republicans have been arguing that they can manage U.S. military and security policies better than President Barack Obama. This has led some in the GOP to outline contrasting positions on the use of military force, especially against the Islamic State.

That's one reason the use of military force is bound to be an important issue in the 2016 presidential race, CBS News reported.

Graham said that the Republican Party needs to talk "openly about the hard things; like having boots on the ground in Syria and Iraq, American boots on the ground, as part of an international regional force."

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He said, "I've never seen more terrorist organizations with more safe havens, with more money, with more capability to strike the homeland than I do today. And that's a direct result of a failed foreign policy by President [Barack ]Obama."

But former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told the Chicago Council on Global Affairs that being engaged does not have to mean "boots on the ground in every occurrence," according to The Wall Street Journal.

He said, "The United States has an undiminished ability to shape events and build alliances of free people. We can project power and enforce peaceful stability in far-off areas of the globe," The New York Times reported.

Bush has pulled together a brain trust that includes officials active in foreign and defense policy roles in the administrations of his brother and father, former Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush. Among these are former Secretary of State James Baker, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, CBS News reported.

Graham said Bush's speech summed up the "traditional view of the Republican Party." He said criticizing Obama's foreign policy is not enough. Republicans have to be clear about what they would do differently, CBS reported.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who favors a less interventionist foreign policy, would tightly restrict how and when U.S. forces would be used on the ground, CBS reported.

Republicans, however, have been generally cautious about offering an alternative blueprint to Obama's approach on countering ISIS.

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