Robert Gates: Some Boots in Harm's Way Needed in ISIS Fight

There will have to be at least some "American boots on the ground and in harm's way," for President Barack Obama to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS), former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.

However, he told ABC "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos, he does believe some of the president's plan for ISIS is right.

"I think that he was absolutely right to wait until we had a new government in Iraq before taking any steps, one that would be more inclusive," Gates said. "Second, he is right that the primary ground action here has to be by the Iraqis, the Kurds and the Sunnis in north and western Iraq."

But to be able to achieve the "degrade and destroy" mission, there will need to be "some small number of American advisers, trainers, special forces and forward spotters that are going to have to be in harm's way, and I think that number will be very small."

Gates on Sunday reiterated statements he made last week on "CBS This Morning," when he said that the president is trapping himself with his no troops on the ground promise.

“There will be boots on the ground if there’s to be any hope of success in the strategy,” Gates said. "By repeatedly pledging that the U.S. won’t put troops into combat, “the president, in effect, traps himself.”

Gates took over the defense job in the Bush administration in 2006 following setbacks for U.S. forces in Iraq. He has also served under Obama, and told ABC on Sunday that the Obama administration is trying to communicate that battalions won't be sent to defeat ISIS, but there will still have to be some limited troops on the ground, said Gates.

He said that if he was still defense secretary, and if the mission required having advisers on the ground with Iraqi units, "I think that I would have supported it."

The situation in Syria is complicated, though, said Gates of criticism that U.S. involvement is keeping regional forces in Iraq and Syria from taking on ISIS themselves.

"This is a very tough problem and I think a little perspective is in order," said Gates. "Syria in a way is the embodiment of four different conflicts going on in the Middle East simultaneously...This is a generational conflict and we need to understand that. We also need to be very modest about how we can shape the outcomes here."

The United States should step back and "look at this kind of cauldron of violence and instability that's going to be with us for a long time," said Gates. "What is our strategy overall for the region?"

However, he does not think that the broader strategy for the region as a whole has been adequately discussed, and destroying ISIS is a "very ambitious mission."

The first goal, said Gates, should be to push ISIS out of Iraq and deny them a permanent foothold from which they can plot against the United States.

"We also have to keep in mind there are other groups out there threatening as well," said Gates. "Al Qaeda is still with us … we've been at war with Al Qaeda for 13 years. We haven't destroyed it yet."

Instead, Al Qaeda has been changed and degraded, "but all you have to do is look around the world and particularly in Africa and the Middle East to see that it's still around."

Related Stories:

• Special Forces Veteran: 'Take The Gloves Off' Against ISIS
• Army Chief of Staff: Troops and Time Needed in ISIS Fight