Trump Wants Declaration of War Against Terrorists

Topics:  Donald Trump Special Collection:  Attack in Nice

VOA News

14 July 2016 (11:03PM)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump responded to the terrorist attack in France Thursday night by saying if he were president he would ask for a formal declaration of war from Congress against the Islamic State group.

During a phone interview with Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly, Trump said he would be prepared to declare war on unspecified terrorists and commit NATO troops in a “world war.”

“This is war. If you look at it, this is war coming from all different parts. And, frankly, it’s war and we’re dealing with people without uniforms. In the old days, we would have uniforms. You would know who you’re fighting,” he said.

O’Reilly then asked Trump if NATO troops should be involved in a ground and air war against the terrorists, and Trump said he “would be just fine” with that.

Hillary Clinton was later asked about Trump’s comments by Anderson Cooper on CNN and she responded by agreeing that we are at war with the terrorists, but cautioned against a ground war with IS.

“I think it is clear we are at war with these terrorist groups and what they represent. It is a different kind of war and we need to be smart about how we wage it and win it. So I think we need to look at all possible approaches to doing just that,” she said.

Cooper pressed Clinton on who, exactly, we are at war with and she said, "We are at war against radical jihadists who use Islam to recruit and radicalize others in order to pursue their evil agenda."

"It’s not so important what we call these people as to what we do about them," she added.

On Thursday night, a man driving a truck plowed through a large crowd of people celebrating France’s Bastille Day in Nice, killing 80 people and wounding dozens of others.

French President Francois Hollande said in a national address Friday morning he was positive the attack was deliberate.

"There's no denying the terrorist nature of this attack of yet again the most extreme form of violence," Hollande said.

Trump also cancelled a news conference he had scheduled for Friday morning to announce his choice for a vice-presidential running mate.

“In light of the horrible attack in Nice, France, I have postponed tomorrow's news conference concerning my vice presidential announcement,” Trump said in a tweet.