WASHINGTON (AP) Apr. 11, 2017 — U.S. Senator John McCain says stopping Syrian President Bashar Assad’s “murderous rampage” does not preclude America from fighting the Islamic State group.
At a press conference in Sarajevo, the Republican senator said the U.S. “is the most powerful nation on earth” and “can do both at the same time.”
McCain said Assad is “a war criminal and must go.” He said the “needless and senseless slaughter of innocent men, women and children is an obligation for all of us,” including Russia, to stop.
McCain is on a tour of the western Balkans, the war-weary European region where Russia has been vying for increased military, political and economic influence.