Ron Johnson: ISIS Is ‘A Gathering Storm To Strike America’

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., will hold multiple town hall meetings this week to warn his constituents of the possible threat posed by the militant Islamic State group, also known as ISIS.

Johnson, the freshman Republican sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has said that the group must be eradicated or they will eventually export terrorists to the U.S. He said there is no negotiating with the Islamic State group, and said they must be defeated.

“They are evil. They are barbarians,” he said. “ISIS’s diplomacy consists of beheading, and then they put those heads on stakes. Crucifixions. If they’re not conducting mass executions, they’re burying people alive.”

Johnson said that even if Iraq’s new prime minister Haider al-Abadi pulls together a coalition government, he doubts there will be a political solution to end the threat of ISIS or save Iraq.

“It is such a confusing situation,” he said. “Shiites versus Sunnis. You’ve got the Arab states versus Iran. Again, I can’t tell you what the eventual solution’s going to be. I appreciate the fact that President Obama is finally acting.”

Johnson said part of an eventual solution is a coalition of Arab and NATO nations led by the United States, though he doesn’t favor more U.S. troops in Iraq, at least for now. He does, however, support the presence of the 1,000 troops already there and the U.S. Airstrikes.

Johnson has been already making his case at town hall meetings around the state this month, but he said most people don’t understand the extent of the danger and are war-weary.

“I understand that. But I try to tell people, you know, we may be war-weary, but the terrorists aren’t,” said Johnson. “They are actually energized by the gains that they’ve made in Syria and now as ISIS now has spilled out of Syria into Iraq. That is really helping their recruitment efforts. I’m just trying to convey the danger that awaits America if we ignore this gathering storm.”

Johnson is having town hall meetings Wednesday at Hurley High School at noon, at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center in Ashland at 3 p.m. and at University of Wisconsin-Barron County in Rice Lake at 6:30 p.m.