Bill Clinton: U.S. Will Be Engaged In Middle East "As Long As Somebody's Trying To Have Total Control"

"Particularly ISIS," the former president said at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York. Clinton predicts the U.S. will avoid a "land war."

The morning after President Obama announced the United States had hit ISIS strongholds in Syria, Bill Clinton said the United States will be engaged in the conflict "as long as somebody's trying to have total control, particularly if it's ISIS."

The former president, speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative's annual conference in New York, emphasized that there was no need for a U.S. "land war."

"We don't need to be there on the ground," Clinton said, but he predicted the administration would pursue "an extended involvement with airpower and with providing intelligence and other institutional support to the people who are fighting ISIS and trying to create a more inclusive set of governments in the Middle East."

Clinton made the comments during a one-on-one discussion about the economy with CNBC anchor Becky Quick, who opened with questions about the airstrikes.

When Quick asked Clinton whether he believed U.S. involvement in the conflict would stretch on for "years and years," the 42nd president said no.

"No one expects in the world we are living in now that every threat can be eliminated," he said. "Power is too dispersed. But you can get to the point where the winning side is inclusive."

"I think that could be achieved in a reasonable amount of time."

Quick asked whether arming the Syrian rebels — a subject on which the president and Hillary Clinton disagreed — would achieve a more favorable outcome in Iraq and Syria.

"That's now above my pay grade," Clinton said. "The more I tell you about that, the more likely I am to cause trouble for the decision makers."

"I'm not sure I know enough to make an intelligent comment; I'll defer to whatever the Americans have to say about that."

The former secretary of state has yet to comment on the airstrikes.

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