Rep. Royce prefers raid over ransom in Algeria kidnapping case

Tonight on OutFront, CNN’s Erin Burnett spoke with Representative Ed Royce, Chairman of House Foreign Affairs Committee, about the attack today by Islamic militants on an oil field in Algeria. The militants, angry at Algeria’s support of the French offensive in Mali, killed two workers and are holding several hostage including possibly three Americans.

Royce told Burnett he supports a raid to rescue the hostage over paying ransom, saying that “ransom dollars are only compounding the problem, are only giving resources to this organization so it can plan its next attack. And each attack can be larger than the last. So I think at this point, we have to go to the root of the problem.”

He went on to say “the U.S. position here is to provide the logistics, and also to provide the intelligence in order to help get this job done, but not to provide boots on the ground.”