Graham doesn’t blame Iraqi troops for leaving ISIS fight

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) doesn’t fault Iraqi troops who didn’t show up to an American-led training program in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

He said he could understand why the Iraqis fled because, he said, the Obama administration abandoned them by pulling troops from Iraq.

{mosads}“I don’t blame anybody for not joining us after we cut and ran on them,” he said Wednesday on CNN’s “The Situation Room.”

“People in Anbar province rose up against al Qaeda and Iraq with our help. The surge did work — we pulled out. The places collapsed, and nobody trusts America anymore. And there’s no substitute for American leadership.” 

Graham’s comments follow Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s testimony that just 7,000 Iraqi soldiers have taken part in a Pentagon plan to train and equip them in the fight against ISIS. Officials had initially predicted that 24,000 troops would sign up. 

Graham, the GOP presidential hopeful, argued that the military leadership is to blame and that he would “fire everybody” if he could. He added that President Obama pulled out troops in Iraq despite the advice from military experts, so he’s to blame for the country’s instability.

“Everybody who knew anything about Iraq told President Obama that if you leave too soon, this is a fragile moving in the right direction state. He was applauding Iraq in 2012,” he said.

“But everybody, including me, said if you leave and pull all our troops out, the place will go to hell. He’s got nobody to blame but himself, because he turned down sound military advice.”