“When we, the United States leaves a vacuum anywhere, that emboldens others to go in when there is no sense of deterrence by the United States that lets bad actors move in and fill the void.”
Click Here to Watch Sen. Barrasso.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) appeared on CBS’s “Face the Nation” with Bob Schieffer this morning to discuss the situation in Iraq.
Below are key excerpts of the interview:
On the Situation in Iraq:
“I agree with the need to make sure our embassy is protected. Clearly, I see ISIS as a direct threat to the United States. They have the capacity and I believe they have the intent they have stated it in terms of their opposition of the whole western world. They are the richest most powerful and most savage group of terrorists in the history of mankind and they have taken over an area truly the size of Indiana bordering Syria as well as Iraq. So I think it is a direct threat to the United States.”
On What Should be Done in Iraq:
“There are a couple of things. And one is I think Maliki needs to go. Number two, is I think we should be arming and should have been arming some of the opposition in Syria. I would not negotiate with Iran. They are not our friends. They will try to use this leverage to have a nuclear weapon but I don’t think we should be the air power for Iran coming in on the ground. Additionally, we ought to today, be developing American energy resources. And finally, we ought to hit the stop the clock button on Afghanistan in terms of withdrawing troops from there.”
On Prime Minister Maliki’s Future:
“He only has 24% of the votes in—going into this next system of parliament that starts July first. He needs to put together a government. We know that Sunnis and Shias alike have come out against him. But if you’re going to want the Kurds and the Sunnis and the Shias working together it cannot work with Maliki. He is going to continue to go to others to prop him up. We see the Russian planes coming in and he continues to go to Iran.”
On the President’s Handling of Iraq:
“Well, when the president came into office in 2009 I think the world was safer than it is now. I think the president’s decision to withdraw the United States to keep a campaign promise in Iraq without leaving a stay behind force was a mistake. And I hear that from veterans in Wyoming and from parents who lost children fighting in Iraq. We’re seeing it though around the world. When we, the United States leaves a vacuum anywhere, that emboldens others to go in when there is no sense of deterrence by the United States that lets bad actors move in and fill the void.”
On the President’s Failure to Push for Status of Forces Agreement:
“The president made a campaign promise that he would withdraw the troops. He withdrew the troops and I believe he did not push hard to get that. He wanted to get this thing confirmed by the parliament. It would have been difficult to do. And now he said the word would have been good enough so the president is somewhat backtracking on his decision and the way he laid it out.”
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