Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Sunday joined the chorus of people criticizing President Obama for his inaction as Iraq dissolves into chaos.
Mr. Romney, who is being courted by some circles for a 2016 White House bid, said Syrian President Bashar al Assad was on his heels a couple years ago and Mr. Obama had the chance to sign a Status of Forces Agreement to keep a U.S. presence in Iraq.
“Bad things happen as a result of inaction,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press. “Consequences have obviously been very severe.”
Mr. Romney said Mr. Obama’s failure to secure an agreement with Iraq has led to problems today, in which an al Qaeda splinter group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) is quickly gaining control of the country.
Even so, Mr. Romney acknowledged that his insight comes with limits.
“To tell you precisely what’s going to happen right now and what things we ought to do militarily would require me to get the kind of intelligence briefings I no longer get,” he said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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