Democratic Rep. [crscore]Seth Moulton[/crscore], an Iraq war combat veteran, blasted the Obama administration’s anti-ISIS strategy.
“I don’t think we have this long-term strategy,” he said.
Appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday, Moulton argued that he is “not confident that we have” a “comprehensive plan to defeat ISIS.” (RELATED: Sen. Feinstein: ‘ISIL Is Not Contained. ISIL Is Expanding’ [VIDEO])
“I’ve said for some time that ISIS is a national security threat to the United States and to our allies and … We’re putting troops on the ground, we’re dropping bombs but we need to talk about how we’re going to fill the political vacuums in the Middle East that allowed ISIS to flourish.” (RELATED: CNN Analyst: Obama Shouldn’t Nix ‘The Only Strategy That’s Working’ Against ISIS [VIDEO])
“I last served in Iraq during the surge and we actually got Iraq to a relatively stable place but then we pulled out,” explained Moulton. “We pulled those political advisers out of the ministries, out of the prime minister’s office and the Iraqi government went off the rails so much so that its own army didn’t trust them.”
“And as a result we’re sending troops back into Iraq just five years after we left. I went back to Iraq in February as a member of the Armed Services Committee and it was disheartening to see so much of what we fought for and frankly achieved, just gone to waste because we didn’t have a political plan for the aftermath,” insisted Moulton.
When asked about President Obama’s “tone” during his speech yesterday at the G-20 in Turkey, Moulton said, “I was concerned that we’re not doing more. I don’t think we have this long-term strategy. We’re not going to defeat ISIS just by killing their fighters on the ground.” (RELATED: Obama Takes Harsher Tone With Republicans Than ISIS At G20 [VIDEO])
“We have to have a diplomatic and political plan and we’ve got to be clear to the troops we send in to combat what their long-term mission is. I don’t think we’ve made that clear,” said Moulton.