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The top officer of the U.S. Army, who’s leaving his post in the coming weeks, said during his exit interview the Middle East tensions and tragedies due to ISIS could very well have been stopped if the United States had only been more engaged.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno has served 39 years in the military – including more time in Iraq than any other general in the U.S. Army – and served as a key player in the surge of the country. Just weeks from retirement, he’s speaking up about the White House’s actions against terrorism – and what he’s saying isn’t complimentary.
“It’s frustrating to watch it,” Odierno said, of the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Fox News reported. “I go back to the work we did in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 and we got it to a place that was really good. Violence was low, the economy was growing, politics looked like it was heading in the right direction.”
He then said the fall of certain spots in Iraq was hardly inevitable, and that America could have done a lot to stop that from happening.
“If we had stayed a little more engaged, I think maybe it might have been prevented,” Odierno said, to Fox News. “I’ve always believed the United States played the role of honest broker between all the groups and when we pulled ourselves out, we lost that role.”
Odierno had actually recommended the stay of up to 35,000 U.S. troops in 2011, at a time when President Obama was ordering them home.
“I think it would have been good for us to stay,” he said.
He also said, speaking of what he called the unnecessary and dangerous cuts in the military: “Two years ago, we didn’t think we had a problem in Europe. … Now Russia is reasserting themselves. We didn’t think we’d have a problem again in Iraq and ISIS has emerged. So, with Russia becoming more of a threat, with ISIS becoming more of a threat, in my mind, we are on a dangerous balancing act right now with capability. When we go to [450,000 troops] we are going to have to stop doing something.”
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