PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) – Jeb Bush sharply criticized President Barack Obama on Tuesday for withdrawing troops from Iraq, but he declined to say whether he would order additional ground forces into the country to repel Islamic State militants.
Speaking to about 60 business and Republican leaders in New Hampshire, the former Florida governor and likely presidential candidate blamed the Democratic president for allowing the rise of the violent extremist group that has captured vast parts of Iraq and Syria.
Obama has no strategy to “take out” the Islamic State group and “restore some stability in Iraq,” Bush said.
But when asked after his campaign event how he would act to contain the Islamic State group in Iraq if elected president, Bush declined to offer any specifics, saying he would rely on the advice of America’s military leaders.
“I would take the best advice you could get from the military, make decisions based on that – conditions on the ground,” Bush told a group of reporters.