Hours after Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., clarified that he meant to say the Obama administration’s national security policies, not President Obama personally, were to blame for the Orlando attacks, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, stepped up to bat for his fellow hawkish colleague.
Unlike McCain, the South Carolina senator hit the president even harder during a Thursday interview with Fox News host Greta Van Susteren. Graham said as a result of Obama’s policies and his approach to fighting the Islamic State, at the conclusion of Obama’s second term, “ISIL will be in Iraq and Libya.”
“This president undersells the threats. He says there is no evidence this man was directed by ISIL. ISIL is still strong in the minds of twisted people like this. They still follow Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s call to attack in place,” Graham said. “So, without a caliphate, without Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s land and control, he would not be a winner in the eyes of this crazy guy in Orlando.”
Graham, a former Republican presidential hopeful, also slammed Obama’s diminishment of the military and U.S. leadership in foreign affairs.
“Barack Obama is to blame for the rise of ISIL. He has dismantled the ability to defend this country,” Graham said.
The senator pointed to the president removing troops from Iraq despite military advisers recommending 10,000 troops be left there to maintain regional stabilization. He also chided the president’s decision to abandon Iraq and not help free the Syrian army three years ago as a major factor in the terrorists’ ability to fill that seat.
Graham also stated the U.S. no longer interrogates terror suspects. Instead, they are read their rights and put in federal court.
But his biggest issue was with the White House’s handling of the FBI. The number of FBI agents will decrease in 2017 to less than it had in 2013.
“[CIA Director John] Brennan is saying ‘despite what you hear from the president, I’m being overloaded in terms of trying to protect the nation from ISIL fighters, no matter what the president’s telling you about Iraq and Syria,” said Graham. “The president is not being honest with you about the nature of the threat.”
Van Susteren put Graham on the spot at the end, asking if the president was lying about the threat.
“I think he is delusional about the status of ISIL. I think he intentionally underestimates the threat because he is trying to show that his policies are working when they are not,” Graham explained. “He has this model of trying to lead from behind. It is collapsing.”
Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, predicted more domestic terrorist attacks as long as the current foreign policy actions continue.
