Former Interim Minister of the Interior of Iraq Bernard Kerik has criticized President Barack Obama's claim that he is waiting for the Pentagon to give him a complete strategy to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS).
"Throwing the Pentagon under the bus is outrageous. I mean it's completely outrageous," Kerik said Wednesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
"I am confident … if the president wanted plans, he would have gotten them from the Pentagon when he wanted them."
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At a press conference earlier this week, Obama said he was still waiting on a finalized plan from the Pentagon on a strategy to take on ISIS. He is considering sending hundreds of more troops to Iraq to help train local forces.
"We don't yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of the Iraqis as well about how recruitment takes place, how that training takes place. And so the details of that are not yet worked out," Obama said,
according to NPR.
But Kerik said the U.S. definitely needs more ground troops in Iraq to "work with and guide" the Iraqi military.
"I'd say the president has to meet with the Pentagon, meet with the commanding generals, give them the authority to do what they have to do and they'll get the job done," he told Steve Malzberg.
"Right now they don't have the authority, they don't have the support, they have no real mission statement from the White House, admittedly, and that's the problem."
Kerik — author of the bestselling memoir,
"From Jailer to Jailed: My Journey From Correction and Police Commissioner to Inmate #85888-054," published by Threshold Editions — also served as New York City police commissioner from 2000 to 2001.
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