As the militant insurgency continues in Iraq, the legacy of President Barack Obama will be the creation of the "first Jihadi state in modern history," claimed retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters.
The conquest of regions in Iraq by the Islamic State of Iraq in Syria (ISIS) was "momentous," Peters told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." He attributed Obama's reluctance to maintain a U.S. presence in Iraq for aiding the aggression.
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"This is President Obama's real legacy — the creation of the first Jihadi state in modern history, stretching from central Syria to central Iraq, and now approaching Baghdad, all because President Obama saw everything through a political lens," Peters, a retired Army Lt. Col., said Thursday.
The line representing the border between Syria and Iraq was "gone," Peters claimed, and said the conflict was "shaping up to be the biggest Arab-Jihadi victory since the 12th century."
He maintained the best way to have prevented the conflict would have been for the United States to have kept a "residual troop presence" in Iraq.
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Peters said the sacrifice of U.S. troops during the war in Iraq was now for naught. More than
4,400 American troops died during the U.S. involvement in the conflict from 2003 to 2011.
"All the death, all the bleeding, simply because Obama saw things in political, not strategic, terms," he said. "This is an incredible strategic problem, and President Obama is clueless."
The Iraqi army was "in collapse," Peters maintained, and explained their military was not inclined to battle the passionate insurgents. He called ISIS a "grimmer, more brutal force than al-Qaida."
"If you are a Jihadi fighter, an Islamist militant, you believe in your cause and are willing to die for it. The Iraqi military isn't willing to do that," he said. "When the Jihadis capture Iraqi officers, they cut off their heads, and often don't bother to use a very sharp knife."
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