When the United States didn't come to the aid of Iraq when the Islamic State (ISIS) first became a threat to the Middle Eastern country, the terrorist group "was emboldened by our inaction," says former Rep. Michael Patrick Flanagan.
"The external threat was incubated in Syria across the border," Flanagan told J.D. Hayworth on "America's Forum" on
Newsmax TV Thursday.
"Fallujah went up and we did nothing," he said.
"[Former Iraqi Prime Minister] Nouri al-Maliki came and said, 'sell me some helicopters, give me the tools to fight this.' We said, 'no,' and it just spread, it grew."
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"ISIS was emboldened by our inaction, by our lack of attention and by our obvious refusal to come to the aid of Iraq," Flanagan said.
After serving in Congress in the 1990s, Flanagan went on to work in the State Department during the Iraq War, as part of the reconstruction, as a rule of law adviser.
The Illinois Republican explained that at the end of the war "we had an arrangement with the Iraqis that we would come to their aid if they were invaded or taken over or in other ways threatened."
"If we had held up our end like we had promised to, ISIS could’ve been forestalled," he explained.
"More importantly, we’d have a stable, democratic ally in the center of the Middle East, which was the goal all along," he said.
"It’s up to us to continue to help our friend to allow them to be that," Flanagan added.
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