January 7, 2012 11:19 PM

Perry: "I would send troops back into Iraq"

By
Christine Delargy
Topics
Hotsheet Live ,
Campaign 2012

Rick Perry said he would send U.S. troops back to Iraq at a Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire on Saturday.

"The idea that we allow the Iranians to come back into Iraq and take over that country, with all of the treasures, both in blood and money, that we have spent in Iraq- because this president wants to kowtow to his liberal leftist base, and move out those men and women. He could have renegotiated that time frame. I think it is a huge error for us," Perry said at the debate, sponsored by ABC News/Yahoo!/WMUR-TV.

This is the not the first time that the Texas governor has been critical of President Obama's foreign policy in Iraq, but it is the first that he has suggested sending troops back after their withdrawal last month.

At a campaign stop in Iowa in December, Perry said on Iraq, "Giving your enemy is a timeline of which you're going to withdraw is really bad tactics."

Perry was bolder at the ABC News/Yahoo GOP presidential debate Saturday, citing Iran as a potential problem in Iraq.

"We're going to see Iran, in my opinion, move back in at literally the speed of light. They're going to move back in, and all of the work we've done -- every young man that has lost his life in that country will have been for nothing. Because we've got a president that does not understand what's going on in that region," Perry said.

After a disappointing fifth place finish in the Iowa caucuses Tuesday, Perry hinted he might end his campaign, but said the next day he would remain in the race. Perry has essentially written off New Hampshire, which holds the first in the nation primary Tuesday, and is instead focusing on the January 21 primary in South Carolina, where voters are more likely to be receptive to his social conservative message.

Still, Perry faces a tough road forward and after a surging in the polls several months ago, Perry has steadily declined.

His argument for sending troops back to Iraq may not help. In a recent CBS News poll, three out of four American supported Mr. Obama's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.


Add a Comment See all 114 Comments
by 852derek852 January 13, 2012 2:49 AM EST
If I were presedent, I would deploy our troops to fill every gopher hole in the world with molten gold!
Reply to this comment
by 852derek852 January 13, 2012 2:59 AM EST
then I'll say "If we stop now, all those truckloads of gold we poured down gopher holes will have been for nothing!"
by expatriate2 January 11, 2012 4:15 PM EST
What is it about Texas politicians that makes them so incredibly stupid?
Reply to this comment
by sciline January 10, 2012 4:48 PM EST
From what I saw, and heard, from Bush and now of Perry, I can conclude that the intelligence required to be a govenor of Texas is about equivalent to the intelligence necessary to operate a Trolley Car in Philadelphia.
No offense meant to Trolley Car operators in Philadelphia.
Reply to this comment
by norcalruss January 10, 2012 1:15 AM EST
Perry: "I would send troops back into Iraq"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Is it any wonder that this IDIOT is in last place in NH with about1% of the vote? Besides John McCain, who in their right mind would advocate sending troops back into a war that should never have been started in the first place? Perry is so stupid that he actually makes Bush look not quite as stupid.
Reply to this comment
by sciline January 10, 2012 12:31 AM EST
For the dead of the Iraq war, the pain is over.
For the wounded, the amputees and the blinded
of the Iraq war, the pain has just begun.
For the Mothers and Fathers, relatives and friends
of those killed in the Iraq war, the pain will never end.
Stew on that for awhile, Perry!
Tom Nass
5th Marine Division - WWII
Reply to this comment
by sciline January 10, 2012 12:21 AM EST
My paraphrase of Lincoln:
"Gentlemen, I firmly believe that this government should not assume that it is charged with the duty of correcting or preventing all the wrongs in the world. But I do say, and firmly believe, that it is charged with the duty of preventing and redressing all wrongs which are wrongs within and to itself." Abraham Lincoln
Tom Nass
5th Marine Division - WWII
Reply to this comment
by sciline January 10, 2012 12:11 AM EST
Perry: 'I would send troops back into Iraq'

What! Not another college cheerleader, always on
the sidelines, never in the game, from Texas, a la
Bush, wants to start another war. A war that he
canwatch from the sidelines a la Bush!
If all these ersatz warriors had to, by law, do
frontline duty in any war they promoted or encouraged,
you would soon see an end to their vacuous mouthings.
Tom Nass
5th Marine Division - WWII
Reply to this comment
by Rafterman11 January 9, 2012 4:36 PM EST
Iraq doesn't want them back. Would Perry launch a new invasion?

Be afraid, people.
Reply to this comment
by ProgressNow January 9, 2012 5:23 PM EST
His bud "w" says, "Sure...go ahead! Worked for me...kinda."
by noloyalisti January 9, 2012 3:45 PM EST
I wonder how much Chevron or Exxon paid him to say that.
Reply to this comment
by freepress6 January 9, 2012 2:07 PM EST
Perry is owned by what Eisenhower railed against when he was President, "the military industrial complex." Sterling Greenwood/AspenFreePress
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