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Tags: Michael Hayden | Christopher Hill | ISIS | Iraq | Islamic State

Gen. Hayden: US Troops in Iraq Could've Altered Regional Politics

By    |   Friday, 24 October 2014 01:39 PM EDT

An American presence in Iraq after 2011 might not have prevented the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS), but it could have affected the politics in the region, Gen. Michael Hayden told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Following nearly a decade of troops fighting in Iraq, President Barack Obama pulled all U.S. forces out in 2011, saying his administration was unable to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement with the new Iraqi government under Nouri al-Maliki, who was prime minister at the time.

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During the past three years, terrorist militants have seized large swaths of territory in Iraq and nearby Syria, and have threatened attacks against the United States. Hayden, who served as director of the CIA and the National Security Agency, said the lack of U.S. presence caused hostility among warring factions.

"Ten thousand U.S. troops don't defeat ISIS. But the continued American presence puts a damper on some of the political dynamics. I don't think Maliki acts as bad. With our being gone, all three groups go to their corners and think the very worst of the other two groups," Hayden, retired four-star Air Force general, said Friday.

While the Islamic State was "at the present time" looking to do battle, he said there could be a time that the militants would wear themselves out.

"If you can contain it, control it, at some point you can have hope that they are looking for exit ramps," he said.

Christopher Hill, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Korea, Poland, and Macedonia, told "Morning Joe" the events in Iraq and Syria had been a "really rough ride," adding he couldn't "think of a tougher time than we're going through right now."

However, Hill argued the Iraqi government "didn't want to have residual U.S. forces" after the Iraq War ended in 2011, and said he didn't think an American presence would have prevented the rise of the Islamic State.

"Every individual Iraqi would say 'Oh, I want them. It's just my friends here don't want them.' Nobody wanted [U.S. residual forces in Iraq]. The idea that 10,000 American troops somewhere in a desert in Iraq was going to prevent this ISIS thing from happening [wasn't plausible]," Hill said Friday.

Hill explained that "a couple years of politics" would not be able to undo "1,300 years of culture" in Iraq. He said creating new borders to appease the various sects in Iraq was "not necessarily an easy solution," but that it "might be a bad idea whose time has come."

Hill is the author of "Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy," which details his diplomatic career.

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An American presence in Iraq after 2011 might not have prevented the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS), but it could have affected the politics in the region, Gen. Michael Hayden told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
Michael Hayden, Christopher Hill, ISIS, Iraq, Islamic State
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2014-39-24
Friday, 24 October 2014 01:39 PM
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