Bush war in Iraq ‘led to ISIL creation’: US Army member

The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 by former president George W. Bush led to the creation of the ISIL terrorist group, a political commentator says.

Seth Manzel, a US Army Infantryman from Lakewood, made the remarks when Press TV asked for his opinion on Bush’s call for sending soldiers to Iraq in order to fight ISIL.

“No one in the United States takes former president Bush seriously after the debacle he created in Iraq recently and that led to the creation of ISIS (ISIL),” Manzel said on Saturday.

The former US president on Friday stated that America needs boots on the ground to fight the ISIL Takfiri group and President Barack Obama “will have to make that determination.”

Manzel, however, thinks that the number of fighters is not really the issue.

“It is not a problem with the lack of human beings fighting against ISIS (ISIL). It is a lack of allocation of resources as well as coordination and willingness,” he said.

Manzel believes some of the measures taken by the current administration compounded the situation in Syria, but he does not think “Obama will be following former president Bush’s advice anytime soon.”

The United States, under Obama’s leadership, has so far tried different strategies against ISIL, some of them even contradicting with each other in some areas.

It was a year ago when the so-called US-led coalition started its air campaign against ISIL, claiming to attack major targets belonging to the Takfiri group in Syria and Iraq.

At the same time, Washington announced plans to train and even logistically support what it calls the so-called “moderate” rebels in Syria to help organize their fight against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“What certainly needs to happen on the ground is that there needs to be a coordination of efforts between all of the respective militias that are there in Iraq right now.”

Manzel concluded his comments by saying that there are already a lot of people in Syria and Iraq, willing to fight ISIL and all they need is to become more coordinated with each other.

“What Obama’s advisers will find when they hit the ground is that there is a lot of people there willing to fight ISIS (ISIL) but unwilling to work with each other,” he said.

MTM/AGB