Far removed from Bush administration apologia, Senator Lindsey Graham holds President Obama responsible for the consequences of the Iraq war, not President Bush.
“I blame Obama for Iraq, not Bush,” Graham said as he toured New Hampshire. “Bush made mistakes. He corrected his mistakes. Obama leaving Iraq, ignoring the advice of all of his military commanders –he was told what would happen if you leave Iraq with no troops left behind."
Sure, mistakes were made, but they were made by Obama(!) who was not even a member of Congress at the time and was, in fact, an outspoken critic of the war.
This might be a slightly more convincing argument if President Obama was entirely responsible for the decision to completely withdraw from Iraq.
I don't believe leaving troops behind would have changed anything, but even if you do believe so you should know that the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that led to our complete withdraw was agreed to by the Bush administration.
The Obama administration attempted to negotiate a new SOFA that would have left a small number of troops in the country much to the chagrin of liberals, however the administration and the office of Nouri al-Maliki could not come to an agreement on the legal status of American forces. Maliki would not agree to give American personnel immunity from prosecution within Iraq.
With all of that said, it would be preposterous to "blame Obama" rather than Bush for Iraq regardless of what has occurred in recent years. The immense power vacuum generated by the Iraq war, and the blusterous decision to disband the Iraqi military, are as responsible for current conditions in the Middle East as anything.
It's not clear how Bush "corrected his mistakes."
