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Rick Perry Would Send Troops Back to Iraq

Rick Perry Would Send Troops Back to Iraq

During Saturday night's ABC News Republican presidential primary debate from Manchester, New Hampshire, Texas Governor Rick Perry took a stand when assertively declaring that if president, he would send troops back to Iraq to prevent Iran from taking over the country. Gov. Perry slammed President Obama for allegedly acting on political pressures in pulling out U.S. troops from Iraq, and in his opinion, opening the door for a possible takeover by foreign powers:

"I would send troops back into Iraq . I think we start talking with the Iraqi individuals there. The idea that we allow the Iranians to come back into Iraq and take over that country, with all of the treasure, 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. We are 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 is a former Air Force pilot and says that unlike President Barack Obama, he understands what it is like for those on the front lines.

The Los Angeles Times notes that Perry's stance on Iraq may play well in certain upcoming primary states such as South Carolina, where there is heavy interest in defense policy, but poses a risk nationally:

"An ORC/CNN poll from December, when U.S. troops left Iraq, found that Americans overwhelmingly support the withdrawal, 78% to 21%. Sixty percent of Republicans and 78% of independents approved of the decision.

A majority of all respondents, 51%, said the decision to send troops into Iraq was 'dumb,' and 57% said they believed the Bush administration had deliberately misled the American people about whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction."

Do you think the risk that Perry describes of Iranians going in and taking over Iraq, is worth sending U.S. troops back?

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