WASHINGTON — Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that President Obama deserves credit for advancing the war on terror, although she disagreed with the US decision to withdraw all American troops from Iraq by the end of the year.
“Obviously, I think Barack Obama has done a number of things right, particularly in the war on terror. And I think that President Obama has, indeed, carried the war on terror forward in a very effective way,” Rice said on ABC’s “This Week.”
However, the former secretary of state, who is promoting her memoir, “No Higher Honor,” about her time in George W. Bush’s administration, said the US should maintain a military presence in Iraq.
“Frankly, I think it would help the regional balance to have a residual American presence there,” Rice said. “We need to find a way to help the Iraqis sustain themselves through this period and to deal with their somewhat meddlesome neighbor in Iran.
“What is at risk here is not just the sacrifice of the United States, which is considerable, but also a pillar of a new kind of democratic stability in the Middle East,” she said.
Rice, however, was reluctant to criticize the Obama administration more harshly, noting that she was not inside its negotiations with Iraq.