Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush will outline his strategy for fighting Islamic State on Tuesday, laying out a case for greater emphasis on military power and saying Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton bears part of the blame for the radical group’s rise in the Middle East.
ISIS grew because of a hasty troop withdrawal from Iraq and overall American abandonment of the region as a result of the foreign policies of President Obama and Clinton, his then-secretary of State, according to excerpts of Bush’s speech released by his campaign.
“That premature withdrawal was the fatal error, creating the void that ISIS moved in to fill – and that Iran has exploited to the full as well,” Bush is expected to say during an appearance at the Reagan presidential library near Simi Valley.