GOP Unhappy With Obama's Iraq Announcement

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) took umbrage today with President Obama’s decision to withdraw almost all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of this year.

In a statement, Graham said, “I respectfully disagree with President Obama. I feel all we have worked for, fought for, and sacrificed for is very much in jeopardy by today’s announcement. I hope I am wrong and the President is right, but I fear this decision has set in motion events that will come back to haunt our country.”

Graham, who has visited Iraq several times since the U.S-led invasion occurred back in 2003, has been an ardent supporter of the war. He served as an influential voice in favor of the 2007 troop “surge,” which many observers say worked to reduce sectarian violence in Iraq.

“If we’re not smart enough to work with the Iraqis, to have 10-15,000 American troops in Iraq in 2012, Iraq could go to hell,” Graham said during an interview with CBS News earlier this year.

McCain said the decision “marks a harmful and sad setback for the United States in the world.”

During his 2008 presidential campaign, McCain feverishly opposed Obama’s anti-war stance, which resonated with a majority of voters. At one point, he famously said that he’d keep U.S. troops in Iraq for 100 more years if necessary.

“This decision will be viewed as a strategic victory for our enemies in the Middle East, especially the Iranian regime, which has worked relentlessly to ensure a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq,” McCain said. “It is a consequential failure of both the Obama Administration — which has been more focused on withdrawing from Iraq than succeeding in Iraq since it came into office — as well as the Iraqi government.”

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was not as harsh on the president’s decision as his Republican colleagues in the Senate, but he did, however, express reluctance, saying the move could compromise the progress Iraq made over the past nine years.

“While I’m concerned that a full withdrawal could jeopardize those gains, I’m hopeful that both countries will work together to guarantee that a free and democratic Iraq remains a strong and stable partner for the United States in the Middle East,” Boehner said in a statement.

A pair of current GOP candidates also criticized the president’s decision.

In a statement, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney said, “President Obama’s astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women. The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government. The American people deserve to hear the recommendations that were made by our military commanders in Iraq.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said the move “represents the complete failure of President Obama to secure an agreement with Iraq for our troops to remain there to preserve the peace and demonstrates how far our foreign policy leadership has fallen.”

This story was updated at 3:50 pm.