‘I Worry!’ Leon Panetta Sounds Alarm Over Trump Withdrawing US Forces From Iraq During Iran War

If it were up to former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, U.S. troops would be staying right where they are in Iraq, 23 years after the war began.

Panetta joined CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Wednesday afternoon shortly after President Donald Trump celebrated the last of U.S. troops leaving Iraq.

The president has long been a critic of the war in Iraq, though he’s found himself in the midst of his own Middle East conflict with the ongoing Iran war. The current situation with Iran, Panetta argued, is exactly why leaving Iraq at the moment may not be the best idea.

Panetta, also a former CIA director, said he worries the U.S. is “giving” Iraq to Iran with this decision:

I worry about this kind of decision when we’re still in the middle of a war with Iran. The fact is that these militias have conducted, I think, something like 600 attacks on U.S. military. They’re supported by Iran, they’re armed by Iran, what I worry about with this decision is that we are handing Iraq over Iran at a time when we’re still trying to figure out what’s going to happen with this war with Iran.

I just don’t see the reasoning behind withdrawing our forces at a time when we need to defend a lot of our forces throughout that region, who have been under serious attack. You know, we’ve had almost something like $4 billion worth of damage to our bases throughout that area. And now, if you allow these militant groups supported by Iran not to have to be in any way checked by the U.S. forces that were there as they were, I think they’re just going to add that much more to a forever war that we seem to be stuck in.

Panetta served as defense secretary from 2011 to 2013 under former President Barack Obama and served as CIA director from 2009 to 2011 in the same administration.

Trump celebrated the final withdrawal from Afghanistan on Wednesday.

“It’s been a long time with very bad decision making that got us involved in this quagmire in the first place. It was a quagmire. For many, many years it lasted. But soon that part of history will be over,” he said.

The president said we “probably shouldn’t” have invaded Iraq in the first place, an argument he’s made for years and called the final withdrawal a “victory” for the U.S.

“We’re getting the hell out of there,” he declared.

Watch above via CNN.

Jason Cohen contributed to this report.

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