The 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq left a vacuum that Islamic State militants filled.
"It was worth it because the decision was not simply: 'Does Saddam pose a WMD threat in 2003?'" he said. "Another question was: 'Would he pose a WMD threat five years later?' To which I think the answer clearly was 'yes.'"
"These were U.S. decisions not forced by a collapsing economy, not forced by demonstrators in the street," he said. "Our leadership just decided we didn't want to do it any more. And that started the alarm bells ringing ... in the Gulf." "The net result ... has been bad for U.S. leverage, bad for U.S. influence, bad for our ability to partner with countries in the region," he said.
Bolton's belief that removing Saddam was worth the eventual cost is not held by many current and former officials.
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