Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized the Obama administration's passive role in international affairs, claiming that "nobody listens" when the United States is not leading the way, Breitbart reported.
"What we're seeing is that when the United States steps back and speaks softly, nobody listens," Rice said on Monday's "Fox & Friends," the second part of an interview with co-host Brian Kilmeade on the Fox News Channel.
In the interview, she cited America's lack of strength on the world stage and how that has resulted in dire consequences regarding other aspects of U.S. foreign policy, The Daily Caller reported.
"Americans also don't like the world that they get when the United States is not deeply engaged and deeply involved," Rice continued, pointing to beheadings carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the recent attack in the Canadian parliament and tensions with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"And so I think the American people are ready, I think the world is ready, for stronger American leadership," she added.
While the 59-year-old slammed President Obama's inadequate handling of the situation in Iraq, she defended former President George W. Bush's decision in 2007 to keep U.S. forces in the country, according to Politico.
"I wish we left a residual force. We're now going to be back in Iraq to try and help the Iraqis deal with the threat of the Islamic State," the former secretary of state said. "Now just imagine if we kept those forces there, we probably would've been able to train the Iraqis better in counterterrorism, we certainly would've had better eyes and ears on the ground to see the rise of ISIS."
On July 12, 2007, Bush had stepped on the podium to answer critics of his order for a troop surge, Newsmax reported.
"It would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to al Qaeda," Bush said at the time. "It would mean that we'd be risking mass killings on a horrific scale. It would mean we allow the terrorists to establish a safe haven in Iraq to replace the one they lost in Afghanistan."
Bush also made it clear that abandoning Iraq "would mean increasing the probability that American troops would have to return at some later date to confront an enemy that is even more dangerous."
However, "we can turn this around," Rice said, suggesting a combination of "sustained, significant airpower" against ISIL, training of Iraqi forces, and American advisers on the ground.
Currently, the ISIS, the successor to al Qaeda in Iraq, has managed to carve out a huge territory in Iraq and Syria. To fight against the terrorist organization, the Pentagon said Friday that it will be doubling the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, with roughly 1,500 additional forces in a "non-combat role" heading to the region.
