Retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters called out former President Barack Obama and his administration on Monday for their "cowardice" and "timidity" in getting rid of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during Obama's presidency.
"What do we do with Bashar al-Assad?" Fox News anchor Heather Childers asked.
"Well, we are not going to do anything with them because we blew our chance," Peters said. "The Obama administration's timidity and outright cowardice and prevarication blew the great chance to get rid of Assad and have a healthier Syria."
"In the first six to eight months of the Syrian uprising, Assad was doomed and we did nothing. We didn't give it that extra little push, as a result of which half a million people have died. Syria is not going to be restored as an integral state. ISIS grew up in the vacuum," he added.
Peters then said that it was up to President Donald Trump and his administration to create a strategic policy that works best for the United States and the Middle East.
"Can the Trump administration look forward instead of backward, and forge a working, pragmatic, realistic policy that works to the advantage of the United States in the Middle East?" Peters said.