Responding to news of a violent al-Qaeda prison assault in Iraq that freed 500 inmates, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said Tuesday it was a reflection of the growing sectarian conflict in the country and an indirect result of the U.S. military withdrawal there.
Adding it had "significant implications worldwide," Bolton told Fox News Channel's America's Newsroom the possibility of full-fledged civil war in Iraq now would present more opportunities for al-Qaeda to exert more influence across the Middle East:
BILL HEMMER: What does this mean about the strength of al-Qaeda, not only in that country but elsewhere, as you look at 500 of the most wanted behind bars. Many who were sentenced to die are now free.
BOLTON: I think it reflects the growing sectarian conflict inside Iraq itself as the Sunnis become more radicalized in the conflict with the Shia-led government of Prime Minister al-Maliki, and I think it's very bad news. I think it's a reflection of what happens after the United States withdraws militarily and our ability to kind of tamp down some of these sectarian conflicts diminishes. But I think it's also got significant implications worldwide. The al-Qaeda in Iraq franchise was probably the biggest, it was considered al-Qaeda's central front in the war against the West before the Bush Administration surge in 2007 and 2008. I think that if Iraq descends into the kind of civil war that we see now in Syria, that this problem, this radicalization, this opportunity for al-Qaeda is only going to get much more serious across the entire Middle East.
HEMMER: Even if we were there in great numbers, what kind of numbers would the U.S. have had to keep there to prevent incidents like this?
BOLTON: Well, I think it's less a question of numbers than the political significance of the United States being there. You know, a lot of the effort was undertaken during the surge in particular to try to re-instill a feeling of Iraqi determination to have a free nation, a secular nation. That's disappeared. Now, it may have been a long shot to begin with, let's be clear, but it's disappeared with the withdrawal of American forces. The al-Maliki government is effectively under the control of the Ayatollahs in Tehran on key important strategic decisions, and I think that's one reason why the Sunnis, the Arab Sunnis and the Kurds have come into increasing conflict with al-Maliki and why the risk of Iraq descending entirely into sectarian conflict is a very real one.