Bush to link Clinton, Obama to rise of Islamic State

Jeb Bush delivers a speech Tuesday night on what he calls "radical Islamic terrorism," and seeks to link the rise of the Islamic State to President Obama and former Secretary of State (and potential 2016 election opponent) Hillary Clinton.

The Islamic State "grew while the United States disengaged from the Middle East and ignored the threat -- and where was Secretary of State Clinton in all of this?" Bush plans to say, according to speech excerpts released by his campaign.

Bush plans to argue that Obama and Clinton once opposed the military "surge" in Iraq -- launched by his brother, President George W. Bush -- and then "joined in claiming credit for its success," the excerpts say.

The president and his first secretary of state "then stood by as that hard-won victory by American and allied forces was thrown away," Bush plans to say.

Instead, the former Florida governor says, the jihadist Islamic State organized and began acquiring territory in both Iraq and Syria.

Clinton senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan said problems in Iraq stem from the ill-conceived 2003 invasion authorized by Bush's brother. Sullivan said the Islamic State grew out of al Qaeda in Iraq, a terrorist organization that sprung from the post-invasion turmoil.

"This is a pretty bold attempt to re-write history and re-assign responsibility," Sullivan said of the speech.

Bush plans to deliver his foreign policy address at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, and plans to discuss ways to confront the threats of "global jihad," his campaign said.

"Despite elaborate efforts by the administration to avoid even calling it by name, one of the very gravest threats we face today comes from radical Islamic terrorists," Bush plans to say, according to the excerpts. "The terrorists are possessed by the same violent ideology that gave us 9/11, and they are on the offensive and gaining ground."

Democrats accused Bush of trying to excuse his brother's conduct of foreign policy.

“If Jeb Bush wants to spread blame for the situation in the Middle East, he doesn’t need to look much further than his next family reunion,” said Brad Woodhouse, president of an organization called Correct The Record. “Jeb championed former President George W. Bush’s destructive foreign policy from Day One, from the invasion of Iraq based on faulty intelligence to the strategy regarding ISIS (the Islamic State)."