The exchange started like this: at the end of Jeb Bush's town-hall meeting in Reno, Nevada, on Wednesday, a college student named Ivy Ziedrich stood up and said that she had heard Bush blame the growth of isis on President Obama, in particular on his decision to withdraw American troops from Iraq in 2011. The origins of isis, Ziedrich said, lay in the decision by Bush's brother, in 2003, to disband the Iraqi Army following the toppling of Saddam Hussein's government.
“It was when thirty thousand individuals who were part of the Iraqi military were forced out—they had no employment, they had no income, and they were left with access to all of the same arms and weapons.… Your brother created isis,'' she said.
“All right,'' Bush said. “Is that a question?”
“You don't need to be pedantic to me, sir,” she said.
“Pedantic? Wow,” Bush said.
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