Lindsey Graham Draws Parallel Between Obama's Libya Response And Bush's 'Mission Accomplished'

» comments

With the attacks in Libya becoming a major point of criticism, several Republicans have compared President Obama's response to the situation with that of President George W. Bush's handling of the war in Iraq and the infamous weapons of mass destruction mishap.

On CBS' Face the Nation, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) noted he's 'seen this movie before.'

'I went to Iraq in 2004 and everybody told me things are going fine, this is just a few dead-enders,' Graham said. 'Iraq was falling apart, and you couldn't get the truth from the Bush administration.'

He further asserted that the administration is 'trying to spin what happened in Libya because the truth of the matter is, al Qaeda is alive and well, and counter-attacking.' When something goes wrong, he said, the administration denies, deceives and delays.

Also on the show was Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Cali.), who expressed a similar sentiment ' comparing Obama's response to Bush's 'Mission Accomplished' moment.

'Things got worse in many ways after that famous statement,' he said. Issa then applied that to the current situation:

'We're going through a 'Mission Accomplished' moment. Eleven years after Sept. 11 [2001], Americans were attacked on Sept. 11 by terrorists who pre-planned to kill Americans. That happened, and we can't be in denial. Particularly when there are compounds all over the Middle East that need to be legitimately protected at a level that security professionals ask for.'

Sen. Graham's remarks below, via CBS: