Former US Vice President Dick Cheney, often accused of committing war crimes for his role in the Iraq War, has made comments on the reason behind the rise of Takfiri terrorists in Iraq.

In a Monday interview with CBS, Cheney accused US President Barack Obama for the emergence of Daesh, saying Iraq was “in good shape” when the George W. Bush administration, of which Cheney was the second highest ranking member, left office.

During the interview to promote his book, Cheney said the withdrawal of US troops from war-battered Iraq is the main reason for the birth of Daesh militants.

“I think the spread of ISIS was the direct result of the vacuum that was created when the Obama administration withdrew all our forces from Iraq,” Cheney said. “We turned our backs on Iraq. We had Iraq in good shape by the time we left office. Even Obama said as much.”

US-led forces invaded Iraq in a blatant violation of international law in 2003 under the pretext that the regime of Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction although no such weapons were ever discovered.

Many believe the invasion paved the way for the rise of the Takfiris in the Muslim country.

In one instance, Britain’s former foreign secretary David Miliband, said in August 2014 that “It's clearly the case that the invasion of Iraq, or more importantly what happened afterwards, is a significant factor in understanding the current situation in the country.”

The former vice president, however, still supports the idea of Iraq invasion. Asked if he would change anything, he replied: “No. There was widespread support at the time, and it was justified.”

Time to criticize Iran accord

The 74-year-old warmongering politician took the opportunity to also comment against a nuclear agreement between Tehran and the global powers.

He called on US lawmakers to make attempts to reject the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between Iran and the P5+1 – the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany in Vienna in mid-July.

Cheney repeated the Bush administration’s war rhetoric, saying, “You need to be prepared, for example, to make the threat of military action very credible.”

Obama needs the Democratic senators’ support so that his veto power is not overridden after a possible rejection of the accord by the House of Representatives.

Thirty-one Democratic senators, have publicly voiced support for JCPOA. The GOP would need the support of at least 13 of them to reach the two-thirds needed to override a veto.

Under the agreement, restrictions will be put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all economic and financial bans against the Islamic Republic.