The United States must work with Russia and cooperate with Arab countries to defeat ISIL, retired DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) chief Michael Flynn told the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel in an interview.
"Our message must be that we want to help and that we will leave once the problems have been solved. The Arab nations must be on our side. And if we catch them, Kuwait for example, financing, if they funnel money to IS, that's when sanctions and other actions have to kick in," Flynn said.
According to Flynn, Russia must be considered a factor in the Syrian crisis, although he said it would have to pressure Iran to back out of its military efforts in Syria and other countries.
"We have to work constructively with Russia. Whether we like it or not, Russia made a decision to be there (in Syria) and to act militarily. They are there, and this has dramatically changed the dynamic. So you can't say Russia is bad, they have to go home. It's not going to happen. Get real," Flynn told Der Spiegel.
Flynn also noted that the decreased willingness of the US to engage in combat has led its ally France to seek help from Russia.
"Look at what happened in the past few days: The president of France asked the US for help militarily (after the Paris attacks). That's really weird to me, as an American. We should have been there first and offered support. Now he is flying to Moscow and asking Putin for help," Flynn added.
"We were too dumb. We didn't understand who we had there at that moment. When 9/11 occurred, all the emotions took over, and our response was, 'Where did those bastards come from? Let's go kill them. Let's go get them,'" Flynn said.
He added that he regrets the US overthrow of Saddam Hussein, calling the overthrow of both Hussein and Muammar Gadhafi strategic failures, which led to the rise of ISIL.
