Sen. Lindsey Graham says the U.S. must quickly work with Iran to help stabilize Iraq before an Al Qaeda-linked group takes over Baghdad.
But the South Carolina Republican warned that the cooperation must come with strict guidelines for Tehran against seizing land in the southern part of Iraq.
"We're going to probably need to their help to hold Baghdad," Graham said on CBS's “Face the Nation," while cautioning that Tehran's goal is to "create a sectarian Iraq. To have a puppet in Baghdad that is a Shia-dominated government where they control the outcome."
(WATCH: Sunday show recap in 90 seconds)
"But in the short term, why did we deal with Stalin? Because he was not as bad as Hitler, in our eyes,' he added. "We're going to have to have some dialog with the Iranians that says let's coordinate our efforts but has some red lines with the Iranians."
The Obama administration is weighing whether to launch airstrikes in Iraq to help the government defeat the Al Qaeda-linked group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a proposal Graham said he endorses.
We need a facepalm smiley.
