Jeb Bush: ‘I would have invaded Iraq’ like my brother did

[AgingAmerican]

In an interview to be broadcast Monday evening on The Kelly Files, possible 2016 Republican presidential nominee Jeb Bush admitted he would have also invaded Iraq as his brother did during his administration.

“Knowing what we know now, would you have authorized the invasion?” host Megyn Kelly asked the former Florida governor.
“I would have and so would Hillary Clinton,” Bush replied. “Just to remind everybody, so would everybody that was confronted with the intelligence that they got.”

Bush’s response was odd, since Kelly prefaced it with based upon “what we know now,” with most believing the invasion and following war to be a disaster.

...

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/jeb-bush-i-would-have-invaded-iraq-like-my-brother-did/

Knowing what we know now, he still would have invaded. Well, there go his chances.

[Exilednight]

1. At least he owns it. n/t

[winter is coming]

6. That's the strategy: you can't deny it, so you use a lot of earnest lying to convince

others that what you've done is a good thing. It's the flip side of what they did with Kerry's war record on '04.

Gonna be a whole heap of earnest lying in this election.

[bahrbearian]

17. He has Karl Rove's play book

[Exilednight]

18. I believe that enough has come out to put

The truth out there. The swing voter knows, I would hope, that it was cherry picked intel that lead to the largest fiasco in U.S. history.

[still_one]

27. Not admiring it was a mistake is worse than "owning up to it". The bush

administration absolutely planted the fake evidence of WMDs and fed it to the MSM utilizing the CIA, and silencing the voices who reported otherwise

The interview Jon Stewart did with Miller exposed that, even to the point where she said Arnitage's view that the tubes for nukes by Iraq was incorrect, and was not printed by the NY Times because of lack of space. The audience actually gasped when that statement was made with a straight face by Miller

Wilson was ridiculed, and his wife's CIA credentials were smeared by the bush administration

No it was a deliberate attempt to mislead

[on point]

35. I suspect the CIA manufactured and planted the yellow cake letter for others to find

It has never been explained who created and planted that fake document. I suspect the CIA to make the war conspiracy come full circle.

But once their secret buddies in the UK 'processed' the letter to say that Saddam was pursuing yellow cake, they were all to eager to eat up the fake letter.

[still_one]

41. and I suspect the bush administration was up to their neck in that manufactured story. The outing

of Valere Plame, and the concerted effort by the bush administration to discredit Wilson only confirms in my mind their involvement

[winter is coming]

2. Oh, goody, Fox will be spending the next several months trying to convince us that

everything W did was right. Not enough lipstick in all of time and space to make that happen.

[jwirr]

3. Of course he would have - he is part of big oil as much as the rest of them. As to his comment

about Hillary I think she has already said she made a mistake. Speak for yourself Jeb.

[mike_c]

7. she didn't "make a mistake...."

Let's not diminish what she did. She authorized crimes against humanity, presumably for political expedience since none of the democrats who voted against the IWR ever suffered any discernible consequences for it. Wars of aggression are not just "mistakes." That's like saying "Oops, I helped kill a million innocent civilians. Better luck next time!"

[Art_from_Ark]

47. Not only that,

Hillary was the one who talked about the "vast right-wing conspiracy" years before, and yet she still signed on with the right-wingers for the IWR

[AgingAmerican]

12. She didn't say it was a mistake

She said that, based on the information she was given by the Bush administration at the time, there was no other recourse. On hindsight, the information she was given was made up out of whole cloth.

[BrotherIvan]

13. Except all the other Democrats that voted against it?

That excuse does not work when anyone with a brain knew it was a lie. In her speech, she admits there was NO intelligence that linked Saddam with 9/11. But then voted yes anyway.

[AgingAmerican]

16. Yep

I agree completely, but that was her excuse.

[BrotherIvan]

22. It's a very poor one

And in another thread we are discussing/arguing Hillary being against Citizen's United while taking money hand over fist for her campaign and PAC. It is this kind of hypocrisy and double dealing that pushed Obama to victory and it may be her undoing again. People might be dumb but they aren't all stupid and they can feel when someone is lying to them (Democrats any way, Republicans love it).

[bigwillq]

30. Yup.

[on point]

36. That makes her incompetent. I knew the data was fake at the time.

She needs a better explanation.

Actually, I suspect she voted for it to look 'tough', because it fed her political ambitions. She did it because she was corrupted by power lust.

Or perhaps she was craven, and afraid of the results. But she NEEDS to explain this. The info at the time excuse just means she is incompetent and should never set foot in the whitehoouse.

[Terra Alta]

4. he is trying, desperately, to preserve his brother's legacy

while positioning himself to run for President at the same time. Too bad neither will work.

Also, I doubt Hillary would have voted to invade Iraq, knowing what we know now. She made a mistake in her vote for the war, but I think she regrets that mistake.

[Caretha]

21. That's not an

Oopsie....I made a mistake! WTF? That was a fucking tragedy, no mere mistake.

If she was easily lied to, led or whatever hell other excuse she has, she isn't qualified to be the President of her High School class much less the President of the United States.

You don't "accidentally" kill, maim, or displace over a million people.


There is no FORGIVENESS anyone can grant you for that mistake.

[KingCharlemagne]

32. She is either the biggest chump in U.S. political history or something far, far worse. - nt

[TheKentuckian]

59. The facts were long out and she held firm, only after it bit her on the ass did she quietly walk it

back.

Plus, every action in this arena since has supported a hawkish worldview. All she learned is that the vote could bite her butt in a Democratic primary so she finally sought shelter many years after the fact while cheering on the neocons at about every possible turn since.

I could forgive someone who had actually CHANGED but she hasn't even this year she couldn't get on TV fast enough to get on Obama's right regarding arming "moderates", she is on the record cackling about destabilizing Libya, she publicly threatened to "obliterate Iran", by all accounts she was tag teaming with Betrayus on Team Hawk in administration, and her hands are dirty in South America.

That vote was in character 110%, she has not gone forth and sinned no more she has doubled and tripled down expressing even the tiniest regret when she had no other choice and the facts overwhelming and in massive quantity before she backed off an inch.

[spanone]

5. proceed, ex-gubnor

[lpbk2713]

8. Jebbie now considers himself the spokesman for HRC.

He's just another Bush.

[AgingAmerican]

9. Yeah, I noticed that

He believes Hillary would invade knowing the intel was wrong and a million people dead.

The whole Bush family are psychopaths. From the mom down to the hamster.

[Mnemosyne]

10. And he's the "smart one"? He wants to be a war criminal too? BFEE. nt

[kentuck]

11. Well, scratch that SOB off the list...

He has disqualified himself, in my humble opinion.

[BrotherIvan]

14. Raise your hand if you think this makes Clinton extremely vulnerable in the general

“I would have and so would Hillary Clinton”

How can she hit him with the strongest hammer in the shed when she voted for the damn thing too.

[stevenleser]

33. Easy. IWR was in Oct 2002. The intent was to get the UN Weapons inspectors into Iraq. The UN

voted on UN Security Council Resolution 1441 in November 2002 declaring Iraq in breach of various UN resolutions, mostly dealing with WMD and demanded weapons inspectors be allowed back into Iraq. Weapons inspectors arrived in Iraq December 2002 and immediately started inspections and issuing reports. There were reports in late December, reports in January, reports in February and their final reports on March 7 2003 twelve or so days before the war.

Their reports always indicated they found no WMD.

No Democratic President in that position goes to war in that scenario. Not Hillary, not John Kerry, not Bill, etc.

[JHB]

45. My suggestion would be to actually hit him with that strongest hammer...

...and openly push back. The original question was "knowing what we know now...". "Don't bring me into it when you dodge a question."

But I'm not exactly on staff in HHQ.

[BrotherIvan]

53. It just won't work though

They all knew it was a lie, Hillary more than most. Yet droves of Democrats voted against it. Sanders even predicted the rise of ISIS. Millions of people around the world protested. Not one person can give the excuse that they didn't know. It makes her very weak and it is one of the main reasons why Obama won.

[JHB]

54. That's against Obama, not Jeb "George was right" Bush

I don't have to be a Hillary fan to want her to counterattack Republicans.

[BrotherIvan]

55. But she can't because she voted for it

Republicans don't care that HE voted for it but a lot of Democrats care that SHE did. Big difference.

[JHB]

56. Sez who? Of course she can! We're not--at least I'm not--talking about the whole campaign here...

...just taking a potshot at a Republican who so thoughtfully set one up for her.

[BrotherIvan]

57. Yeah, no

If she does she'll sound either stupid for having fallen for the chimp's lies or a hypocrite the size of Mt. Rushmore. Why do you think Jebba is doing it??? Because he knows she can't say a damn thing about it. He is neutering the biggest points against him right out of the gate. This is chess, not checkers.

[JHB]

58. It's not either one, it's politics.

Consider the scenario: Hillary puts out a "they handed us horseshit" line: How many people will accept that in the face of a Republican opponent spouting "and I'd do it again too!"? Versus how many people will unswervingly refuse to countenance and soft-peddling of her blatantly political calculation in that vote, no matter any other issues involved in the election?

"Why do I think Jebba is doing it?" Because he thinks he can get away with it, which is the entire reason I suggest she send it right back at him, right between the eyes. However much you think she'd lose from acting like a hypocrite, she'd win more by showing some fight.

[BrotherIvan]

60. I think it's more than politics

I think what politicians do effects the country, like deciding to go to war. I think other people do too. I think that given a choice between the two, a lot of people will just stay home. I think people are really sick of politicians playing games.

[Daniel537]

62. She'll almost certainly avoid this subject precisely because of her vote.

The focus will shift to fighting ISIS, overthrowing Assad, pumping Israel with more weaponry, and saber-rattling against Iran. The debate between Hillary and Jeb will be about which one is "stronger" and more willing to take preemptive action. Same shit as usual.

[BrotherIvan]

65. Same shit at ususal

You got it. Though I do believe she'll be able to run rings around Jebba.

[YOHABLO]

15. “I would have and so would Hillary Clinton,” So that's how he answers the question?

That decision to invade Iraq has cost American lives, innocent Iraqi lives, and a trillion dollars and now we have nothing but conflict in the region (ISIS) The Bush administration were criminals, and they got off without a hitch. And now he wants us to put another Bush administration in charge? Go to hell Jeb. Go straight to hell.

[Baitball Blogger]

19. That just cost him the election.

[JHB]

46. In a sane world, it would.

This one, I'm much less certain. But it's something to use against him, if there's follow-through.

[99Forever]

20. An honest Bush?

Will wonders never cease? And he's correct, Hillary Clinton would have indeed, invaded Iraq. Her vote to do exactly that, is the smoking gun that proves it.

[TheNutcracker]

23. No Jebby, not everyone did, or would have voted for it, and you hired the architechs!

[Rex]

24. But but but...the BFEE is tee hee giggles doncha know!

Pathetic, just like his enablers.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

25. Doubling down on stupid

That's the BFEE way.

[BeyondGeography]

26. That's a chess move on Hillary

Problem is, it's a 12-year-old chess move.

[Initech]

28. And he'll invade Iran and Pakistan when elected.

[bigwillq]

29. No more Bush, please.

Or Clinton.

[GoCubsGo]

31. Of course he would.

It's not his demon spawn that would be used for cannon fodder.

If this country is stupid enough to elect/let this shitbag steal the election, they deserve what's coming to them. I only hope I can find a way out, because there would be no hope left for us.

[Yorktown]

34. I think he's dead

Invading Iraq was a stupidity of cosmic proportions.

I was obvious then, even more so now.

Anyone unable to grasp that fact shouldn't run even for school parents representative.

[Frank Cannon]

44. His party has spent 7 years desperately trying to pretend W didn't even exist.

His name was not even mentioned at the last RNC. And not a peep from the drunken dog artist until only recently.

Not even Republicans buy into this bullshit. If Jeb wants to save his political life, and even have a good shot at it, he's just going to have to come out and say what everyone knows to be true. But, of course, Poppy, Cheney, and the PNAC Gallery would never allow that. So, basically, he's screwed.

[on point]

37. Jeb Bush: Doubles down on stupid war crime. Exit stage right

[gratuitous]

38. Please, people

This hurts Jeb! only if the popular media decide it hurts Jeb!. Every major media outlet signed on to the cooked intelligence, the dodgy dossiers, and the patent nonsense. They wanted to see a lot of interesting explosions far away from the United States, be courageous war correspondents, win their Pulitzers, and spend the rest of their careers boring people with tall tales of dangerous duty in a war zone. Mention the name Chalabi on the nooz programs, and you'll be met with blank stares; nobody remembers the fellow who sat behind the First Lady at the State of the Union address in 2004.

By mutual agreement, the popular media have decided not to hold anyone responsible for anything that happened in U.S. foreign policy from 2001 to about 2007 or so. Jeb! can make the bone-stupidest comment anyone can imagine because nobody in big media will notice it. If you bring it to their attention, you'll get some bullshit excuse about how everyone at the time was operating with the same information, therefore you can't possibly fault anyone for any alleged mistakes that were ostensibly made.

[dawg]

39. So far, Jeb is running a terrible campaign.

If he's not careful, the big money donors will yank his funding and line up behind Scott Walker. It's puzzling to me some of the things he has said recently. It's almost as if he wanted to sabotage his own campaign.

Maybe only a liberal would see it that way, though. I guess it's possible that this stuff is red meat for the Republican crowd.

[AgingAmerican]

42. He lives within the right wing 'information' bubble

He probably doesn't hear any opposing viewpoints, thus believes everyone thinks as he does.

[PowerToThePeople]

40. bfee

War criminal wannabe.

Why doesn't he just fess up to his treason with the Florida theft 2000?

[jakeXT]

43. I wish they would blurt out what the real intention of this operation was / nt

[DrDan]

48. it's in the family genes . . . (or perhaps more accurately, in their jeans)

[B Calm]

49. So long Jeb, anymore clowns want to say the same?

[AgingAmerican]

50. Jeb is trying to sound honest

...but in his case it isn't a very good idea.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

51. "authorized the invasion"? "AUTHORIZED"? OMG what a way to put it.

How about 'dreamt up, trumped up, and pushed through'?

[Sanity Claws]

52. How does he think he can say what Hillary Clinton would do?

He is not her spokesperson. He just wants to dirty her up. Fuck off Jeb.

[AgingAmerican]

64. He want's to be 'the decider'

...and decide what Hillary does and thinks.

[CTyankee]

61. This doesn't make any sense. Even Joe Scar took him apart today on Morning Joe for

the dumbness of Jeb's remark. At first, I thought Jeb, in his arrogance, wasn't even listening to the question. Even so, it was a dumb remark. Sticking with the lies his brother went along with, even in the face of evidence now widely understood and accepted as true, tells me that there is still a very deranged RW mind in the GOP that is far outside the mainstream American voter.

[Daniel537]

63. Despite all the hoopla about "isolationism", a majority of GOPers are still prowar

They've never disavowed the Iraq war, much less had a debate about it, and are still pushing for war against Iran. Hell just look at the shit Rand Paul took for supporting Obama's shift on Cuba. GOP is still the party of chicken hawks and war criminals. Vote for these turds at your own peril, America.

[bobjacksonk2832]

66. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?

What a scumbag. He and his brother are probably the worst politicians in America today. Hope he never wins another election.