We now know the truth, Jeb Bush would have authorized the invasion of Iraq just like his brother did in 2003, reported The Huffington Post. Despite trying to distance his politics away from his brother’s, Jeb is exactly the same on the one thing that really turned George W.’s presidency into such a disaster.
“I would have [authorized the invasion], and so would have Hillary Clinton, just to remind everybody,” Bush told Megyn Kelly of Fox News during an interview that will air tonight. “And so would almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got.”
There’s one problem; Jeb is confusing things as he thinks they should be understood with how they are actually understood. Just because Clinton would have done the same thing doesn’t make it the right decision. Liberals would criticize Clinton, also. However, Jeb is more closely looked at and criticized because of his namesake. He will always be compared to what his father and brother did/are, and that will never change.
Jeb defends himself by saying that if he received the same faulty information as George then he would have done the same thing. That’s hogwash. George W. knew he wanted to go to war before there was even any evidence to garner support for such an action. Also, he was riding the 9/11 terror wave to manipulate the American public and Congress to support military action against Iraq.
The entire procedure was built upon lies and deception. The reason why bad intelligence was accepted was because it was the first thing that created any reason to believe invasion was necessary. The war hawks in the administration badly wanted information, and that’s how they got it.
The Democratic National Committee Communications Director Mo Elleithee isn’t buying Jeb’s rationale and sees that as quite problematic.
“The difference between the Bush brothers and most Americans is that most people believe we were misled into invading Iraq,” said Elleithee. “Knowing now what we did not know then, Jeb Bush still would have gone in.”
Jeb’s proclamation is a problem. He tries to sell his moderate position on immigration as being the marker that separates him and his brother. However, George W. isn’t known for immigration. When people think about George W., they think about Iraq and seldomly think past that. Now that Jeb has staked his claim as being an Iraq War hawk, he will have a hard persuading people to view him as a moderate.
