Chicago – Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday that “there were mistakes made in Iraq” during his brother’s administration, offering the critique during a wide-ranging speech on foreign policy that comes as part of his run-up to a likely presidential campaign.
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Speaking to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Bush said during a question-and-answer session after his speech that intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s possession of weapons of mass destruction was not accurate, and the U.S. initially failed to create an environment of security in the country after removing the Iraqi leader from power.
But Bush praised former President George W. Bush’s decision to “surge” troops into Iraq in 2007, which added roughly 20,000 troops to the American forces in the country in an effort to improve security. He called it “one of the most historic acts of courage politically” of any president.
The surge was “hugely successful,” Bush said, and it created a “a fragile but more stable situation” in Iraq that President Barack Obama could have built on during his term in office.
Bush offered harsh words for Obama’s foreign policy during the speech, calling his administration “inconsistent and indecisive” and one that has led the U.S. to lose “the trust and the confidence of our friends.”
“The great irony of the Obama presidency is this: Someone who came to office promising greater engagement with the world has left America less influential in the world,” Bush said.
Bush acknowledged during the speech that his views about America’s place in the world will often be compared with those of his brother and father, former President George H.W. Bush, adding he is “lucky” to have had family members who have “shaped America’s foreign policy from the Oval Office.”
“But I am my own man — and my views are shaped by my own thinking and own experiences,” he said. “Each president learns from those who came before — their principles, their adjustments.”
The older Bush brother finished his second term in 2009 amid an unpopular war in Iraq, an economy in freefall and with a majority of Americans disapproving of his job performance.
Among donors, Jeb Bush has noted a strong family and religious bond with his older brother, but has also said they are not clones and have differences common among siblings.
Ahead of the speech, Bush aides also released what they called a preliminary group of experts who will provide him with foreign policy advice. They included familiar names, such as James Baker III and George Shultz, both secretaries of State under President Ronald Reagan; former Homeland Security secretaries Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, and former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, all three of whom served under George W. Bush.
The list also included some lesser-known names, such as Meghan O’Sullivan, a former national security adviser to George W. Bush, who now teaches at Harvard and is seen as key to Jeb Bush’s idea of lessening U.S. dependence on Middle East energy.
Bush aides also confirmed late Tuesday that former Minnesota Rep. Vin Weber, a senior policy aide to 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, was advising Bush
So four a half thousand dead US troops, and a couple hundred thousand dead Iraqi civilians, and all for nought at that, is called a ‘mistake’?
The spin on us citizens, is still in full mode.
“there were mistakes made in Iraq”
I am sorry Mr Bush not just were “there mistakes made in Iraq”, the whole war from A to Z was a mistake. Here us why,
A) Saddam was at least an enemy that we knew and understood.
B) He was a weak enemy
C) He kept Iran in check. As long as he was there Iran was scared to get to big and bullish under his watch
D) Who says anyone better would take over
It was not just Iraq. This whole notion that if only we instill democarcy in the middle east the people wiill choose good over evil was foolish and navie. Bush did the same thing in Gaza allowing Hamas to tke over becuase America must stand up for free elections. This Sharansky idealogoy while somewhat true in the USSR is totally false in the middle east.
To be fair its not only Bush. Obama and I think even more Hiliary with the help of John McCain made the sma efoolish mistake in Egypt , Lybia & Yemen. I think by now Obama chaps not to do that in syria but he is in a pickel due to all of the USA’s messups since 9/11.
It’s not mistakes, it’s one mistake, but a big one.
Now THIS is how a president is supposed to speak!
Jeb has just hired some of the worst of his brother’s advisors. He’s hired Paul Wolfowitz, Stephen Hadley, Michael Chertoff, and Meghan O’Sullivan. In other words, the same people who crafted the horribly failed GWB foreign policy are directing Jebbie’s campaign. Thus, the man is already lying when he says he’s his own man – no, he is just another extension of the dreadful failure who was his brother.