Jeb Bush: I would have authorized the war in Iraq — just like my brother
President George W. Bush and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at a campaign rally. (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
Jeb Bush says that he would have authorized the 2003 war in Iraq — just like his brother did.
“I would have, and so would have Hillary Clinton, just to remind everybody,” the former Florida governor told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly Saturday after delivering the commencement address at Liberty University in Virginia. “And so would almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got.”
Bush, brother of former President George W. Bush and likely 2016 presidential candidate, said mistakes were made in not securing the country.
“By the way, guess who thinks that those mistakes took place as well? George W. Bush,” Jeb Bush said. “Yes, I mean, so just for the news flash to the world, if they’re trying to find places where there’s big space between me and my brother, this might not be one of those.”
Last month, George W. Bush sharply criticized President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, saying his successor pulled U.S. troops out of Iraq too quickly and mishandled nuclear negotiations with Iran.
“You think the Middle East is chaotic now? Imagine what it looks like for our grandchildren,” the former president was quoted by Bloomberg telling Jewish donors at the closed-door event. “That’s how Americans should view the deal.’”
Bush also told attendees that he likely won’t do any campaigning for his younger brother because he thinks it would hurt Jeb’s 2016 chances.
“That’s why you won’t see me,” he said, according to the New York Times.
In his speech at Liberty University, Jeb Bush took a jab at the Obama administration on religious freedom.
“Federal authorities are demanding obedience, in complete disregard of religious conscience,” he said in his speech. “What should be easy calls in favor of religious freedom have instead become an aggressive stance against it. Somebody here is being small-minded and intolerant, and it sure isn’t the nuns, ministers, and laymen and women who ask only to live and practice their faith.”
In his interview with Fox News, Bush talked about an issue on which he seems less conservative than some of his GOP peers: immigration.
“I mean, there’s got to be a point where we fix this system so that legal immigration is easier than illegal immigration and show some respect for people,” he said. “[To] a kid that might have been here 10 years, that might be a valedictorian of their high school, to say, ‘No, no, no, you’re not allowed to go to college,’ I just think there’s a point passed which we’re over the line.”
