Jeb Bush clarified his position on the Iraq War Thursday, attempting to clean up a political mess he created during an interview that aired Monday on Fox News.
In a transcript of Bush’s latest remarks provided to the Washington Examiner by his political operation, the former Florida governor and likely presidential candidate didn’t rely on a question from the audience in Tempe, Ariz., where he was speaking. Rather, Bush went out of his way to update his position on the war spearheaded by his brother, then-President George W. Bush, in 2003.
Earlier this week, Bush told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly that, even with the availability of post-war intelligence, that dictator Saddam Hussein did not in fact possess weapons of mass destruction, he still would have supported the invasion of Iraq. That was counter to what most Republicans, including the party’s presidential candidates, have said. Most have claimed that they would have supported the war based on the intelligence available at the time, but not in hindsight.
Here is the full transcript of Bush’s remarks from Thursday, provided by his Right to Rise political action committee, and how he tried to put the matter to rest:
“One final thing, before I close, I was interviewed by Megyn Kelly recently, that’s probably why some of the folks are here. Where I answered a question where I — she asked the question right. It wasn’t confusing. I just answered it differently. My mind kind of calculated it differently. So let me be clear here, the reason I was reluctant to say what I’m going to say now is that, as Governor of Florida, I called — I didn’t keep tabs of it — but I easily called over 100 family members who lost a loved one in service to our great country. Not an easy thing to do, to do it that many times. The President has to do it. I’m sure other Governors did it as well. And it’s very hard for me to say their lives were lost in vain. In fact, they weren’t. We have the greatest military on the face of the Earth. And the families that suffer have gone through a lot too. Their sacrifice is worth honoring, not depreciating. And I believe that in the bottom of my heart. So here’s the deal: if we’re all supposed to answer hypothetical questions, knowing what we know now, what would you have done? I would have not engaged — I would not have gone into Iraq. That’s not to say that the world [isn’t] safer because Saddam Hussein is gone. It is significantly safer. That’s not to say that there [wasn’t] a courageous effort to bring about a surge that created stability in Iraq. All of that is true. And that’s not to say that the men and women who’ve served uniform and many others who went to Iraq to serve, they did so, certainly, honorably. But, we’ve answered the question now.”
Disclosure: The author’s wife works as an advisor to Scott Walker.
