Wisconsin governor Scott Walker said America should focus on the current challenges and problems faced in Iraq. Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation, Walker responded to a question from Bob Schieffer about potential 2016 rival Jeb Bush’s difficult time answering questions about the 2003 invasion of Iraq that his brother, George W. Bush, argued for as president. Another Republican candidate, Marco Rubio, has also said apparently conflicting things about the wisdom of the invasion.
Walker said given the information we know now, it’s “safe to say” he would not have invaded Iraq as president.
“I tend to agree with Secretary [Robert] Gates. We should be talking about the challenges we face going forward,” said Walker. “But I did stand up and defend the president, President Bush that is, saying, I think any president, regardless of party, probably would have made a similar decision President Bush did at the time with the information he had available.” Walker went on to say that the problem with the invasion in 2003 was a “failure” in the intelligence given the the president and commended Bush for “recognizing those challenges in Iraq” and implementing the 2007 surge of forces there after “listening to those in Congress who were pushing for that.”
“And I also think it’s important to learn from the fact that this president and the advisors he had like Secretary Clinton I think made a mistake by urging the country to pull back from the state of Iraq,” Walker added. “And we have a place that is largely destabilized now because of their quick move the last few years to get out of Iraq. That’s something we need to learn from going forward. We have a very destabilized region and we need to have strong presence there.”
Watch Walker’s whole response below:
