President George W. Bush believes the Islamic State can and will be defeated, and that mission is important in order to project American strength abroad.
In an interview airing Monday on Hannity on Fox News, Bush said defeating the Islamic State must be a primary mission for the United States given the terrorist group’s depraved set of values.
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“I’ve heard both presidents after my time say we’re going to defeat and degrade ISIS and I say ‘go get them’ because they can be degraded and defeated,” Bush said. “It’s very important, in my mind, that we do so that people know they can rely upon us and the people not only governments but people on the ground — people who want to be free.”
Bush added that American troops have been buoyed by being able to bring American values to people in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“And you ask some of these troops ‘were you able to see human depravation and improvement’ and they say ‘yes,'” Bush said. “A lot of them say to me I love the idea of girls being able to go to school for the first time in Afghanistan or young kids in Iraq no longer subjected to the thuggery of these ideological thugs.”
Bush is doing a press tour in order to promote his book of portraits of American soldiers who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. The proceeds from the book all go to help the Military Service Initiative to help troops who served in those wars.
Bush said that work is important to him.
“I’m kind of a crier and when a mom hugs me and talks about her son it affected me,” Bush said.
“On the other hand, it’s hard for many people to understand but when you go to Walter Reed and a soldier looks at you who’s lost his leg and says ‘I’d do it again,’ or you ride mountain bikes with these troops that some of them who lost a leg that went back into combat or a mother whose son lost his life and said ‘I just want you to know my son died doing what he wanted to do.’ It lifts your spirit. It is amazing. And hopefully my art is able to capture how amazing these people are,” he said
