Jeb Bush appeared on Hugh Hewitt’s radio program Wednesday, and in a conversation dominated by defense and national security topics, Hewitt raised an interesting and politically double-edged question. Both Bush’s father and brother invaded Iraq, the latter with troubling results. What would happen if Jeb Bush were commander in chief and the need arose to send U.S. forces to war once again, perhaps in the Muslim world? “What interests me,” Hewitt asked Bush, “is not how the Iraq wars went or your opinion of your father’s order to invade Iraq, or your brother’s order to invade Iraq, but whether or not you’d be overly cautious about using force for fear of having a ‘third Bush war’ occur?”
“I wouldn’t be conflicted by any legacy issues of my family,” Bush answered, saying that if he were the third Bush president, it “would not compel me to act one way or the other.” Bush’s entire answer:
Hewitt, who will play a prominent role in CNN’s Republican debates this season, went on to ask whether a “strong defense conservative” would have any reason to worry that Bush might be “reluctant to use force anywhere, but especially in the Muslim world?”
“I don’t think there’s anything that relates to what my dad did or what my brother did that would compel me to think one way or the other,” Bush answered. “I think that history’s a good guide for our country. And the simple fact is you start with the premise that America’s role in the world is a force for good, not for bad things to happen, you’ll have, lessen the likelihood of having to use military force around the world.”
