Hammered on his position on Iraq, 62-year-old former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush flip-flopped on the Iraq War, eventually saying he wouldn’t have gone in.. Only a week earlier, Jeb tried to back his brother, former two-term President George W. Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq. With nearly 70% of voters opposing the Iraq War, Jeb’s been forced to clarify his position on toppling the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. “Knowing what we know now, I would have not engaged, I would have not gone into Iraq,” said Jeb, suggesting that the lack of proof over weapons on mass destruction would have kept him out of Iraq. Admitting it was hard to deviate from backing his brother, Jeb acknowledged he might have done things differently. “I don’t go out of my way to disagree with my brother,” said Jeb. “I am loyal to him. I don’t think it’s necessary to go through every place where I disagree with him.”
Jeb’s sudden change of heart on Iraq comes at a time when all announced and unannounced GOP candidates oppose the Iraq War, with the possible exception of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) who still believes history will show it was better to get rid of Saddam Hussein. While Jeb wants to show he’s “his own man,” different from his “W” who started the Iraq War and left the county in the worst recession since the Great Depression, he’s admitted lately that he welcomes his brother’s counsel. Taking a swipe at Jeb, potential GOP candidate Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) said the Iraq issue was a no brainer. “I don’t know how that was a hard question,” said Santorum, referring to Jeb’s difficulty answering whether or not the Iraq War was a good idea. Santrorum admitted he’s been asked frequently about the Iraq War and always tells folks the decision was a big mistake.
Admitting the Iraq War was a mistake in hindsight because of faulty intelligence was not the right answer. Jeb nuanced his answer saying if he had the benefit of intel on Saddam’s arsenal, he wouldn’t have gone to war. But the real issue boils down to what former President George H.W. Bush did in the 1991Gulf War when he decided to not topple Saddam. Bush-41’s Chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff Colin L. Powell and his National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft warned of a “power vacuum,” advising against toppling Saddam. Regardless of the presence or absence of WMD, Bush-41’s nation security team knew but ignored warnings about a power vacuum. When Jeb says, based on hindsight he would not have gone into Iraq, he’s talking only about the presence or absence of WMD. Jeb’s answer strongly suggests he too would have ignored the dreaded power vacuum in Iraq.
Santorum clarified his position on the Iraq War, much like Jeb. “I’ve been asked that question a hundred times and the answer is pretty clear: The information was not correct . . . I think everybody accepts that now,” said Santorum, again, referring to the presence or absence of WMD. Today’s Iraq mirrors the warnings of Powell and Scowcroft that toppling Saddam would open up the floodgates of Islamic terrorism and sectarian war. Republican National Committee member Steve Duprey, who was a key advisor to 2008 GOP nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), thinks Jeb can avoid the label flip-flopper when it comes to the Iraq War. Voters are less concerned about flip-flopping and more concerned about repeating catastrophic mistakes. Toppling Saddam created the power vacuum and anarchy, opening the doors to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria to thrive.
When President Barack Obama ran in 2008, he had an easy time defeating McCain because of the Great Recession and fallout from the Iraq War. Voters in 2016 face the same issues dealing with the economy and foreign policy. If Republicans deliberately take the opposite sides of issues to show their opposition to Obama, they face tough questions from voters how they plan to do things differently. Whether admitted to or not by the GOP, Obama has done many good things when it comes to resuscitating the U.S. stock market, adding about 10 million private sector jobs since April 2010. Attacking Obama on every issue risks losing voters who’d like to see some continuity especially when it comes to the economy. Democrats, led by expected Democratic nominee former U.S. Sen. and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, can ride on Obama’s successes.
Jeb and other GOP presidential candidates have a problem with the Iraq War, unless they acknowledge the mistake was opening up the dreaded power vacuum that spread terrorism and sectarian war in the Middle East. GOP candidates must acknowledge that Saddam’s unfound arsenal of WMD was not the only reason not to go into Iraq. So far, only Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) states the Iraq War was a mistake regardless of not finding WMD. With or without WMD, Paul would not have gone to Iraq precisely because of the instability it sowed in the region. Paul said Saddam served as a necessary “counterbalance” to Iran, blaming ISIS and the current chaos in Iraq and Syrian on the Iraq War. To date, Bush-43 and his former VP Dick Cheney refuse to acknowledge the Iraq War’s failure. Bush admitted in his memoir “Decision Points,” he got a “sickening feeling” when WMD weren’t found.
