Jeb Bush Backs Off Iraq War Comments, Says He ‘Misheard’ Question

Defense of Disastrous War Could Deal a Blow to Campaign

Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush is attempting to backtrack from his comments in support of the Iraq War, now claiming he “misheard” the question.

The question in question was “knowing what we know now, would you have authorized the invasion,” and Bush confirmed that he would have.

One of the most disastrous and unpopular wars in a generation, the Iraq War was launched by Jeb’s brother George W. Bush on faulty claims of Iraqi WMDs.

Even among a Republican primary lineup trying to out-hawk each other at every term, many are distancing themselves from Bush’s comments, and are seeing any mention of the Iraq War as a losing proposition.

The fact that Bush is making so much of his brother being a key adviser to his campaign makes the legacy of the Iraq War all the bigger an issue for him, and with both his brother and his father having their respective presidential legacies inexorably linked to Iraq Wars, Jeb could quickly find his comments on Iraq derailing his own campaign before it really begins.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.