In an interview on Fox and Friends, former President George W. Bush told said America has learned the “lesson” that Iraq wasn’t ready to be abandoned. According to a new survey, the former commander-in-chief may just be right.
In a new poll, Americans say they now support U.S. ground troops in Iraq to deal with the ISIS threat, believe airstrikes alone will not be enough to defeat the terror army. But Americans’ perceptions of the U.S. military’s effectiveness under President Obama was sadly low, with more believing it has declined since 2008 than increased. Among veterans and active military, the perceptions are even worse.
Since leaving office, Bush has been adamant about not criticizing President Obama, who was forced to make the decision to launch airstrikes in Iraq — and now Syria — in a new war against the Islamic State.
When asked if the Iraqi people have already failed to seize the opportunity to build a new country, Bush, who is always the optimist, gave a very characteristic answer.
“It’s not over,” he said.
He also said, however, that U.S. airstrikes are showing the Iraqi people still need more help to defeat ISIS.
“The Iraqi people obviously are going to have to make a decision as to whether or not they want to live in peace,” President Bush said. “They’re not ready to do it on their own, and that’s the lesson we’ve learned recently.”
In 2007, after just receiving polling results from White House advisors that showed a surge-like strategy would be the least unpopular action he could take, the president delivered a prophetic warning about what would happen if U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq too early. He said at the time this would risk “mass killings on a horrific scale” and potentially draw U.S. troops back into the country to confront a threat even greater than the one we face now.”
Unfortunately, particularly for those who sacrificed life and limb for U.S. gains in Iraq, the president’s predictions have now come to fruition.
“I know the nature of the enemy,” the former president responded when asked how he knew what would happen.
“Anybody who kills 3,000 innocents and beheads people because of their religion or because of their point of view is dangerous.”
He said an effective strategy to confront the threat of Islamic extremism is long-term and “takes time,” then went on to warn against what he called “impatience” among some in the American public, presumably the American Left.
“Americans have got to understand that the lesson of 9/11 is still important today as it was right after 9/11,” he said. “And that is the human condition elsewhere matters to our national security.”
Bush also said he agreed with Obama’s military advisers — who the current president overruled — that the U.S. should have left a residual force when it pulled out at the end of 2011.
But, again, he refused to condemn President Obama, saying he’s not going to “second-guess our president.”
“I understand how tough the job is.”
Fox & Friends After The Show-Show Interview
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This view looking back 25 years ago is a smoke and mirrors attempt to distort and compile the same rhetoric of the present blaming George Bush for all of the Obama Admin failures.
Prior to the Reagan years (1976-1980), Democratic President Jimmy Carter agreed to allow the Shah of Iran leave for the United States against the wishes of Iran. American Banks were petrified the untold billions of the Shah's money would have to be returned should the Shah not make it to America. Herein rests the catalyst for Middle Eastern animosity today. Carter was so much out of control, Interest Charges and Mortgage percentages have never been higher in the history of US Banking. Oil prices nearly tripled under his Presidency.
Republican Ronald Reagan (1980-1988) brought this Country back to sanity, however Carter's decision to allow the Shah to leave was never forgotten. It has been the same uphill battle ever since with Islamic controversy and the Western countries.
I know very little of what you ascribe to as a hidden parallel government. If it's real, I say all the power to it if it keeps us safe. My US Government is welcome to look under my bed if it makes us safer, and keeps those who would do us harm away.
In my opinion, America has sought to help those under unspeakable human rights conditions all around the World. The Islamic ideology practices this type of assault on women daily.
America brought down the Berlin Wall with President Ronald Reagan. President George and George w. Bush defeated the oppressors in Iraq. It was Impeached Democrat President Bill Clinton who opened the doors to trading programs of former Eastern Bloc Countries, South America, Southeast Asia, and China. You would be naive to belief Clinton didn't have a personal mega-interest monetary gain.
This present Democrat Obama Admin is the worst our country has ever faced. Foreign Policy is a total joke because of power and greed. This once headed by another Clinton who lied about what happened in Benghazi, Libya.
I could continue to go on, but it's apparent you voice concerns with bias. You are commenting on past and present events with no evidence to support it. I guess you could say you don't know what you're talking about.