Trump Refuses to Say Whether George W. Bush Lied About Iraq War

[jimnyc]

Obviously backtracking based on his comments from the last debate, but not far enough. I still disagree with him 100%. Not sure why he doesn't take it all back completely, unless he's afraid of appearing weak as a result. Either that, or he's trying to appeal to the non-war folks this way, not sure.

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Donald Trump repeatedly refused to say Thursday hight whether he believed former President George W. Bush lied about the Iraq War — explaining that "nobody really knows why we went into Iraq" when pressed by a voter at a CNN town hall, with followup from host Anderson Cooper.

"A lot of people agree with what I said," Trump said at the meeting in Columbia, South Carolina. "I'm not talking about lying. I'm not talking about not lying."

The voter, Orrin Smith of Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, said he greatly respected Bush and was "stung" by Trump's accusations on the stump and at Saturday's Republican debate.

"Would you be willing to rethink that?" Smith asked.

"Bottom line: There were no weapons of mass destruction," Trump said. "They said there are weapons of mass destruction. I was against the war when it started."

That's when Cooper jumped in: "So, you think the president of the United States, George W. Bush, lied … ?"

"I'm not going to …" Trump began.

"I'm giving you another shot at it," Cooper interrupted.

"I'll tell you very simply: It may have been the worst decision going into Iraq," he responded. "It may have been the worst decision anybody has made, any president has made in the history of this country.

"That's how bad it is."

"You would not say again that George W. Bush lied?" Cooper later asked again.

"I don't know," Trump said. "I can't tell you. I'd have to look at the documents."

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/trump-bush-lie-iraq/2016/02/19/id/715087/

[Gunny]

Obviously backtracking based on his comments from the last debate, but not far enough. I still disagree with him 100%. Not sure why he doesn't take it all back completely, unless he's afraid of appearing weak as a result. Either that, or he's trying to appeal to the non-war folks this way, not sure.

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Donald Trump repeatedly refused to say Thursday hight whether he believed former President George W. Bush lied about the Iraq War — explaining that "nobody really knows why we went into Iraq" when pressed by a voter at a CNN town hall, with followup from host Anderson Cooper.

"A lot of people agree with what I said," Trump said at the meeting in Columbia, South Carolina. "I'm not talking about lying. I'm not talking about not lying."

The voter, Orrin Smith of Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, said he greatly respected Bush and was "stung" by Trump's accusations on the stump and at Saturday's Republican debate.

"Would you be willing to rethink that?" Smith asked.

"Bottom line: There were no weapons of mass destruction," Trump said. "They said there are weapons of mass destruction. I was against the war when it started."

That's when Cooper jumped in: "So, you think the president of the United States, George W. Bush, lied … ?"

"I'm not going to …" Trump began.

"I'm giving you another shot at it," Cooper interrupted.

"I'll tell you very simply: It may have been the worst decision going into Iraq," he responded. "It may have been the worst decision anybody has made, any president has made in the history of this country.

"That's how bad it is."

"You would not say again that George W. Bush lied?" Cooper later asked again.

"I don't know," Trump said. "I can't tell you. I'd have to look at the documents."

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/trump-bush-lie-iraq/2016/02/19/id/715087/

Trump stepped in it. The fact is, we sold the WMDs to Saddam and the CIA taught his chemists to refine them. I do agree we shouldn't have gone into Iraq and I DO agree we destabilized the Middle East.

What I DON'T see is how Trump plans to fix it.

[Drummond]

H'm. This is quite bad. The Iraq War was very necessary, and even I am totally clear on that, and its justifications. Besides, in excess of 500 old WMD's actually WERE found, all of them qualifying as such under UN Res 1441.

Personally, I just think that Trump is saying whatever he believes will win him the greatest number of votes. And I'm all for him succeeding in those efforts .... .

[NightTrain]

I get the impression that Trump realizes he went over the line... but he's painted himself into a corner with that attack on Dubya. He was pretty clear on what he meant at the debate and there's really no way to backtrack without reversing himself, which would make him look weak and open himself to a withering assault from all sides.

The best course of action from his standpoint would be to do what he did in the OP... back it down a bit and dodge a straightforward question. I'd like to see a full reversal, personally, but don't think that'll happen.

In the general debates, if he's our guy, he's going to get hammered on this point - and hard - from both his opponent and the moderators.

[Gunny]

H'm. This is quite bad. The Iraq War was very necessary, and even I am totally clear on that, and its justifications. Besides, in excess of 500 old WMD's actually WERE found, all of them qualifying as such under UN Res 1441.

Personally, I just think that Trump is saying whatever he believes will win him the greatest number of votes. And I'm all for him succeeding in those efforts .... .

The Iraq war was NOT necessary. Not at all. What was predicted by many, and the aftermath has proven, is that taking out Saddam would create a power vacuum in the region between the Shia and Sunni. It has done EXACTLY that. The three players predicted to be involved were Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran and Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran ARE the players, with Russia and Turkey pot-shotting from the sidelines. And lest we forget, Obama's 2 sortie a day bombing campaign.:rolleyes:

Sure Saddam was a despot and a piece of trash. His presence as a secular nation standing between the other powers in the region was more important strategically than the US taking out another "bad guy". Every time we've meddled in the internal politics of nations since WWII we've left a bigger mess than there was to begin with. Then. we went in and said this how you do it or else, after destroying their entire nations. Now, we want to offer them an ideology they don't understand and expect them to embrace it.

We need to spend more time working on own fast-eroding freedoms instead of trying to convince others they want something they could care less about.

[Abbey Marie]

The voter, Orrin Smith of Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, said he greatly respected Bush and was "stung" by Trump's accusations on the stump and at Saturday's Republican debate.

I could have written that. Bravo Mr. Smith.

[fj1200]

H'm. This is quite bad. The Iraq War was very necessary, and even I am totally clear on that, and its justifications. Besides, in excess of 500 old WMD's actually WERE found, all of them qualifying as such under UN Res 1441.

Personally, I just think that Trump is saying whatever he believes will win him the greatest number of votes. And I'm all for him succeeding in those efforts .... .

IIRC we didn't find anything more than what we knew he had or had given him. Of course there is a difference between being justified to act or it being a good idea to act.

[Black Diamond]

Obviously backtracking based on his comments from the last debate, but not far enough. I still disagree with him 100%. Not sure why he doesn't take it all back completely, unless he's afraid of appearing weak as a result. Either that, or he's trying to appeal to the non-war folks this way, not sure.

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Donald Trump repeatedly refused to say Thursday hight whether he believed former President George W. Bush lied about the Iraq War — explaining that "nobody really knows why we went into Iraq" when pressed by a voter at a CNN town hall, with followup from host Anderson Cooper.

"A lot of people agree with what I said," Trump said at the meeting in Columbia, South Carolina. "I'm not talking about lying. I'm not talking about not lying."

The voter, Orrin Smith of Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, said he greatly respected Bush and was "stung" by Trump's accusations on the stump and at Saturday's Republican debate.

"Would you be willing to rethink that?" Smith asked.

"Bottom line: There were no weapons of mass destruction," Trump said. "They said there are weapons of mass destruction. I was against the war when it started."

That's when Cooper jumped in: "So, you think the president of the United States, George W. Bush, lied … ?"

"I'm not going to …" Trump began.

"I'm giving you another shot at it," Cooper interrupted.

"I'll tell you very simply: It may have been the worst decision going into Iraq," he responded. "It may have been the worst decision anybody has made, any president has made in the history of this country.

"That's how bad it is."

"You would not say again that George W. Bush lied?" Cooper later asked again.

"I don't know," Trump said. "I can't tell you. I'd have to look at the documents."

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/trump-bush-lie-iraq/2016/02/19/id/715087/https://youtu.be/j6N8l8DMu3M

Again, his feelings on W are not new. Can't believe the establishment didn't run this kind of thing earlier. If you don't want to watch entire clip, at the end he says WMDs was a lie. I haven't been able to find the view clip, but he told Joy Behar Bush was probably the worst president ever.
I really don't think what he has been saying about GWB is an act.