Recently, I ran into a Youtube video (one of those short clips) which claimed that people were changing their minds about George W. Bush. Among the reasons why, the narrator of this video claims, was that he admitted that the Iraq war was a mistake. It suggests that he said that outright to an audience that at first was stunned, and then stood up and applauded.
That stunned me. How had I missed such a major news story?
Then I did some research and soon discovered why I had missed this particular story. In short, it never happened. Not even close.
So I wrote a comment on the Youtube video, which is a rarity for me. Especially when it comes to politics.
Still, facts still matter to me. I'm just old-fashioned like that. And with almost every other comment claiming that it takes a big man to admit to a major mistake, it felt necessary to set the record straight. Because there is no hard evidence that I could find that Bush ever outright admitted that the Iraq war was a mistake. He admitted that mistakes were made, and that there were intelligence failures. But that is a far cry from admitting that the invasion and subsequent war itself was a mistake.
Here is what I wrote in response on the Youtube video, with the link to the actual video underneath that (see link below):
This video is misleading. I was impressed at first also. Enough to go ahead and do some research. So far as I can tell, Bush never actually admitted that Iraq was a mistake. In the past, he did admit that intelligence failure led to mistakes and that there were errors, but that's not the same thing at all. If somebody could provide a link showing when Bush actually admits that Iraq was a mistake, I'd welcome it and take a look. But I didn't find anything remotely like that. The closest that I could find was a gaffe. He still tries to justify the war, only now the focus is that Saddam was a brutal dictator. Here's the link to the article in which he accidentally referred to the invasion of Iraq as brutal, but he meant Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Feels like this video is trying to give him credit for being able to admit to a major mistake, although there is no evidence that he actually admitted to it that I could see. Here are a couple of links to articles related to all of this:
https://youtube.com/shorts/pocv2owzTcw?si=vVPiaFSyRzCnoqow
Below are some links to articles which I found while doing that research about what George W. Bush actually feels and said regarding mistakes and the Iraq war. The first one, a New York Times article published on the 20th anniversary of the invasion -and the year after the video alleges that Bush admitted that the war in Iraq was a huge mistake - clearly illustrates that Bush has not had any real change of heart regarding the war which he started: The other two make it a bit clearer some of the mistakes which he actually claims to regret regarding Iraq:
Bush Doesn’t Second-Guess Himself on Iraq. Even if Everyone Else Does. by Peter Baker, March 20, 2023:
George W. Bush has told advisers that the world is better off without Saddam Hussein — and he has not changed his mind about that. Share full article 45 Former President George W. Bush waving and holding a baseball, while wearing a gray jacket and blue shirt. Former President George W. Bush’s spot in history will be tied to the invasion of Iraq.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/20/us/politics/george-w-bush-iraq-war.html
George W Bush accidentally admits Iraq war was ‘unjustified and brutal’ in gaffe This article is more than 3 years old Former president makes slip when speaking at his presidential library in Dallas on Wednesday Julian Borger in Washington Thu 19 May 2022 11.30 E
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/19/george-bush-iraq-ukraine-speech
Iraq war my biggest regret, Bush admits This article is more than 16 years old Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington Mon 1 Dec 2008:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/dec/02/george-bush-iraq-interview
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