In the same week former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush declared his brother, the former president, to be a key campaign adviser on foreign policy, Jeb declared in an interview what could come back to haunt him on the campaign trail.
In a Fox News interview with Megyn Kelly, Jeb explained that had he been the president in 2003, he also would have authorized the invasion of Iraq. “And,” he added, “so would have Hillary Clinton … and so would have almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got”
He did acknowledge that there were mistakes made by his brothers administration. Jeb pointed to both post-invasion governance and the security of the region as areas which ultimately resulted in an avoidable, protracted fight with insurgents.
Jeb Bush’s greatest challenge is he must support his brother on the issue for the sake of the family legacy. He must balance that concern with the shifting Republican field where several candidates have already criticised the U.S. for an over-extended involvement in foreign conflicts. This pressure is coupled with polls that show a majority of Americans don’t believe the war was the right choice.
