Trump’s Foreign Policy Advisers: Republicans He Has Named Say They Don't Advise Him

It has now been nearly four weeks since Donald Trump said he would reveal his foreign policy advisers in “about two weeks,” and no list of advisers has materialized. When pressed about the topic during Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate, Trump named three people who he said he trusted for foreign policy advice — but it appears the individuals he named are not on the same page as The Donald.

As Trump has repeatedly made big claims about steps he would take in the realm of foreign policy, he has spent months deflecting questions about who is advising him. He has occasionally put out one or two names but has largely said “I watch the shows” when asked where he gets information about world affairs. On Thursday, Trump reassured the Fox News debate moderators that he would “get the best people, people that I’d be comfortable with.”

“I think Richard Haass is excellent. I have a lot of respect for him. I think General Keane is excellent,” Trump said during the debate. “I think that there are — I like Colonel Jacobs very much. I see him. I know him. I have many people that I think are really excellent but in the end it's going to be my decision.”

This article contains a major lie about Trump. Here it is:

“Bolton, known to be very hawkish, strongly supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, WHILE TRUMP STRONGLY OPPOSED THE WAR and repeatedly criticized Jeb Bush during the campaign over the topic.”

That is a lie. Trump never opposed the Iraq war until the war had already started. Look at what he said then vs now:

Then: Are you for invading Iraq? “Yeah, I guess so, uh, you know, I wish it was, uh, I WISH THE FIRST TIME IT WAS DONE CORRECTLY.”

Further, in his book in 2000, he said this:

“After each pounding from U.S. warplanes, Iraq has dusted itself off and gone right back to work developing a nuclear arsenal…Six years of tough talk and U.S. fireworks in Baghdad have done little to slow Iraq’s crash program to become a nuclear power. They’ve got missiles capable of flying nine hundred kilometers—more than enough to reach Tel Aviv. They’ve got enriched uranium. All they need is the material for nuclear fission to complete the job…”

He continued, “That’s what our last aerial assault on Iraq in 1999 was about. Saddam Hussein wouldn’t let UN weapons inspectors examine certain sites where that material might be stored. The result when our bombing was over? We still don’t know what Iraq is up to or whether it has the material to build nuclear weapons. I’m no warmonger. But the fact is, if we decide a strike against Iraq is necessary, IT IS MADNESS NOT TO CARRY THE MISSION TO ITS CONCLUSION.”

So, clearly, in 2000 and 2002, Trump thought that the invasion of Iraq was okay, and had advocated a stronger response than what Bush’s father had done in the first invasion – “carrying the mission to its conclusion.”

Now, in the Anderson Cooper town hall, Trump said: “I will say this — Bush felt very — and Saddam Hussein overplayed his hand, because he was — you know, he — SENIOR BUSH DID THE RIGHT THING. He knocked the heck out of him, AND THEN HE PULLED BACK, OK? He didn’t get into the quagmire. And that was OK to do.”

So which is it? Does he think that George H. W. Bush was right to pull out of Iraq quickly, as he said in the debate a few weeks ago, or does he think that was a mistake, as he said in his book which was written at the time?

As to the quote of Trump from March 25, 2003, where he expressed dismay at how the war was being waged, he was simply responding to a downturn in public opinion about the war that occurred almost immediately after it started, as this article below makes clear. As you’ll see, support for the invasion on Friday, March 21, 2003 was 78%, and 71% thought that it was going well. By Monday, March 24th, 74% still thought that military force was the right decision, but only 38 percent still thought it was going well – a crazy drop of 33% support in 3 days as people began to hear about casualties and POWs.

THAT’s what Trump was responding to when he was asked about the war on March 25, just one day later, on the day that the article below came out. It was obvious that the war was quickly becoming unpopular as people faced reality, and Trump was just pointing out that it wasn’t going well – it was “a mess” in his opinion. He was riding the wave of public sentiment.

He has NEVER shown a single shred of evidence (despite promising that there were 25 articles) to show that he was actually against the Iraq war prior to the commencement of hostilities.

http://www.people-press.org/2003/03/25/public-confidence-in-war-effort-falters/

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