Posted on 08/13/2015 10:39:27 AM PDT by WilliamIII
WASHINGTON — Businessman Donald Trump said Iran is as powerful as it is today because President George W. Bush's war on Iraq took out its main adversary.
Trump, speaking on the Fox News Channel "Hannity," said he opposed Bush's decision to go to war against Iraq based on claims that the country had weapons of mass destruction. The weapons were never found, and Bush's brother and fellow GOP presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, said in May that "knowing what we know now I would not have engaged—I would not have gone into Iraq."
Trump said that he warned before the 2003 invasion that the move would destabilize the Middle East.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
It should have cost us nothing. Iraq had the oil funding that could have reimbursed every penny of the war cost, plus rebuilding their infrastructure, plus funding our veterans care.
That’s where Bush screwed up IMO.
Those IEDs in Iraq, they came from Iran. We did absolutely nothing about it.
It is true that the leadership was favorable to Iran, but Iran didn’t like the U. S. in there, and wanted to cause our efforts to fail.
Trump's correct. Iran doesn't really fear the U.S. because they've never had to face us.
Iran did fear Saddam Hussein. The eight year Iran/Iraq war killed millions on both sides. Iran knew that Saddam Hussein was just batshit crazy enough that if he viewed Iran as a threat, he'd send the Republican Guard over the Iran/Iraq border.
In many ways, deposing Saddam Hussein had a destabilization effect in the middle east that I don't think we could've fathomed.
Actually Iraq had become stabilized and was probably more peaceful than many American cities (looking at you Chicago, Baltimore, etc). The problem was Obama didn’t want a status of forces agreement big enough for the Iraqi’s to give anything to get. So we left and things spiraled down hill quickly with a giant void to fill.
I am not for building Democracies in most cases, but the reason everything fell to crap is because of Obama/Hillary.
As I recall Trump wanted to seize Iraq’s oil not that long ago. An action that, if taken, would have confirmed the suspicions of every anti-American zealot in the region. If we had done that every militant group over there from Shiite to Sunni would have immediately turned against us - to include all the pseudo allies we gained during the Anbar Awakening. Trumps idea was flat out terrible. I wonder if he still advocates for this.
I think they knew that eliminating Saddam Hussein was going to have an impact in Iran, not sure they truly understood just how big the impact would be. Sure it allowed Iran to take control of Shiite politics in Iraq but could Bush/Cheney or anyone in the Bush Administration have guessed that OBozo was going to see to it that Khadaffi was deposed giving rise to ISIL/ISIS in the Midle East which furthere destabilized an already barely stable region?
I don't think so.
Could Bush/Cheney have foresaw OBozo's "red line" threat with Syria, only to back down from it and kiss Bashir al Assad's ass?
I don't think so.
If it's true that Bush/Cheney were responsible for creating the conditions for Iran's rise to dominance in the middle east (and they are....) then Obama's similarly responsible for the destabilizing effects of Libya, Syria and Northern Iraq (the Kurds) which gave rise to ISIL/ISIS.
Could anyone have really seen just how bad Obama was going to f**k up the Middle East after Bush/Cheney?
I don't think so.
Bingo. Another OBozo f**k up that Bush/Cheney couldn't have foreseen.
Didn’t Dick Cheney support Obama’s ousting of Gaddifi? My memory says he spoke in favor of it
Liz Cheney supported it: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0611/Liz_Cheney_pushes_Republicans_on_Libya.html
I honestly couldn't say one way or another. I've no memory of it. (Which in itself doesn't mean anything...)
It was “stabilized” as a Shiite, pro-Iran government. That’s Trumps point: we booted out Iran’s enemy and replaced him with Iranian allies. And THAT is what destabilized the Mideast - by empowering Iran. And it all happened under Bush, years before Obama
But you just tried to defend bus by blamin Obama for the Lybia policy . If Cheney supported Obama, it weakens your attemt to save bush-Cheney from criticism
A true statement.
And THAT is what destabilized the Mideast - by empowering Iran. And it all happened under Bush, years before Obama
Deposing Hussein was the beginning of the destabilization, I agree there.
To relieve Barack Hussein Obama of any responsibility by ignoring his own role in heavily contributing to the disaster that is now the middle east is simply playing into the liberal/progressive left's lies that Obama isn't responsible for anything. That's simply not true. Obama's policies have heavily contributed to destabilization.
Case in point: The Iranian Student Uprising early in Obama's first term. What did Obama do? Turned his eyes away and let Iran do what it wanted killing hundreds/thousands.
What was Obama's response to the "arab spring?" He completely mis-characterized it and repeatedly failed to see it for what it truly was.
These are facts that cannot be ignored, and which contributed heavily to the destabilization of the middle east under Obama's watch.
I don't buy it that this is all Bush/Cheney's fault. They certainly have their share, but all? Nope.
No, I stated the facts about what Obama did in regards to Libya.
If Cheney supported Obama, it weakens your attemt to save bush-Cheney from criticism
Hold it right there. Neither you or I know for certain whether or not Cheney supported Obama on Libya. I freely admit I don't know whether or not that's true.
Further, if Cheney did support Obama's "lead from behind" strategy in Libya, that doesn't do anything to my argument that Obama shares the blame for the state of the middle east today. Cheney had no power to influence/affect Obama's policy on Libya, Obama owns it.
You also completely misunderstand one key point: I'm not trying to "save" Bush/Cheney from any criticism at all. If you're assuming that because I assign blame to Obama for the things Obama's responsible for, then that's on you, not me.
The only nonsense was in not crushing Iran while we were ther, and you, sir, are a tool. The commie so used to call people like you “ useful idiots.”
Obama’s legacy to the world id ISIS. Had he done a proper residual force agreement this would have never happened.
And to make it fair Obama decided to give 2300 top of the line Humvees to ISIS.
Can you imagine after we won the Second World War if we said ok we are going home now. We trust that the Europeans are stable enough to defend themselves against the Germans. How long would that have lasted?
Obama did just that in Iraq.
ISIS is Obama’s legacy to the world. The millions of people being butchered in the Middle East are Obama’s doing.
This man has ice in his veins and couldn’t care less how many die because of him.
I generally agree - Bush/Cheney created the conditions, but at least they were committed to see it through with the surge, and commit long-term troops and resources to stabilized Iraq. No one realized (or publicly stated anyway) in 2003 that it would absolutely need a multi-decades-long US presence there.
Obama - out of political reasons, or pure spite, simply abandoned Iraq. I know it was not his war, and was he handed a hot potato by Bush, but at least it was a stabilized hot potato. Moreover, His and Clinton's actions after the "Arab Spring" were simply inexplicable by rational thought, especially in Libya and Egypt.
Its why I say - the USA is now too politically divided to fight and win such wars. Its a key concern/fact any US policy maker (and any US enemy) should consider
Alright. Enough. Trump is a freaking idiot.
True. (Your previous comment is also exactly spot-on.)
This isn’t surprising since Trump hates W so much. He’s said in the past that his buddy Bill Clinton was impeached for something totally unimportant (apparently breaking the law is unimportant to Trump) and that the stupid guy with the low IQ, George W Bush should have been impeached for lying his way into the war. Trump was also disappointed that Nancy “The Best!” Pelosi didn’t go after Bush hard enough regarding impeachment.
Which is why I say Obama certainly shares in the blame for the state of the Middle East. I don't think anyone could've guessed that the next President (in this case, Obama) was going to simply pick up his marbles and "go home" leaving the mission completely unfinished.
ISIS/ISIL is all on Obama. You're exactly right.
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