Jeb Walks Back Endorsement of Iraq Invasion

Ex-governor acknowledges that 'mistakes were made'
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted May 12, 2015 7:17 PM CDT
Jeb Walks Back Endorsement of Iraq Invasion
In this photo taken April 28, 2015, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks in San Juan, Puerto Rico.   (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)

Jeb Bush appears to be changing his tune after comments he made on Fox News this Sunday. Asked by Megyn Kelly whether, "knowing what we know now," he would "have authorized the invasion," Bush said he "would've," the New York Times reports: "And so would’ve Hillary Clinton, just to remind everybody," he said. "And so would’ve almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got." The comments prompted criticism, including from conservatives like Laura Ingraham, USA Today reports; Chris Christie told CNN he would not have authorized it with today's knowledge.

But speaking to Sean Hannity today, Bush said he had "interpreted the question wrong, I guess. I was talking about, 'Given what people knew then, would you have done it?'" So where does he stand? "I don't know what that decision would have been. That's a hypothetical," he told Hannity, as Reuters reports. He acknowledged that "mistakes were made": "Clearly, there were mistakes … faulty intelligence. My brother has admitted this, and we have to learn from that." (As we head toward the election, the FEC chair isn't expecting much of a campaign-fund crackdown.)

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