Iraq Knowing What We Know Now.

"Those are two different questions; it was not a mistake," Rubio said. "The question was whether it was a mistake, and my answer was it was not a mistake. I still say it was not a mistake, because the president was presented with intelligence that said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction ... [Bush] made the right decision based on what he knew at that time. We learned subsequently that information was wrong. My answer is, at the time, it appears the intelligence was wrong." Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) struggled to reconcile past statements he has made about the 2003 invasion of Iraq with an answer on whether he thought the decision to invade was a mistake during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday." Jeb ***Bush For days, he had offered confusing answers to questions about the war in Iraq. He had disappointed Republicans in Iowa, the leadoff state in the nomination chase. The former Florida governor was trying to recover from what was undeniably his worst week in politics since announcing he was considering a run for the White House.Bush's response also fueled Democrats' preferred narrative of the former Florida governor: that he's an apologist for a brother who is viewed favorably by less than a third of Americans six years after leaving office. We bombed the hell out of Libya and handed it over to Al Qaeda. That's not an invasion? You mean because 0bama and Clinton claimed there were "no boots on the ground" when there actually were, not to mention bombers in the sky?Republicans most certainly opposed war in Syria and ultimately stopped 0bama's mad rush to war there, because they knew it would hand Syria to ISLAMIC STATE ....Well, everyone but  (1) >John McCain knew that. He flew to Syria and hung out with ISIL for a photo op. And he's probably mad that he and Obama didn't get their war in Syria. LAST year in 2014, (2)>  Glenn Beck led off his radio show on morning with a stirring monologue about all the ways he believes the left and right can come together to “heal” America. As part of that, Beck suggested that perhaps all Americans can come together to recognize the blunder that was invading and occupying Iraq in 2003 — an act that he now regrets having supported. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Tuesday that he would not have invaded Iraq in 2003 if he were President at the time and knew what we know in hindsight. Christie's comment came after former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) caused a stir for his own comments about the Iraq War. When Fox News' Megyn Kelly asked him in an interview that aired Monday whether he would have authorized the invasion of Iraq knowing "what we know now," Bush responded "I would have." The problem Republicans like Christie have is that "knowing what we know now..." is  (3)>the same intelligence that Bush/Cheney/Rice/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz "knew" then. They were briefed by the  (4)>Clinton team and they even had the PDB indicating that bin Laden would strike. For Mrs. Clinton in 2008, mishandling what her opponent Barack Obama called “the biggest foreign policy disaster of a generation” created an opening for him and ultimately helped undermine her campaign.They were running the intelligence community then and they failed...miserably and it cost more than 3,000 lives in the Twin Towers and more than 4,500 soldiers' lives. In this case, as well as John Ellis Bush...hindsight is not 20/20. For these folks hindsight is totally blind...and they should be called on it.The real issue is not what Jeb said regarding the Iraq War but what he believes. If you wanna know what Jeb really believes don't be distracted by his recent claims of mishearing and mis-speaking in his answers regarding the Iraq War simply turn your attention to his team of Foreign Policy Advisors nearly all of which spearheaded and orchestrated the Iraq disaster during his brother's administration. A clear thinking individual whom truly believed that "mistakes where made" to the level they were made in Iraq would be hard pressed to reconvene the very same people responsible for those "mistakes". Perhaps it isnot only the relationship with his brother Jeb is having trouble navigating but a fear of offending his would be Cabinet if elected President that troubles Jeb the most. The IRONY here is if Jeb Bush is elected in 2016 he would have to deal with the Islamic State anyhow ,you might call it a "troubling" paradox for Jeb Bush as President he too like his father and brother would have to send troops in Iraq , and inherit the same curse ......................

NOTES AND COMMENTS :

*** BUSH . The Bush family is simply yesterday's news. He seems out of touch not only with his own party but also with the direction that country has moved over the last 10 years. Not too surprising. He's been living in a conservative bubble with no real interaction with most Americans. (1)> In 2013 Sen. McCain made his historic rip to Syria, The Arizona Republican made the trip from Turkey into Syria alongside Gen. Salam Idris, according to The Daily Beast, which first reported McCain’s visit. Idris leads the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army and accompanied McCain as they met with rebel leaders from throughout the country. Remember the "Free Syrian Army" later incorporated themselves with the Jihadists ie: Islamic State. (2)> Beck here lamamted just what bthe lawmakers at Washington D.C. are now saying. " Now, in spite of the things I felt at the time when we went into war, liberals said: We shouldn’t get involved. We shouldn’t nation-build. And there was no indication the people of Iraq had the will to be free. I thought that was insulting at the time. Everybody wants to be free. They said we couldn’t force freedom on people. Let me lead with my mistakes. You are right. Liberals, you were right. We shouldn’t have." (3)> Having Christie and Cruz, two guys at opposite poles of the party, give the same answer to this question is all the proof you need that it’s the “correct” answer politically, even in a primary filled with hawkish voters. That goes double for Jeb Bush since the Iraq albatross around his neck is twice as heavy as it is for everyone else; there’s a reason why he’s been telling audiences for months that “I’m my own man.” And yet, having seen this question twice now from two friendly-ish interviewers in Megyn Kelly and Sean Hannity, knowing that it’s the one topic more than any other on which he needs a very good answer, Bush whiffed.Christie said that he believed former President George W. Bush did make "the best decision he could at the time" given the information coming from the U.S. intelligence community and the situation on the ground in Iraq."Well, no...no he didn't.This was a man who literally didn't know the difference between a Shiite and a Sunni and had to have the word "neocon" reduced to "Israel friendly" by James Baker to have the slightest grasp of the Mideast dynamics. So unprepared and incurious was he that delegated all the decisions to a coterie of advisers and Dick Cheney so he could focus on the "Big Picture" which, to him, was smirking and swaggering as a way to project strength and decisive leadership." (T)he information coming from the U.S. intelligence community" was a mix of honest assessment and manufactured- stovepiped- horseshit serving an agenda. I'm just a damned fool with a keyboard and I knew what was going on at the time yet we're still being sold this nonsense that it was just a legitimate misinterpretation of conflicting intel. (4) Clinton support for the Invasion of Iraq . Hillary Rodham Clinton, in 2002, declared that Saddam Hussein, "left unchecked will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well affects American security." (Associated Press) Eight years after Hillary Rodham Clinton was haunted by her Senate vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq, another leading White House hopeful is struggling with questions about the war.