Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), who recently launched a presidential exploratory committee, declined to say on Friday whether he would have invaded Iraq given what he knows now.
“At the time, I think President Bush absolutely made the right decision,” Jindal said in an interview with Iowa Public Television taped on Friday.
However, Jindal would not answer the “hypothetical question” that tripped up former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) last week.
“I think we have to be very careful. There are a lot of these parlor games,” he said, refusing to say whether he would have authorized the invasion given what he now knows. “I don’t think it’s productive to play hypothetical games about foreign policies and important decisions.”
He did place blame for the current situation in Iraq on President Obama, not former President George W. Bush (R).
“The problems we face in Iraq today I don’t think were because of President Bush’s strength, but rather have come about because of President Obama’s weakness,” Jindal said. “President Obama didn’t listen to his military and other advisers and instead, he withdrew all of the troops without a status of forces agreement, without some kind of remaining, residual ability to keep stability in Iraq.”
In an interview with ABC News on Saturday, Jindal again refused to say whether he would have invaded Iraq.
“I don’t think that the parlor games are helpful,” he told ABC News.
“What is helpful,” Jindal continued, “is that at the time, given the information that they had, President [George W.] Bush made absolutely the right decision. Let’s remember, the world is a better place without Saddam Hussein.”
Jeb Bush stumbled last week when asked whether he would have invaded Iraq given what he knows now. Bush initially said that he would have authorized the invasion, but later backtracked and said he misheard the question. He eventually said that he “would not have gone into Iraq” if he had the information available today.
Bush’s struggle with the question last week prompted other 2016 hopefuls to weigh in on the Iraq invasion.
Watch Jindal’s interview with Iowa Public Television below:
Jindal’s political strategy for the past 2 years is to observe whatever is getting conservatives in trouble, then after a few days of letting the issue simmer in the public consciousness, double down on it. It’s actually pretty funny, because he will do this no matter how pointless or stupid the issue is.
Hmmm … I was not aware that hindsight is actually ‘hypothetical.’ Derp.
Unless I’m mistaken, Bush brokered the deal that removed the troops from Iraq.
“Mr. Jindal, do you support hypothetical deception and pushing of a pro-war agenda based on manufactured reality by well-placed senior administration officials?” is a better question.
We should not play a parlor game focused on the wisdom of going to war, but the real parlor game claiming that the world is better with Sadam Husain dead is so much fun.
What a dweeb. You can’t answer a question using historical perspective but you can make claim about what might have been.
Given that much of The Islamic State’s military leadership would not have unemployed and radicalized had they still been in Sadam’s military, I am not sure Pyiush’s claim about a better, safer world is correct either.