Donald Trump: ‘I Would Have Never Been In Iraq’

Donald Trump speaks during the Freedom Summit, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
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After former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) clarified last week that he would not have invaded Iraq given what he knows now, Donald Trump said on Monday that he would not have gone into Iraq.

On “Fox and Friends,” co-host Steve Doocy asked Trump about reports that the Islamic State took control of Ramadi in Iraq and whether Trump would call for “boots on the ground” following ISIL’s latest attack.

“Well, I would have never been in Iraq,” Trump answered, according to a clip highlighted by Mediaite.

Co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck later asked Trump if he thinks the U.S. should have left Iraq, given what we know now.

“We shouldn’t have been there, and once we were there, we probably should have stayed,” Trump said. “The Middle East has been totally decapitated. It’s a mess. The balance has been lost between Iraq and Iran.”

Trump then referenced Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who on Sunday struggled to explain whether the decision to invade Iraq was a mistake.

“These characters, like Rubio, made a total fool of himself on Chris Wallace’s program, talking about ‘We’re better off without Saddam Hussein.’ Give me a break,” Trump said. “Right now we have ISIS, which is worse than Saddam Hussein. At least Saddam Hussein did one thing: he killed terrorists. He was very good at killing terrorists.”

Trump noted that Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction.

“We had very bad intelligence. He had none,” he said.

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