Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said on Thursday during a campaign stop in Iowa that “taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be a pretty good deal,” according to multiple reports.
From the Wall Street Journal’s Reid Epstein:
Jeb: “I’ll tell you, taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be a pretty good deal.”
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) August 13, 2015
The quote was also reported on by The Daily Beast. Bush was speaking at a forum sponsored by Americans for Peace, Prosperity and Security at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, according to the website.
The Beast reported that Bush went on to say he didn’t want to hypothesize about what would have happened if his brother, former President George W. Bush, had not ordered the invasion of Iraq, which led to the toppling of Hussein.
“Then that’s back to the future and you could make a movie,” Jeb Bush said, according to the Beast.
Bush has previously said “premature withdrawal” in Iraq created the void for the the Islamic State terror group.
The former governor has struggled, since announcing his candidacy, with questions regarding Iraq, the 2007 surge, and the role his brother played in the country after 9/11.
