Fox News commentator Eric Bolling on Tuesday marked the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq by arguing that launching the unpopular war was “the smartest thing George Bush did.”
Bolling, a co-host of Fox’s evening program “The Five,” began by establishing the premise that late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein “was a bad guy” who had openly threatened to to invade Kuwait in 1990. Co-host Bob Beckel then pointed out that Hussein did launch an invasion and occupation of Kuwait, a correction that annoyed but didn’t deter Bolling.
“No, he didn’t go into Kuwait,” Bolling said. “He lined them up and then we went and did Desert Storm and stopped him. He lit the Kuwaiti oil fields on fire, but he didn’t ever actually go into Kuwait to try and take the country down. He never got there. He decided to light the oil fields on fire.”
Bolling then got back on track, asserting that deposing Hussein was a no-brainer and an unassailable decision by Bush.
“We had to take Saddam Hussein out,” he said. “We had just been punched in the face with 9/11, the Afghanistan war was starting up. We had to do what we did. I think it was the smartest thing George Bush did. He restored confidence in America.”
It wasn’t the first time Bolling presented a dubious history of the Iraq War. In January, he took to Twitter to justify the 2003 invasion was justified because Hussein “financed” the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
