Jeb Bush very unwisely went after Hillary Clinton last night on the grounds that her Iraq policies gave us Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). [snip]
One of the arguments Mr. Bush made was that while his brother, George W. Bush, didn’t get everything right, he did have a brilliant moment with the 2007 troop escalation or “surge,” which put the world right. Then that horrible Obama crew, including Mrs. Cinton, came along and screwed things up by withdrawing from Iraq in 2011.
First of all, saying that W. didn’t get everything right in Iraq is like saying that Custer didn’t get everything right at the Little Bighorn. Bush’s Iraq misadventure was the biggest foreign policy screw-up in American history. Didn’t get everything right, indeed.
Second, Jeb Bush’s narrative about the “surge” is mythical history unconnected to reality. See my Engaging the Muslim World for the real story.
In brief, here is what happened. (our emphasis)Cole then proceeds to masterfully dismantle Jeb's ! faulty neocon history, once again calling into question whether Jeb! is the "smart Bush" (one always has to remember, it's all relative).
Jeb! has recently been on a campaign to out-Trump Rump in the belligerent know-nothing department. On torture. On the Iran nuclear deal. On relations with Cuba. Jeb! is starting to sound like Dumbya on steriods. But when your "investors" have lined your campaign coffers with tens of millions of dollars and you're at 5 percent in Iowa, you need to start flailing away and hope that you're appealing to someone, somewhere.
Problem is, a Bush trying to sound smart about Iraq is a guaranteed Fail.
