What does what I said then have to do with what I am saying now?
David Corn at
Mother Jones does an excellent job of
vivisecting Donald Trump for blaming President Obama for the bloody mess in Iraq.
As we've all seen since what seems like forever, Donald Trump has this way of speaking out of both sides of his mouth as well as forgetting—or rather hoping other people have forgotten—what he has previously said. A lot of what he says is pure bilge, trivial nonsense that gets media attention because it's guaranteed to generate guffaws and because it helps shield other Republicans who have similar views but manage to express them in ways that don't seem like mere verbal flatulence. When he takes on something serious, however, they let him get away with it.
Such is what he spouts about the current situation in Iraq. In response to a pre-feud query from Foxaganda's Megyn Kelly, he said:
It's the fault of Obama—there is no question. It's the fault of Bush for going in. It's the fault of Obama for getting out. It's a disaster—the war should have never happened. And then once it did happen, you should have at least left the troops in. So it's really a double fault.
Trump has been no slouch about excoriating the Bush administration for invading Iraq. Of course, punching Dubya provides The Donald with an opportunity to taint Jebya as well since he has given his brother good marks for the war. But whether or not you think President Obama has dealt with the Iran situation correctly over the past six-plus years, it's most certainly no blame on him that the troops were withdrawn. Corn points out:
George W. Bush, weeks before leaving the White House, signed an agreement with the Iraqi government to pull out US military personnel.
What's more interesting is that Trump used to have a very different take on what should be done about U.S. troops in Iraq. In an
interview with Wolf Blitzer in 2007, he said:
How do they get out? You know how they get out? They get out. That's how they get out. Declare victory and leave. Because, I'll tell you, this country is just going to get further bogged down. They're in a civil war over there, Wolf. There's nothing that we're going to be able to do with a civil war. They are in a major civil war. And it's going to go to Iran, and it's going to go to other countries. They are in the midst of a major civil war. By the way, we're keeping the lid on a little bit. But the day we leave anyway it's all going to blow up. And Saddam Hussein will be a nice person compared to the man...that takes over ... This is a total catastrophe, and you might as well get out now because you're just wasting time and lives.
Good advice. When blasting Obama these days, however, Trump fails to remind us that he gave that advice. What a handy thing is the short memory of so many Americans.