bmac32 Loc: West Florida

Former President George W. Bush, who before leaving office warned against withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq too early, told Fox News that America has since learned the "lesson" that Iraqis are not yet capable of providing for their own security.

The former president, who spoke with Fox News' Brian Kilmeade, reacted to President Obama's decision to launch airstrikes in Iraq -- and now Syria -- in a new war against the Islamic State.

Asked if the Iraqi people failed to seize the opportunity to build a new country, Bush stressed: "It's not over."

But he said the U.S. military intervention shows the Iraqi people still need help.

"The Iraqi people obviously are going to have to make a decision as to whether or not they want to live in peace," the former president said. "They're not ready to do it on their own, and that's the lesson we've learned recently."

Bush, in 2007, had delivered a prescient warning about what might happen if U.S. troops withdrew too early. He said at the time this would risk "mass k*****gs on a horrific scale" and potentially draw U.S. troops back into the country.

Those predictions have since come true.

Asked Thursday how he knew, Bush said: "I know the nature of the enemy."

"Anybody who k**ls 3,000 innocents and beheads people because of their religion or because of their point of view is dangerous," Bush said.

He said the long-term strategy to confront this threat and foster democracy "takes time," and lamented what he described as "impatience" with that process.

"Americans have got to understand that the lesson of 9/11 is still important today as it was right after 9/11, and that is the human condition elsewhere matters to our national security," he said.

Bush said he agreed with Obama's military advisers that the U.S. should have left a residual force when it pulled out at the end of 2011.

But he said he's not going to "second-guess our president -- I understand how tough the job is."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/02/bush-on-isis-america-has-learned-lesson-about-iraq/ video

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/09/11/bush-in-2007-delivered-eerily-accurate-warning-about-iraq-unrest/ warning and video

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

President Bush and I disagreed from time to time, but the man had character and dignity.

2 things that Obama could use.

JMHO Loc: Utah

Ditto!

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

bmac32 Loc: West Florida

Obama is missing his backbone, polls over what's right! Too bad Obama didn't listen or even use his head.

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

Yeah. It's easy for us, who have the luxury of sitting around and sift through facts and make up what we don't know. Bush jr., who got us INTO an unnecessary war, now looks pretty bright. Why are we now responsible for a whole other country? Oh yeah, that's right, some i***t talked us into invading it.

That's like taking security advice - from the secret service. I think we need advice from some winners, for a change, not a bunch of losers.

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

The war was not unnecessary. It was not as necessary as previously thought, but not unnecessary.

Saddam had thwarted UN inspections for over a decade. Saddam was threatening the region with WMDs. We only found out about their non existence after we invaded.

Saddam fired on American aircraft repeatedly. It was a matter of time until one was hit.

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

Oh Saddam had wmd's alright. I don't think that's the problem. The problem was, Bush gave Saddam over a year to get rid of them - and he did. Problem solved, but, we invaded anyway. Hindsight is always 20/20. Had Cheney known what would happen 12 years down the road, would he have talked Bush into invading anyway? Who knows?

It no longer matters whether we should have invaded or not - we did - and now the mess is ours We shouldn't have turned over the reins of power so early - we did - now the mess is ours. We shouldn't have worried whether we had permission from the Iraqi Government to keep occupation troops there - we did - so we didn't, now the mess is ours. We should have just packed up, gone home and divested ourselves of the mess we made - we didn't - so here we are again.

I just wish that all the lips flapping at THIS President, had done more lip flapping at the FORMER President. It probably wouldn't have changed anything, as Cheney was determined to invade Iraq, but it would make listening to the lips flapping now a little easier. Not that it matters, but I went on record in 2002 saying invading Iraq would be a huge mistake, by creating a permanent burden. Not because I'm prescient, but because I know the enemy.

JMHO Loc: Utah

Because you know the enemy??? Yeah, right. Oh, I forgot, you know everything...all one has to do is ask you. Talk about flapping lips......

Ricko Loc: Florida

ipnmajor-you know the enemy ? Do you really think that staying home and not invading Iraq would change the terrorists' desires to k**l all infidels? If you know the enemy, would it not be wise to stop allowing Muslims to immigrate to America ? Are the majority of Mosques built to worship Allah or to recruit for jihad ? The president has said the if the political winds shifted in a nasty direction he would side with the Muslims. Do you believe him? Is it possible that he wants to appear as being tough on terrorists while at the same time restraining American troops from k*****g Muslims ? Do you think terrorists can be appeased by being nice to them ? Do you think a Christian would feel comfortable living in a suburb of an American city with a large Muslim population ? Do you think that if the city/town where you lived were attacked by an arm of ISIS, that the Muslims living there would side with their fellow Americans or ISIS ? Do you think that it is possible for a radicalized Islamist to ignore the teachings of the Quran and not k**l all infidels ? Are Islamists not taught at a young age to h**e all non-believers ? What are the odds of ever changing that mindset ? Your views please. Good Luck America !!!

bmac32 Loc: West Florida

What was unnecessary about it or were you in favor of Saddam thumb in your eye. Don't hand me Saddam was ok and didn't need to go.

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

I think Saddam 'probably' did have WMDs and got rid of them, as you said. But the lead up was necessary. Since there was no immediate threat, it was the right thing to do.

And Bush didn't invade 'anyway'. It's not like he said he got rid of him, and it's not like a smart person would trust him.

And while I would agree that the Iraq war, like most, don't go according to plan, I don't think it was a mistake at all.

Had we not invaded, Saddam would still be destabilizing the area. And he would still be able to make more WMDs within a 2 months of our withdrawal from the area.

As I'm sure you know, Saddam had no stockpiles of WMDs, but he did keep his ability to make them on short notice.

bmac32 Loc: West Florida

Those stock piles were used by Syria and some may still being used.

LAwrence

The t***h is that we should never have gone there in the first place and we should stop playing world policeman and k*****g innocent people.

dennisimoto Loc: Washington State (West)

Guess we'd better ring up the leaders of ISIS/ISIL then? They seem to be the ones on the winning streak at the moment.

bmac32 Loc: West Florida

You folks seem to forget why we went in in the first place. The liberals would have you believe it was for oil. How many U.N. resolutions had Saddam broke?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctions_against_Iraq

These were UN sanctions not US sanctions!