Former President George W. Bush, who led the United States into wars across the Middle East at the cost of at least 480,000 lives including thousands of Americans, teamed up with former President Bill Clinton to attack President Trump on Wednesday, arguing that wars are necessary “for the sake of peace.”
During a panel alongside former President Bill Clinton at the Nir School of the Heart, Bush laid into Trump for his recent decision to withdraw up to 1,000 American troops from Syria — fulfilling his longheld campaign pledge to stop the endless wars and bring troops home after more than a decade of war.
Bush, whose father George H.W. Bush openly called for a “New World Order” in a 1991 speech, used “doublespeak” worthy of Orwell while attacking Trump’s peaceful foreign policy.
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“An isolationist United States is destabilizing around the world,” Bush said, according to the Washington Post‘s Josh Rogin. “We are becoming isolationist and that’s dangerous for the sake of peace.”
However, many people questioned whether Bush should be lecturing anybody on “peace.”
Bush led the U.S. into war in Afghanistan and Iraq with deadly consequences for peace and stability in the region and at the cost of thousands of American lives.
More than 4,500 Americans died in Iraq — including more than 3,500 killed in active combat — and up to 205,000 Iraqi citizens died in his bloody war since it began in March 2003.
In total, Bush’s wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and intervention in Pakistan have resulted in the deaths of between 480,000 and 507,000 people — including nearly 7,000 American soldiers who were deployed to the Middle East hotspots.
Today, the vast majority of American veterans and U.S. citizens say that Bush’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were “not worth fighting”, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Likewise, nearly six-in-ten Americans say U.S. military intervention in Syria is “not worth fighting” or risking more American lives.
Bush also told the audience at the Nir School that his “biggest regret” from his time as president was not passing an amnesty for the estimated 11 to 22 million undocumented immigrants living illegally in the United States, seemingly attacking Trump’s focus on enforcing immigration law and securing the border.
“We are a nation of immigrants but the language coming out of the system today is rejecting immigration,” Bush said, receiving approval and applause from Bill Clinton.
Bush’s continued attacks on President Trump and his “America First” agenda stand in contrast to his silence and refusal to denounce the far-left policies of the Obama administration.
“I don’t think it’s good for the country to have a former president undermine a current president,” Bush said in 2014. “I think it’s bad for the presidency for that matter.”
