While giving a speech at his presidential center in Dallas, former US President Georges W. Bush called the Iraq war the “decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion,” before swiftly correcting himself, as he meant to say Ukraine.
This slip of the tongue did not hold the former chief executive from adding, “Iraq, too, anyway,” under his breath in the midst of audiences’ uncomfortable laughter.
The gaffe made the rounds across social media, with US politicians from both ends of the political spectrum expressing disappointment and anger at the former commander in chief’s “non-chalant” belittlement of the devastation the US invasion caused.
The Iraq War officially began on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq, ironically named “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” under W.Bush’s leadership.
A US-led coalition against Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party invaded the middle-eastern country, despite the United Nations warnings, as the US maintained Hussein detained “weapons of mass destruction that posed an international threat to world and US security.”
Under the size of “preventive war,” the Bush administration falsely claimed to have evidence of Hussein’s nuclear and chemical weapons before the UN Security Council in 2002, which ended up never being found or uncovered.
Shortly after, then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was arrested and executed, but US troops remained in Irak until 18 December 2011.
In addition to the massive civilian death toll on the Iraqi side, and the devastating destabilizing effects of the invasion that are still being felt today, the US was exposed to having violated numerous human rights laws, including torturing detainees, unlawful imprisonement and displacing hundreds of thousands of families.
Looting, stealing, expropriating goods, Iraqi museums, oil reserves and plants was also among the most devastating results of the war.
Following his exit from office, Georges W. Bush has been attempting to rebrand himself as a simple man, likable almost, while promoting his childrens’ books and amateur paintings.
However, the ex-president’s latest gaffe recovers a painful history of impunity, unlawful aggression and the forgotten rights of millions of Iraqis who’s lives changed under the now 75-year-old retiree.
Former President George W. Bush: “The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean of Ukraine.” pic.twitter.com/UMwNMwMnmX
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) May 19, 2022
— Zack Bornstein (@ZackBornstein) May 19, 2022
Never forget… pic.twitter.com/3zaNIe7aPo
— IanG?? (@IanGCrypto) May 19, 2022
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