Donald Trump’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq is under scrutiny. During the 2002’s interview with Howard Stern, the Republican candidate campaigning for the next president’s elections said that he could have supported the Iraq invasion.
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Trump said in 2002 he was in favor of invading Iraq in an interview that was resurfaced by Buzzfeed on Thursday. “By the time the war started, I was against it, and shortly after, I was really against it”, he said.
Confronted with this contradiction at a SC town hall, Trump said he didn’t remember making the comment but admitted, “I could have said that…. Nobody asked me. I wasn’t a politician, it was probably the first time anybody asked me that question”. The invasion signaled the start of the Iraq War, which ended only in 2011, when the US forces were completely withdrawn from Iraq, except for servicemen at the US Embassy. And I was against it. Totally.
The Stern interview is in direct contrast with what Trump has been saying on the campaign trail, where he’s been touting his early opposition to the war as an example of his foreign policy “vision”. Trump also said that he would declassify the entire 9/11 Commission Report, telling Hannity “When that’s open, I think you’ll find out that Saudi Arabia had a lot to do with the ripping down of the World Trade Center”.
The muddled position emerged as Trump fended off criticism of his recent attacks against former President George W. Bush and his handling of the war in Iraq, which he has called “the worst decision in US history”.
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Trump also wondered why Bush invaded Iraq. “I could have said that”, Trump said, later saying that he “may have” made that statement. “I think he said something much softer than was originally reported by the media”.
