Jeb Bush told Hugh Hewitt Wednesday that he would be able to "make tough decisions" regarding Iraq as commander-in-chief and that the legacy of both his father and brother would not deter him from making the right decision about waging a war against ISIS in Iraq.
A guest on Wednesday night's Hugh Hewitt radio show , Jeb Bush was again confronted by the question of whether or not his foreign policy approach would be impacted by his brother and father entering wars in Iraq should he take the White House. The question has become more relevant in light of the campaign against ISIS, which controls large sections of Iraq.
Hewitt posed the question a different way than other interviews. Rather than asking whether the Iraq wars of his family would make him quicker on the draw to begin a war in the Middle East, Hewitt wondered if it would make him "overly cautious" in his handling of Iraq.
Bush responded no. "I wouldn’t be conflicted by any legacy issues of my family," he said. "I don’t think there’s anything that relates to what my dad did or what my brother did that would compel me to think one way or the other."
Hewitt: Now, Governor Bush, what interests me about that is when you look forward into a possible third Bush presidency, not how the Iraq wars went or your opinion of your father’s order to invade Iraq, or your brother’s order to invade Iraq, but whether or not you’d be overly cautious about using force for fear of having a “third Bush war” occur?
Bush: No, that’s an interesting question, and I’m glad you asked it. It wouldn’t, if I was, if I decide to go forward with a race and I’m fortunate enough to go through that whole process, and God willing, win, then I would have a duty to protect the United States. And there are circumstances where a commander-in-chief, the president of the United States has to make tough decisions. And history’s full of examples of that. I wouldn’t be conflicted by any legacy issues of my family. I actually, Hugh, am quite comfortable being George Bush’s son and George Bush’s brother. It’s something that gives me a lot of comfort on a personal level, and it certainly wouldn’t compel me to act one way or the other based on the strategies that we would be implementing and the conditions that our country would be facing.
Hewitt: So a conservative who is a strong Defense conservative would not have to be hesitant to worry that you would be reluctant to use force anywhere, but especially in the Muslim world?
Bush: I don’t think there’s anything that relates to what my dad did or what my brother did that would compel me to think one way or the other. I think that history’s a good guide for our country. And the simple fact is you start with the premise that America’s role in the world is a force for good, not for bad things to happen, you’ll have, lessen the likelihood of having to use military force around the world. America’s foreign policy is more successful when we’re clear about who we’re supporting in terms of our allies, and that our enemies fear us a little bit rather than take advantage of us, to create insecurity that then compels the world and the United States to react. I think a better solution is to have a forceful foreign policy where we’re supportive of our friends, where there’s no light between our closest allies, like Israel, like our neighborhood, like NATO. These are the alliances that have kept us safe. And the more that people are assured of that, the more likely it is that we’ll live in a peaceful world.
Hewitt: In the Chicago Q&A portion, Governor, you also said of the Islamic State that we need to “restrain them, tighten the noose”. How would you go about doing that?
Bush: Well, this is one of the reasons why having an engaged foreign policy is important. We’ve now managed to lessen our relationship with Egypt, for example. And it wasn’t that long ago that President Obama was calling Erdogan his favorite Muslim leader. And the net result now is that we have less of a relationship with either one of those countries. The Persian Gulf countries also have, are very fearful of the commitment the United States has to the region. And so having to build the coalition that would be appropriate to tighten the noose around ISIS is much harder now because we disengaged. The first step is to rebuild confidence with countries that could play a key role in this. The United States can’t do this alone. No one believes that. But without American leadership, nothing’s going to happen.
