Trump Wrote WMDs In Iraq Were A Threat A YEAR Before Bush Was Prez!
El Trumpo’s entire debate performance was a long shriek that “Bush LIED!” about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but it turns out that the Donald believed WMDs were a threat in Iraq and we needed to do something about it – a year before Bush got into office.
From Buzzfeed:
The week the war started Trump was quoted as saying it was turning into a “mess” but also said the war would positively impact the stock market, causing it “to go up like a rocket.”
Similarly his 2000 book, The America We Deserve Trump noted Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction and targeted Iraq strikes had little impact on their overall capabilities. The Donald said the best course might be against Iraq to “carry the mission to its conclusion.”
Here’s the relevant section from his book:
Consider Iraq. After each pounding from U.S . warplanes, Iraq has dusted itself off and gone right back to work developing a nuclear arsenal. Six years of tough talk and U.S. fireworks in Baghdad have done little to slow Iraq’s crash program to become a nuclear power. They’ve got missiles capable of flying nine hundred kilometers—more than enough to reach Tel Aviv. They’ve got enriched uranium. All they need is the material for nuclear fission to complete the job, and, according to the Rumsfeld report, we don’t even know for sure if they’ve laid their hands on that yet.
That’s what our last aerial assault on Iraq in 1999 was about. Saddam Hussein wouldn’t let UN weapons inspectors examine certain sites where that material might be stored. The result when our bombing was over? We still don’t know what Iraq is up to or whether it has the material to build nuclear weapons. I’m no warmonger. But the fact is, if we decide a strike against Iraq is necessary, it is madness not to carry the mission to its conclusion. When we don’t, we have the worst of all worlds: Iraq remains a threat, and now has more incentive than ever to attack us.
But that won’t stop him from pretending he knew all along that there weren’t any WMDs, and that the Iraq War was going to be a flop. Buzzfeed then points out that there is no record of opposition to the war from the Donald until AFTER it started and when it was clear that it was failing to be a “slam dunk” that George Tenet promised.
When pressed about this by John King, Trump gave a disjointed incoherent dodge.