Sen. Ted Cruz said Tuesday that given “what we know now,” he never would have ordered the U.S. military to invade Iraq.
“Knowing what we know now, of course we wouldn’t go into Iraq,” the Texas Republican presidential candidate told The Hill.
“At the time, the intelligence reports indicated that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction that posed a significant national security threat to this country,” Mr. Cruz said. “That’s the reason there was such widespread bipartisan support for going into Iraq.
“We now know in hindsight, those intelligence reports were false,” he added. “Without that predicate, it is difficult to imagine the decision would have been made to go into Iraq, and that predicate proved erroneous.”
His remarks come as Jeb Bush tries to walk back comments defending the 2003 invasion launched by his brother, George W. Bush, The Hill reported.
Mr. Bush initially told Fox News Monday that he would have ordered troops into Iraq, “and so would have Hillary Clinton, just to remind everyone.”
After receiving backlash from prominent voices on the right, Mr. Bush told Sean Hannity on Tuesday that “clearly there were mistakes” leading up to the war, but he refused to answer a hypothetical on whether he would invade today given what he knows now.
Mr. Cruz said Tuesday he was satisfied with Mr. Bush’s response and refrained from criticizing his Republican rival, The Hill reported.
“My understanding is that his team today walked that back and said that Gov. Bush had misunderstood the question,” he said. “I certainly take him at his word.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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