Former top U.S. general in Iraq war says Jeb Bush is wrong to blame Obama

Jeb Bush tries to blame the situaion in Iraq on President Obama, saying that the 2007 troop surge ordered by his brother worked and that Obama's decision to pull troops out in 2011 was a mistake that resulted in the current instability in Iraq and the rise of ISIS. 

U. S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno, who was the highest-ranking officer in Iraq during part of that time, sought "to set the record straight."

"I remind everybody that us leaving at the end of 2011 was negotiated in 2008 by the Bush administration. That was always the plan, we had promised them that we would respect their sovereignty."   When the Iraqis refused an agreement that would exempt remaining American troops from Iraqi law beyond the 2011 deadline, we had no choice but to follow the withdrawal timetable.

Typical of the Bush family mindset -- talk tough and blame anything bad on the other guy -- Jeb says Obama should have renegotiated the agreement in 2011 and just forced the Iraqi's to agree.   What about our promise to respect their sovereignty?  And then Jeb accuses the Obama administration of "rewriting history."

He says removing Saddam Hussein "turned out to be a pretty good deal."  He thinks the "mission was accomplished" by the time his brother left office, and he said he won't rule out waterboarding as an interrogation technique.

Jeb Bush is the one who is rewriting the history of the Iraq War -- just as his brother did and continues to do, trying to overlook the fact that the "faulty intelligence" was entirely the fault of Cheney and his neo-con minions got exactly the "faulty intelligence" they demanded from a reluctant CIA.  

Jeb's war-mongering tone is not as belligerent as some of his fellow Republican candidates;   but his Middle East policy would not differ very much.   Don't be misled.   Another Bush in the White House means neo-cons controlling the foreign policy.   He already has on his advisory team Paul Wolfowitz, one of the neo-con architects of the Iraq debacle.

Ralph