WTF!!! Look At What Former U.S. President George W. Bush Just Said!

Former U.S. President George W. Bush: "The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean, of the Ukraine" pic.twitter.com/IanADTcAg6

— BNO News (@BNONews) May 19, 2022

WNU Editor: Quoting Buddha. "When I point a finger at you I am pointing 3 at myself".

Neither Former Presidents George HW Bush Or George W Bush Will Endorse Donald Trump

The Guardian: Neither George HW nor George W Bush will endorse Donald Trump

Non-endorsements come as Trump has become presumptive nominee and many have tried to come to terms with fact that he will be party’s standard-bearer

Neither George HW nor George W Bush, the only two living former Republican presidents of the United States, will endorse Donald Trump.

In statements released to the Guardian on Wednesday evening, spokesmen for both former presidents said they would be sitting out the 2016 election. Freddy Ford, a spokesman for George W Bush, told the Guardian: “President George W Bush does not plan to participate in or comment on the presidential campaign.”

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WNU Editor: This is only going to help Donald Trump.

More News On Presidents George HW Bush And George W Bush Not Willing To Endorse Donald Trump

Former presidents Bush plan to sit out 2016 general election -- FOX News
Former Republican presidents will not endorse Trump -- BBC
Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush Stay Clear of WH Race -- NBC News
Bush 41, 43 won't be endorsing Trump -- USA Today
George W. Bush said to be not commenting on Trump victory -- AP

Former President Bush Bashes President Obama's Middle East Strategy

President Bush is seen here in 2008 with Democrat candidate Barack Obama. The Telegraph

Josh Rogin, Bloomberg: George W. Bush Bashes Obama on Middle East

In a closed-door meeting with Jewish Donors Saturday night, former President George W. Bush delivered his harshest public criticisms to date against his successor on foreign policy, saying that President Barack Obama is being naïve about Iran and the pending nuclear deal and losing the war against the Islamic State.

One attendee at the Republican Jewish Coalition session, held at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas with owner Sheldon Adelson in attendance, transcribed large portions of Bush’s remarks. The former president, who rarely ever criticizes Obama in public, at first remarked that the idea of re-entering the political arena was something he didn’t want to do. He then proceeded to explain why Obama, in his view, was placing the U.S. in "retreat" around the world. He also said Obama was misreading Iran’s intentions while relaxing sanctions on Tehran too easily.

According to the attendee's transcription, Bush noted that Iran has a new president, Hassan Rouhani. “He's smooth," Bush said. "And you’ve got to ask yourself, is there a new policy or did they just change the spokesman?”

Update #1: In Rare Remarks, George W. Bush Argues Against the Lifting of Iran Sanctions -- New York Times
Update #2: George W. Bush, saying voters do not like dynasties, plans to stay off campaign trail -- Washington Post

WNU Editor: Former President Bush is also critical of Russian President Putin ....

.... Bush told several anecdotes about his old friend and rival Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bush recalled that Putin met his dog Barney at the White House and then later, when Bush went to Moscow, Putin showed him his dog and remarked that he was “bigger stronger and faster than Barney.” For Bush, that behavior showed him that Putin didn’t think in “win-win” terms.

Bush also remarked that Putin was rich, divorced his wife and loves power. Putin’s domestic popularity comes from his control of Russian media, according to Bush. "Hell, I'd be popular, too, if I owned NBC news," he said.

What's my take .... if his brother was not running for the Presidency, former President Bush would not be making these remarks. The Bush family .... when it comes to politics .... always do things for a reason, and in this case he is laying the groundwork for the time when his brother gets asked about policies that the former President implemented when he was in the Oval Office.

Former President George W. Bush Comments On The U.S. War Against The Islamic State

Bush On ISIS: America Has Learned 'Lesson' About Iraq -- FOX News

Former President George W. Bush, who before leaving office warned against withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq too early, told Fox News that America has since learned the "lesson" that Iraqis are not yet capable of providing for their own security.

The former president, who spoke with Fox News' Brian Kilmeade, reacted to President Obama's decision to launch airstrikes in Iraq -- and now Syria -- in a new war against the Islamic State.

Asked if the Iraqi people failed to seize the opportunity to build a new country, Bush stressed: "It's not over."

But he said the U.S. military intervention shows the Iraqi people still need help.

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More News On Former President George W. Bush's Comments To FOX News

Exclusive: George W. Bush on ISIS Threat, Secret Service Shakeup, and Talks with Obama -- FOX News
Bush: America Has Learned Its ‘Lesson’ That Iraq Needs U.S. Support -- CBS
George W. Bush Says Americans Just Need To Have More Patience With Iraq -- Huffington Post
George W Bush: ‘Not Gonna Second Guess’ Obama on Iraq -- Mediaite
George W. Bush to Fox News: 'I'm not gonna second guess our president' -- The Week
Bush: It 'doesn't hurt my feelings' that Obama doesn't call -- The Hill
Fox News’ absurd George Bush interview: Applauds W. for his handling of Iraq! -- Salon
GW Bush says Jeb 'wants to be president' but 'I don't think he liked it that his older brother was pushing him' -- Daily Mail

President George W. Bush's Chilling Warning On Iraq In 2007

My Comment: I am not a fan of President Bush .... but what he said and outlined in 2007 .... is happening today.

Former President Bush Defends President Obama's Handling Of The NSA Controversy

Bush Defends NSA Program, Obama’s Stance -- Wall Street Journal

Former president George W. Bush criticized Edward Snowden and expressed confidence that the Obama administration would appropriately handle the controversy about its surveillance tactics in an interview filmed Sunday with CNN in Zambia.

Speaking to CNN’s Robyn Curnow, Mr. Bush said Mr. Snowden, the former CIA employee who leaked classified National Security Agency information, had “damaged the security of the country.” Mr. Bush said he was sure the administration would “deal” with the aftermath of the leaks, and said he approved of the NSA’s tactics. “I think there needs to be a balance, and as the president explained, there is a proper balance,” he said. The full interview is airing later Monday.

Mr. Bush particularly defended the NSA program tracking Internet activity. “I put that program in place to protect the country,” he said. “One of the certainties was that civil liberties were guaranteed.”

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More News On President Bush Comments On The NSA Program

George Bush: No regrets over PRISM spy program -- CNet
Bush: ‘Civil liberties were guaranteed’ when I started NSA tracking -- MSNBC
George W. Bush: Edward Snowden ‘damaged’ security -- Politico
Bush: Snowden 'damaged the country' with leaks -- USA Today
CNN exclusive: George W. Bush on Mandela, Snowden and his legacy -- CNN
Bush: Snowden ‘damaged the security of the country’ -- RT
Bush defends surveillance programs, says Snowden ‘damaged’ U.S. -- Washington Post

Five Ways Bush's Policies Changed World

A wartime president: George W. Bush’s foreign policy was dominated by the global war on terror and the war in Iraq. AFP/Getty Images/Newscom

From The Christian Science Monitor:

The Iraq war dominated his presidency, but it isn't the only signature foreign-policy event of his tenure.

Washington - Of all President Bush's foreign-policy decisions, the one to invade Iraq and topple dictator Saddam Hussein will no doubt have the greatest and broadest impact in the years to come.

The unfinished Iraq war – from its staggering cost to the way it distracted America from other global issues to its unintended result of elevating Iran as a regional power – has come to define the Bush presidency, at least in the arena of international affairs. If a stable and relatively democratic Iraq eventually emerges from the initially chaotic venture, Mr. Bush's stock – and his legacy – will rise.

But as of this moment, the president's venture in Iraq is described variously as "a colossal blunder" and, a bit more charitably, as a failure to recognize the advent of a geopolitical shift in which superpower muscularity was giving way to a more multipolar world.

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My Comment: The response to the world's financial/credit crisis is another policy that I would add.

Two Advisers Reflect On Eight Years With Bush

President George W. Bush speaks on the phone with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad from his office Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008, at the ranch in Crawford, Texas, discussing ways to stop the violence in the Gaza Strip. White House photo by Eric Draper

From The Washington Post:

White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten and national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley remember conferring with President Bush during the darkest days of the Iraq war, in 2005 and 2006, when violence was out of control. In daily 7 a.m. meetings in the Oval Office, Bush reviewed "blue sheets" detailing incidents involving U.S. soldiers; he would circle the casualty figures and press his top aides for details about the deaths.

"It was pretty grim news," Hadley recalled last week. For him, however, the sessions underscored the president's focus. "This notion that somehow the president didn't know what was going on, information was withheld from him in some way, he didn't have a picture of what was going on: He got that picture" -- Hadley smacked his palms together for emphasis -- "at 7 o'clock every morning."

Few officials have had a closer view of the Bush presidency over the past eight years than Bolten and Hadley, who are among the handful of senior staffers who entered the White House with Bush in 2001 and will exit with him Jan. 20. Though the two Washington veterans did not meet Bush until his first presidential campaign, they developed a special loyalty to the president, seeking to keep his administration on an even keel through the turmoil of Iraq, Hurricane Katrina and the financial crisis that struck last year. The two men remained, even as well-known members of Bush's longtime Texas mafia -- Karl Rove, Karen Hughes and others -- moved on.

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My Comment: No surprises here. If there is a surprise .... it is the Washington Post publishing this story.

I Think I Was Unprepared For War -- President Bush

Bush: 'I Did Not Compromise My Principles' -- ABC News

President George W. Bush Says He Will Leave Office With 'Head Held High'

Looking back on his eight years in the White House, President George W. Bush pinpointed incorrect intelligence that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction as "biggest regret of all the presidency."

"I think I was unprepared for war," Bush told ABC News' Charlie Gibson in an interview airing today on "World News."

"In other words, I didn't campaign and say, 'Please vote for me, I'll be able to handle an attack,'" he said. "In other words, I didn't anticipate war. Presidents -- one of the things about the modern presidency is that the unexpected will happen."

Bush, who has been a stalwart defender of the war in Iraq and maintaining U.S. troop presence there, said, in retrospect, the war exceeded his expectations.

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My Comment: My father fought on the Russian front (in the Soviet Army) for four years during the Second World War. As he once remarked to me .... war is not a natural human endeavor .... you can never be prepared for it.

President Bush Completely Snubbed By Other World Leaders At The G20 Picture Taling

Either way, as the Huffington Post points out, not a single world leader made an effort to shake his hand.