Trump expressed tepid support for the war in 2002, made both positive and negative comments about it in 2003, and was strongly opposed by 2004.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
For much of the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump has touted his early opposition to the Iraq war as evidence of his foreign policy judgment.
"I think it is important because it is about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, it is about judgment. Because what I said, you're going to destabilize the Middle East and that's what happened," Trump said in a September debate, asserting that he was against the war before it began.
Some of Trump's past statements, unearthed by BuzzFeed News, contradict his narrative that he was against the war before it began. Trump offered tepid support in September 2002, answering a question from Howard Stern on whether he would invade Iraq by saying "Yeah, I guess so." And one day into the war, Trump still called the invasion a "tremendous success from a military standpoint."
Trump did, however, express concerns about the invasion of Iraq by late March 2003 and repeatedly throughout the year. But many of his comments suggest he still supported aspects of the war, such as the toppling of Saddam Hussein. In April 2004 — again, in an interview on Howard Stern — Trump emerged as a staunch opponent of the war, and began to push the idea he was never a supporter, claiming, "I was never a fan."
Sept. 11, 2002: "Yeah, I guess so. I wish the first time it was done correctly."
Asked directly if he was for invading Iraq, Trump responded, "Yeah, I guess so. I wish the first time it was done correctly."
Trump was asked on Thursday by Anderson Cooper about these comments and replied that it was "probably the first time anyone has ever asked me that question."
"I could have said that," he said during CNN's Republican town hall. "Nobody asked me that. I wasn't a politician. It was probably the first time anyone has asked me that question."
He added, "When you're in the private sector, you get asked things, and you're not a politician, and probably the first time I was asked. By the time the war started, I was against it, and shortly thereafter, I was really against."
via BuzzFeed - Politics http://ift.tt/1TwLsoQ
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