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 Iraq is a tricky topic for Bush, given the dismay many Americans
still feel over the rationale for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq
ordered by his brother, former President George W. Bush, in 2003.
Mindful of those concerns, Jeb Bush used the bulk of a speech at the
Ronald Reagan presidential library not to dwell on the past but to
sketch out a future path for the United States in the region that is
more muscular than what he called President Barack Obama's
"minimalist approach of incremental escalation."
He said he would deploy some U.S. forces in Iraq as forward
"spotters" to help identify enemy targets, a step President Barack
Obama has resisted out of concern that it could deepen American
involvement in Iraq and Syria.
Bush said he would be willing to consider a small increase in U.S.
troops beyond those already there and embed some U.S. forces with
Iraqi units as Canadian forces are doing.
"Right now, we have around 3,500 soldiers and marines in Iraq, and
more may well be needed. We do not need, and our friends do not ask
for, a major commitment of American combat forces," he said.
He would provide more support to anti-Islamic State Kurds, and work
with regional allies to declare a no-fly zone in Syria to counter
Syrian President Hafez al-Assad's forces and Iranian influence.
Bush's criticism of Clinton's role in the events leading up to the
2011 withdrawal of U.S. forces is in line with what other
Republicans have contended, that for all her travels around the
world as Obama's first-term secretary of state from 2009 to 2013,
she showed a disdain for going to Iraq.
"In all her record-setting travels, she stopped by Iraq exactly
once," Bush said.
The attack comes after weeks in which the Republican race has been
dominated by Donald Trump's antics and taken the spotlight away from
the serious policy issues debated by Bush and his rivals for the
Republican presidential nomination.
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Bush is attempting to pierce what the Clinton camp feels is a major
selling point for her candidacy for the Democratic nomination, that
she is a foreign policy heavyweight. In doing so, he seeks to
present himself to Republican voters as a sturdy opponent for
Clinton in 2016.
Bush said a President Bush-ordered U.S. troop surge in 2007 brought
stability that would have been extended if Obama had negotiated a
U.S. residual force for Iraq. The Obama administration was unable to
negotiate a deal with then-Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and
the last troops were brought home in 2011.
"Where was Secretary of State Clinton in all of this? Like the
president himself, she had opposed the surge, then joined in
claiming credit for its success, then stood by as that hard-won
victory by American and allied forces was thrown away," Bush said.
In response, the Clinton campaign held a conference call for
reporters with her foreign policy adviser, Jake Sullivan.
Sullivan defended Clinton, saying she had accomplished a successful
transition from a U.S. military footprint in Iraq to a civilian one.
"The key issue is not how many times does the plane touch down at
the airport. It’s how intensive and effective is the engagement that
leads to progress," Sullivan said.
He said Jeb Bush was attempting to "rewrite history," and that
George W. Bush had set the 2011 date for a U.S. withdrawal.
(Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Ken Wills)
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