Watch: Ex-POTUS George W. Bush Admit ‘Brutal & Wholly Unjustified’ Invasion of Iraq in Freudian Slip

In footage that has since gone viral, the ex-POTUS made a verbal slip-up, confusing countries and tried to save face by jokingly referencing his own age.

• Former US President George W. Bush made a slip of the tongue when talking about the situation in Ukraine, where Russia has been conducting a special operation to demilitarise and de-Nazify the country.
• When addressing those gathered for an event on election integrity at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, the 75-year-old ex-POTUS echoed the West’s typical unfounded allegations against Moscow.

As he suggested that Russia’s electoral system had led to the Ukraine crisis, he said:
“Russian elections are rigged. Political opponents are imprisoned or otherwise eliminated from participating in the political process”, Bush told the crowd.

However, he then made a Freudian blunder, saying:

“The result is the absence of checks and balances in Russia and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq”.

Realising his gaffe, he then paused, adding, “I mean of Ukraine”. After that, Bush tried to gloss over his blunder by saying, “Anyways, I’m 75”.

One cannot help but wonder just how much of a slip-up his remark really was, though.
Back in 2003, then-President Bush announced an invasion of Iraq, stating in a televised address on 19 March that the goal was to help the Iraqi people “achieve a united, stable and free country”.

“We have no ambition in Iraq except to remove a threat and restore control of that country to its own people… . Our nation enters this conflict reluctantly — yet, our purpose is sure.

The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder”, George W. Bush said at the time.

America’s 43rd POTUS, who served from 2001 to 2009, blithely justified military force against Iraq with claims that its then-leader, Saddam Hussein, had accumulated stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction in the country.

On 5 February 2003, as the US was gearing up to invade Iraq, Secretary of State Colin Powell made a presentation at the United Nations Security Council, dramatically brandishing a small glass vial as proof that Saddam Hussein intended to use anthrax as a biological weapon that could be delivered against Iraq’s neighbours or the US by unmanned aerial vehicles.

“What we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence”, Powell insisted.

However, the latter was subsequently proven false, as no stockpiles of WMDs or an active WMD programme were ever found in Iraq, and intelligence reports that purportedly warranted the invasion were based on false information and forged documents.

Iraq, which had destroyed its special weapons in compliance with UN mandates, slammed Powell’s speech to the Security Council a “typical American show complete with stunts and special effects”.

Presidential adviser Lt. Gen. Amir al-Saadi also said the US violated UN Resolution 1441 by failing to provide evidence to United Nations inspectors.

The operation of the joint forces of the US and the anti-Iraqi coalition, known as Operation Iraqi Freedom, started on 20 March 2003 without approval from the UN. It was followed by Hussein’s execution in late 2006, prompting a spike in terrorist activity across the country, eventually paving the way for the creation of Daesh.