At Iowa dinner, Rand hits Jeb on Iraq as Graham returns the favor

DES MOINES, Iowa — Sen. Rand Paul was alone among the 11 Republicans who spoke here at the Iowa Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner Saturday night in taking a shot at Jeb Bush over his comments last week about the Iraq War.

“We had a question this week that was asked to a certain candidate who used to be the governor of Florida who’s running in the Republican primary,” Paul said. “And the question was: Knowing what you know now do you think it was a good idea to topple Hussein, to begin the war in Iraq?”


Bush, of course, has spent the week backpedaling after initially telling Megyn Kelly in a Fox News interview that he would have authorized military force in Iraq even “knowing what we know now”; four days after the interview aired, Bush acknowledged that he would not, in hindsight, have made the same call as his brother did.

“He fumbled around, and I think he had four or five different questions on four or five different days. But one of his responses was a very defensive response: ‘Well, that’s hypothetical. What would that have to do with this election?’ I think the question has everything to do with this election.”

Paul then pivoted and turned his attacks on Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, who he said needs to answer difficult questions herself.

“I’ve got a question for Hillary Clinton: Was it a good idea going to Libya? Was it a good idea to topple Gaddafi?” Paul said, referring to Libya’s former dictator. “It’s the same answer: No.”

Paul argued that the terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi “should forever preclude” Hillary Clinton from holding higher office, before implicating Bush and the rest of his more hawkish rivals for a more bellicose approach to foreign policy.

“We ought to think before we act,” he said.

Taking the stage 10 minutes after Paul, Lindsey Graham went out of his way to defend Bush, blaming the unraveling of stability in Iraq on President Barack Obama, not George W. Bush.

Graham, who has made a habit of trolling the Kentucky senator, also mocked Paul’s focus on civil liberties, picking up on his statement that the federal government should still “call a lawyer” to get a warrant before arresting terrorists instead of illegally spying.

“I’m not going to call a judge,” said Graham. “I’m going to call a drone and kill you.”