Jeb Bush doesn’t know when to quit:

Jeb Bush on Thursday said “taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be a pretty good deal” but then said he didn’t want to get into hypotheticals about what would’ve happened had the U.S. (under his brother) not invaded in 2003. “Then that’s back to the future and you could make a movie,” Bush said at a national security forum hosted by Politico.

That prompted me to say:

Jeb Bush’s definition of “good deal” = 100,000s killed, several million people displaced, trillions of dollars wasted — Daniel Larison (@DanielLarison) August 13, 2015

And that doesn’t even begin to cover the costs of the war that are still being amassed right now and in the years to come. Thanks to more than a decade of war following the invasion in 2003, Iraq has suffered extraordinary losses, and it will be very lucky if it becomes a peaceful country over the next twenty years. That doesn’t begin to sum up the extensive immiseration and worsened living conditions that the war has created or the enduring harm done to the environment and public health. Toppling Hussein wasn’t a “good deal” for Americans, and it certainly wasn’t for Iraqis. The Iraq war was an appalling, unnecessary disaster for all concerned, and anyone that doesn’t understand that should never be allowed near the presidency.