At a town hall event in Bluffton, South Carolina today Donald Trump expounded on his remarks about George W. Bush, his handling of the 9/11 terrorist attack and the invasion of Iraq. Trump said all he is doing is telling the truth and he doesn't care if Bush is insulted because he made "one of the worst decisions in the history of the country."



"You know, if Bush is insulted, I don't care if he's insulted," Trump said Wednesday. "It was a horrible mistake. We should have never been there. Somebody says, oh, that's not good to criticize? I say criticize? It's one of the worst decisions in the history of the country. We have totally destabilized the Middle East."



"We spent $2 trillion," Trump said about the Iraq war. "Could have rebuilt our country. We could have done so much with that money. And instead, we're worse in the Middle East than we were 15 years ago. Right now, it's a disaster."



"People don't realize Iraq has the second largest oil reserves in the world. So we took -- we just hand it to them on a silver platter. How could we have been so stupid? Very sad. I mean, honestly, to me, it's a sad subject to talk about," Trump told the town hall audience.



Trump said Saddam Hussein kept Iraq in check and was good at killing terrorists and after the U.S. removed Hussein from power Iraq turned into "Harvard" for terrorists.



"Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, but you know what he was good at? Killing terrorists. He was killing terrorists," Trump said.



"Now, Iraq is Harvard for terrorists. If you want to be a terrorist, you go to Iraq. It's Harvard," Trump told the audience.



Trump said Iran is finally getting what it wants: Iraq.



"We spent all this money, lost all these lives, have all these wounded warriors. What did we get? Iran is taking over. Not only did they get the $150 billion in the stupid deal we made, one of the dumbest deals ever, but now we're taking over Iraq, they have been fighting for years to try to take each other other," Trump said.





TRUMP: I'm finding out all I can do is tell the truth. I tell the truth about Iraq. I say the war was a disaster. We spent $2 trillion. Lost thousands of lives, thousands of lives. We have wounded warriors all over the place. These guys have more courage than all of us put together. I have to tell you. All of us. And you know, I said we should have never been there. And you know, if Bush is insulted, I don't care if he's insulted. It was a horrible mistake. We should have never been there. Somebody says, oh, that's not good to criticize? I say criticize? It's one of the worst decisions in the history of the country. We have totally destabilized the Middle East.



I predicted that was going to happen. Because when you knock down the one power, the other power just took it over. Now Iran is taking over Iraq. Just as sure as you're sitting there. We don't even have anything to do with Iraq anymore. We're gone. But think of it. We spent $2 trillion. Could have rebuilt our country. We could have done so much with that money. And instead, we're worse in the Middle East than we were 15 years ago. Right now, it's a disaster.



Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, but you know what he was good at? Killing terrorists. He was killing terrorists. Now, Iraq is Harvard for terrorists. if you want to be a terrorist, you go to Iraq. It's Harvard. And what did we do? You know, we spent all this money, lost all these lives, have all these wounded warriors. What did we get? Iran is taking over. Not only did they get the $150 billion in the stupid deal we made, one of the dumbest deals ever, but now we're taking over Iraq, they have been fighting for years to try to take each other other.