Despite errors made by both Republicans and Democrats on Iraq, the question now is how the United States addresses the current crisis in the Middle East country, said talk show host and former Florida Republican Rep. Joe Scarborough.
"Iraq has made fools of us all," Scarborough said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Thursday. "Republicans got it wrong. And, a lot of Democrats, like [former Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton, [Secretary of State] John Kerry, [former North Carolina Democratic Sen. and presidential candidate] John Edwards, [former Vice President] Al Gore, [former President] Bill Clinton, got it wrong."
Story continues below video.
Militant insurgents with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have overtaken major cities and regions of Iraq. President Barack Obama has said he is mulling various options for
U.S. involvement to address the crisis.
Republicans were wrong about the existence of weapons of mass destruction, the reason cited for the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the talk show host said. Democrats were incorrect about the success of the surge in 2007 and the U.S. troop pullout from Iraq in 2011, Scarborough said.
"If I were a Republican I'd keep my mouth shut. Just like if I were a Democrat, I'd keep my mouth shut, getting the surge wrong and getting the withdrawal of Iraq wrong," he said. "I've said stupid things about Iraq. I think everybody said stupid things about Iraq."
Former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney "committed the original sin, the great sin of going into Iraq," Scarborough said. But he said Obama also shared the blame for the country's current strife.
"I think history will show, terrible decisions made by this administration, as well, as a contributing factor [of] what's going on in the Middle East," he said.
"We can tell people you're not allowed to talk because you got it wrong in 2003, or you got it wrong in 2007, or you got it wrong in 2011. Or, we can do what [California Democratic Sen.] Dianne Feinstein and other people are doing and say, 'We've got to come together, and we've got to figure out how to do this right,'" he said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.