TRUMP ONCE AGAIN LIES ABOUT HIS SUPPORT FOR THE WAR IN IRAQ
It might just be Donald Trump’s favorite lie. Tonight, Trump once again claimed he was opposed to the war in Iraq from the beginning. It’s a claim that multiple independent fact checkers have debunked—and that Trump won’t stop repeating.
THE LIE: “I happen to hear Hillary Clinton say I was not against the war in Iraq, I was totally against the war in Iraq.”[ IAVA Forum, 9/7/16]
THE TRUTH: 2002: Donald Trump on whether he supported the Iraq War: “Yeah, I guess so.” “For months, Donald Trump has claimed that he opposed the Iraq War before the invasion began — as an example of his great judgment on foreign policy issues. But in a 2002 interview with Howard Stern, Donald Trump said he supported an Iraq invasion. In the interview, which took place on Sept. 11, 2002, Stern asked Trump directly if he was for invading Iraq. ‘Yeah, I guess so,’ Trump responded. ‘I wish the first time it was done correctly.’” [Buzzfeed, 2/18/16]
PolitiFact gave Donald Trump’s claim that he “was among the earliest to criticize the rush to war, and yes, even before the war ever started” a rating of “False.” “On the Iraq War, Trump said, ‘I was among the earliest to criticize the rush to war, and yes, even before the war ever started.’ The record just doesn’t support this. We could only find one example of Trump commenting on the Iraq War before the invasion where he seemed apprehensive but not vehemently opposed to the operation. In another interview, Trump said he supported the invasion. This claim rates False.” [PolitiFact, 6/22/16]
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PolitiFact: “There’s no evidence…that [Trump] advocated against the war in the first place, or that he was among the earliest to criticize the rush to war.” “Clearly Trump opposed the Iraq War in its early years. There’s no evidence, though, that he advocated against the war in the first place, or that he was among the earliest to criticize the rush to war.” [PolitiFact, 6/22/16]
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PolitiFact HEADLINE: “Trump still wrong on his claim that opposed Iraq War ahead of the invasion.” [PolitiFact, 6/22/16]
FactCheck.org: Donald Trump “has yet to provide any evidence” of his early opposition to the Iraq war, despite his claim that he could provide “25 different stories” proving it. “As we have said before, there is no evidence that Trump opposed the war before it started. We wrote a timeline of all Trump’s public comments that we could find in 2002 and 2003, and found no instances of Trump voicing his opposition before the war started on March 19, 2003. Trump has stated during primary debates that his opposition was ‘loud and clear’ and well covered by newspapers, claiming erroneously that he could provide ‘25 different stories’ to prove his opposition. He has yet to provide any evidence.” [FactCheck.org, 6/22/16]
CNN: “There’s no indication [Trump] said anything along the lines of ‘Do not attack Iraq’ before the invasion began.” “But these statements were made after the war began, mostly in 2004. There’s no indication he said anything along the lines of ‘Do not attack Iraq’ before the invasion began, as he has previously claimed.” [CNN, 6/22/16]
Donald Trump’s “detailed statement” to Esquire magazine in opposition to the Iraq War was made 18 months after the war began. “‘In August of 2004, very early, right after the conflict, I made a detailed statement to Esquire magazine in an interview [opposing the invasion].’ Trump clearly was outspoken about his opposition to the Iraq War starting in 2004, the year he reportedly considered a presidential bid. (Instead, he launched his popular TV series, ‘The Apprentice.’) Trump did sharply criticize the war in Iraq in the August 2004 cover story of Esquire magazine. But this was nearly 18 months after the invasion in March 2003. Trump also has pointed several times to a July 2004 Reuters article as proof he opposed the war from the outset. The Reuters article is a preview of the August 2004 Esquire cover story. Somehow, in Trump’s mind, 2004 has turned into 2003, and Trump now says he ‘was against the war from the very beginning,’ even prior to the March 2003 invasion.” [Washington Post, 8/16/16]
DONALD TRUMP CAN’T JUST “TAKE THE OIL”
Donald Trump has lied about oil and ISIS before, and he did it again. Trump repeated his claim tonight that the world “wouldn’t have ISIS” if our country “would’ve taken the oil.”
Fact check: False.
LIE:
Donald Trump: “I’ve always said, shouldn’t be there, but if we’re going to get out, take the oil. If we would’ve taken the oil, you wouldn’t have ISIS, because ISIS formed with the power and the wealth of that oil.” [IAVA Forum, 9/7/16]
THE TRUTH:
Washington Post Fact Checker said that Donald Trump’s claim that the U.S. “should have kept the oil in Iraq” was “nonsensical.” “‘I have long said that we should have kept the oil in Iraq.’ This is nonsensical. The Bush administration invested a lot of diplomatic effort in assuring Middle Eastern allies that the United States was not invading because of Iraq’s oil fields. Moreover, oil revenue was crucial to ensuring a functioning Iraqi state — which is why insurgents often targeted the oil sector in Iraq. In any event, seizing the oil of a sovereign nation after invading it would be considered a ‘grave breach’ of the Geneva Convention, one of the cornerstones of international law, as well as other international agreements. Maybe Trump’s staff should arrange a tutorial on international law.” [Washington Post, 8/16/16]
Donald Trump’s assertion that the U.S. should have taken Iraqi oil was a plan that would be in violation of the Geneva Conventions. “Seizing Middle Eastern oil is a decade-old Trump idea, but it contradicts both his own positions as well as international law. Trump is right that oil is a major source of funding for the terrorist group, but he’s not the only one aware of this. The United States has been targeting ISIS’ oil assets since the beginning of the air campaign in 2014. Trump did not detail how the United States would have been able to take and control the oil fields of a sovereign country, but it would have required invading Iraq (which Trump falsely says he was against from the beginning), maintaining a U.S. presence there and convincing the Iraqi government to give up their claims on their own resources. And there’s also the Geneva Conventions, which Trump has already proposed to violate by calling for the deaths of families of terrorists. International law prohibits destroying or seizing enemy property.” [PolitiFact, 8/15/16]
OUR MILITARY IS NOT “DEPLETED,” AS TRUMP SUGGESTED
The man who wants to be the United States’ Commander in Chief just lied–again– about the nation’s military, saying, “we have a depleted military.”
The world’s most powerful force is not something to make up your own ideas about, Mr. Trump.
LIE:
Donald Trump: “But Matt, we’ve also got to make America strong again. And right now we are not strong, believe me, we have a depleted military. We have the greatest people in the world in our military, but it is very sadly depleted.” [IAVA Forum, 9/7/16]
THE TRUTH:
The United States has the most powerful military in the world and in 2015 spent more on the military than the next seven biggest-spending nations combined. “THE FACTS: The U.S. continues to have the most powerful military in the world. Although defense spending has declined with the end of the war in Iraq and the drawdown of NATO forces in Afghanistan, in 2015 the United States still spent nearly $600 billion on its armed forces — more than the spending by the next seven biggest-spending nations combined. China, the second-biggest spender, has a defense budget less than a third of the Pentagon’s.” [Boston Globe, 7/21/16]
PolitiFact said that Donald Trump’s claim that our military has been “totally depleted” was untrue. “‘Our military’ has been ‘totally depleted.’ While military spending has decreased, the United States’ defense budget is larger than the next seven to eight countries combined. And while the number of ground troops and Navy ships have shrunk, size is no guarantee of military might. In fact, experts say the Army and Navy of today are much more capable than they were decades ago.” [PolitiFact, 6/22/16]