Detroit – Republican Jeb Bush stumbled on foreign policy in a big speech on Wednesday, telling a crowd that American diplomats have been withdrawn from Yemen, when in fact not all of them have been.
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Pressure from Islamic militants in the country has led to a diplomatic drawdown in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. While the U.S. embassy has stayed open, routine consular services to the public were halted.
Bush, at the Detroit Economic Club, criticized President Barack Obama’s handling of the Islamic State threat and cited the case of Yemen.
“As we pull back from the Middle East, look what happened. Look what happened with ISIS in Syria. Look what happened with ISIS in Iraq. The big, huge victory in Yemen that the president has talked about lasted about six months. Now we’ve closed the … there are no embassy personnel in Yemen’s capital. So we have to be engaged. And that doesn’t necessarily mean boots on the ground in every occurrence,” Bush said.
The speech was the first in a series aimed at defining why he is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination and what policies he would pursue if elected.
Bush is viewed as a front runner in the Republican race now that 2012 nominee Mitt Romney has decided against a third White House run. Bush leads national polls over a crowded field of potential rivals, including Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
The big problem on both ends is we need someone who thinks out of the box. There is no in the box simple way to defeat ISIS. These guys are sucidial and will fight to their deaths. How do you win people who have no value for life. You would need 5 Hirishoma’a to maybe win and take down millions of innocents in the process. Don’t foregt Japan still had their country to protect thus they had limits. But these guys don’t care at all. How do you win? I don’t have an answer but we do need an out of the box Regan type of guy to bring them down.
At least he didn’t claim to see Alaska from his house or forget which agencies he wanted to close as did previous Republican candidates. This guy is the only one in his family with any intellect.
Listening to this Bush speak, he needs a great deal of polish! Heaven help us find a strong conservative candidate because I don’t see how this country can survive eight more years of this with Hillary, or (gasp, chas veshalom, chas veshalom a million times) Jokin’ Joe Biden!
He is no rocket scientist but neither was his brother. The father was the real intellectual in the family. He is a good and decent man but so is Obama….what they all lack is the brilliance and charisma of Hillary who, b’YH, will be the next president of the U.S.
Leave it to Arab-owned reuters to make a big deal out of nothing, just to try to malign a republican.