George W Bush calls Iraq war ‘unjustified, brutal’ in Ukraine speech gaffe

NEW YORK

: Former US President

George W Bush

mistakenly described the invasion of Iraq as “brutal” and “unjustified” before correcting himself to say he meant to refer to

Russia

’s invasion of

Ukraine

.

Bush

made the comments in a speech on Wednesday, while he was criticising Russia’s political system.

“The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq,” Bush said, before correcting himself and shaking his head. “I mean, of Ukraine. ”

He jokingly blamed the mistake on his age as the audience burst into laughter. In 2003, when Bush was president, the US led an invasion of Iraq over weapons of mass destruction that were never found. The conflict killed thousands of people. The remarks went viral on social media and stoked anger among Iraqis who criticised the former president. “The moment of truth has come — the invasion of Iraq is a lifelong nightmare that plagues your conscience,” one user Hamza Qusai wrote.