George W. Bush condemns ‘unjustified and brutal’ invasion of Iraq in speech mix-up

Former President George W. Bush slipped up during a speech on Wednesday about Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, condemning instead the “unjustified and brutal” invasion of Iraq.

The comment came as Bush, who has been mocked over the years for his verbal stumbles, was criticizing Russia’s electoral system and the country’s history of imprisoning or eliminating political opponents in some other manner from participating in elections.

“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 in Dallas.

“I mean, of Ukraine,” he said, before adding, “Iraq, too. Anyway—”

The former president shrugged off his gaffe by making a joke about his age.

“I’m 75,” he said, prompting laughter from the audience.

Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003 in pursuit of weapons of mass destruction has been widely condemned over the years by critics for being an unjustified invasion.