George W. Bush Rips ‘Brutal Invasion of Iraq—I Mean of Ukraine’

Heckuva job, Dubya. While speaking Monday evening during an event at his presidential library in Dallas, former President George W. Bush made an awe-inducing verbal flub, turning the monumentally disastrous and deadly war he oversaw into an awkward punch line. While condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bush lamented “an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq,” before quickly shaking his head and correcting himself: “I mean, of Ukraine.” He then appeared to mutter “Iraq, too—anyway” in a jokey manner, eliciting laughter from his audience. “I’m 75,” he added to further chuckles. The ex-president was perhaps lucky his whoopsie came before a friendly crowd at Southern Methodist University, otherwise the moment would’ve been a shoe-in for some jeers.