Yrurtj

I was watching a campaign video from 2000, in it Bush clearly thinks the USA's position as the 'world police' or that their foreign intervention strategy, especially ones that instil virtues on other sovereign states, are ill advised.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsvf1HU0KHM

How is this reconciled with many choices he made as president, namely the Iraq war? Why did he change his tune?

On September 11th, 2001, terrorists from the Al Queda group flew passenger aircraft into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon.

This changed Bush's worldview.

Sept. 11 changed everything. It demonstrated with the utmost clarity that even if the US were to adopt a policy of nonintervention in the rest of the world, the rest of the world was not going to adopt a policy of nonintervention in the US.

The first change was in Afghanistan. The Taliban had largely ruled Afghanistan since about 1996. The US certainly didn't like them, but also didn't view them as America's problem.

On September 11, the NSA and German intelligence both intercepted communications pointing to Bin Laden. Some hijackers were identified while the planes were still in the air. Mohamed Atta's luggage, which did not make his flight, was also helpful.

Already on Semptember 12, many in the US suspected that he was to blame.

It also helped that the hijackers purchased their tickets using their real names. By September 14, the FBI released the names of the hijackers.

Also on Sept. 14, Congress passed a law authorizing the military to attack anyone associated with terrorists. The vote was 98-0 in the Senate and 420-1 in the House.

On Sept. 21, the Taliban refused a US demand to hand over Bin Laden. For Bush, that was plenty of reason to go to war. The US decision to overthrow the Taliban was supported by nearly everyone in the US.

Then there was Iraq. Although he was not involved in planning them, Saddam Hussein originally praised the attacks. Saddam had used chemical weapons during the war against Iran, and he was refusing to cooperate with inspectors who were supposed to verify that he had given them up. Some people reasoned, wrongly, that if he didn't have anything to hide, he would be cooperating with the inspectors. And Saddam had a history of supporting terrorists, for example paying $25,000 to the family of every Palestinian suicide bomber.

Based on this, Bush made a case for war against Saddam. That was hotly debated at the time. Most Republicans were in favor. Some Democrats, such as Hillary Clinton, were also in favor, while others, such as Barack Obama, were opposed.