Trump's views in 2006.
6/23/2006, "'President' Trump: Leave Iraq ASAP," NewsMax.com, Ronald Kessler
"He may be the country's best known businessman, but Donald Trump is no stranger to politics – and unafraid to speak his mind on hot topics.
In an interview with NewsMax, Trump dives into the brewing maelstrom over the continuing prosecution of the Iraq war. And the Donald has some "you're fired"-style advice for Congress and the president: the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq
"as soon as practicable."
No matter what, Trump argues, a new Saddam Hussein will eventually take over the country.
In a NewsMax interview Trump wouldn't say if he is planning on a presidential run – he toyed with the idea before the 2000 election – but he has plenty of thoughts about what he would do if he were president.
U.S. involvement in Iraq tops his agenda. The multi-billionaire real estate tycoon and star of NBC's "The Apprentice" said, "I would get out of Iraq as soon as possible consistent with the practicalities of a bad situation."
Trump dismissed worries of a civil war. "The same thing that is going to happen if we leave later. They are going to govern anyway with people who would make Saddam Hussein look like a nice guy."
Trump added that he was never a fan of the war in the first place.
"I think the war was a mistake," he said. "They did not have weapons of mass destruction. Saddam was not the prettiest leader, but I never felt they [Iraqis] were the problem in the world."
Trump is not calling for an immediate withdrawal. "We're stuck there," Trump said. "We can't just leave. But I would leave pretty quickly."
President Bush has indicated that he wants U.S. troops to stay in Iraq until conditions on the ground allow a stable government to take over without American military assistance or until the Iraqis ask Americans to leave.
Trump believes the Bush plan won't work.
"It's being held together by sugar candy. No matter what happens, I believe Iraq will fall again. I think when we leave, the country will be in chaos, and the modern day version of Saddam Hussein will take over again. We're in a war we shouldn't be in. We have bigger fish to fry."
What are those "bigger fish"?
Trump says bluntly: "We have North Korea and Iran to worry about."
Beyond Iraq, a "President" Trump has a few other agenda items. For instance he's worried about the real estate market.
"If I were president, I would be fighting hard to stop raising interest rates because eventually the economy will be killed," Trump said.
Another pocket-book issue he says all Americans are being hit with is gas prices.
"I would fight hard to reduce oil prices. There's no doubt in my mind that the right chief executive could have a substantial impact on oil prices by telling the oil-producing states that it's time to start cutting [prices] or else.
They're making more money than any country has ever made in the history of the world.""
1/14/11, Trump says he favors a strong military, stronger than what we have now. But in Iraq he says we're just policemen and Iran will likely take over when we leave anyway.
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2/8/07, "How the US sent $12bn in cash to Iraq. And watched it vanish," Guardian UK
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8/28/10, "Iraq official sells stolen US computers," AFP, The Age, Australia
"An Iraqi official stole US-purchased computers worth almost $US2 million destined for schoolchildren and sold them off for less than $US50,000, the US army says."...
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11/9/10, "In Iraq, Christians fear they could be wiped out – like Jews before them," CS Monitor
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3/3/11, "Highway Robbery! U.S. Losing Hundreds of Millions To Rampant Afghan Fuel Theft," TPM Daily News
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5/2/11, Muslim "Brotherhood: U.S. troops should now quit Iraq, Afghanistan," Reuters
""With Bin Laden's death, one of the reasons for which violence has been practiced in the world has been removed," Essam al-Erian, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's governing body, told Reuters.
"It is time for Obama to pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq and end the occupation of U.S. and Western forces around the world that have for so long harmed Muslim countries," he said."...
via Poynter.org/Romenesko
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