Jeb Bush says Iraq invasion a mistake

Republican White House prospect Jeb Bush says that given the benefit of hindsight it was a mistake to invade Iraq.

US president prospect Jeb Bush. Source: AP

Jeb Bush says it was a mistake to invade Iraq.

The Republican White House prospect on Thursday clarified his position on the war his brother authorised.

The former Florida governor ended several days of confusion about his foreign policy while campaigning in Arizona.

Bush said that given the benefit of hindsight, "I would have not gone into Iraq."

In interviews earlier in the week, Bush refused to say whether he would have launched the 2003 invasion if he'd been in President George W. Bush's shoes.

He said he was reluctant to say the invasion was the wrong decision because he didn't want to dishonour the lives of American troops killed there.

The justification for the war was based on faulty intelligence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.