Freudian Slip Much? George Bush Says 'Iraq' Invasion Was Brutal and Unjustified

After the unfortunate slip, Bush jokingly blamed the mistake on his age as the audience burst into laughter.

George W Bush's Freudian slip on Iraq

(Photo: Twitter screenshot)

Former United States President George W Bush made a major slip-up, denouncing the ‘wholly brutal unjustified invasion of Iraq’. The US had invaded Iraq in 2003 when Bush was the president.

He was quick to realise his error and immediately corrected himself saying he meant Ukraine.

Bush was speaking at an event in Dallas on Wednesday, 18 May 2022, and the Freudian slip happened while he was criticising Russia's political system and condemning Putin's invasion of its neighbour. He started by saying:

"Russian elections are rigged. Political opponents are imprisoned or otherwise eliminated from the electoral process. The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia."

Age To Blame?

"... and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq," the former US President said before pausing for a moment. Realising the ironic slip-up, he quickly said, "I mean, of Ukraine, heh...” correcting himself.

He then blamed the gaffe on his age. "Anyway… uh… 75," he said referring to his old age. And the audience burst into laughter.

Netizens Were Amused

The ironic gaffe turned eyeballs as soon as the less-than-a-minute clip from his full speech went viral on social media. It gathered over three million views on Twitter alone after the clip was tweeted by a Dallas News reporter. Some even condemned how Bush and the audience laughing in the end were making a mockery of invasion and deaths.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter screenshot)

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter screenshot)

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter screenshot)

In his speech, Bush also compared Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Britain's wartime leader Winston Churchill and slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine.

The Iraq Invasion

In 2003, US forces had invaded Iraq on the pretext that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction and harbouring terrorists. George Bush was the US president then. In the prolonged crisis, lakhs were killed and thousands displaced.

The former president shrugged and muttered under his breath, "Iraq, too," right after the Ukraine gaffe. Ironically after mass destruction and killings, no weapons of mass destruction were ever found!