Michael Bloomberg says he doesn't regret supporting the Iraq War

Michael Bloomberg.
(Image credit: Melissa Gerrits/Getty Images)

Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg believes the U.S. invasion of Iraq was "a mistake," but doesn't regret supporting former President George W. Bush's decision to go to war.

The 2003 invasion came in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and Bloomberg told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that at the time, "America wanted to go to war, but it turns out it was based on faulty intelligence, and it was a mistake. But I think people that made the mistake did it honestly, and it's a shame, because it's left us entangled, and it's left the Middle East in chaos through today."

At the time, Bloomberg was the Republican mayor of New York City. He was a Democrat before that, became an independent in 2007, and returned to the Democratic Party in 2018. While he now sees the invasion as a grave error, he doesn't have any qualms with his previous support of it. "I don't live in a regret world and I didn't make that decision," he told the Times.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.