"Are we about to be drawn back into a conflict in Iraq?" Smith asked. "The same people who 12 years ago told us this will be quick, this will be easy, this will be inexpensive, they will see us as liberators, it's the right thing to do, are now telling us, 'It's the right thing to do.' What's the endgame? Who's thought this through?"
Smith argued the Iraq war provided a valuable history lesson: the George W. Bush administration led the U.S. into a war that exacted a heavy toll on all sides of the conflict for many years.
Talking Points Memo notes that Smith later told Fox News' Chris Wallace that he hasn't forgotten "being bamboozled" by the Bush administration's justification for invading Iraq.
"Well, I remember it. I think it would be wrong for us to just sit around and listen and not ask big questions," Smith said.
Smith's concern about a repeat of the 2003 Iraq War wasn't shared by some lawmakers. On Thursday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. called for the resignation of Obama's national security team for their cautious approach to getting involved in the latest conflict in Iraq. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, accused the president of "taking a nap" as unrest spread.
On Friday, Obama announced that he is considering options on how the U.S. can assist Iraq, but held that "we will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat."
Smith once again proved that he isn't afraid to deviate from other conservatives with his remarks on Obama's approach to the Iraq conflict, as he did in endorsing Obama's stance on same-sex marriage and when Smith provided a contrast to his network's view on the released American prisoner of war, Bowe Berghdahl. Smith's warning against jumping into the conflict in Iraq echoed that of MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, who warned that the people who "most aggressively argued that we ought to start the Iraq War in 2003" should not be trusted when calling for intervention now.
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Source: huffingtonpost.com/
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