Jeb Bush Shadowed by Brother’s Foreign Policy Controversies

George W. Bush won a bruising South Carolina presidential primary on his way to the Oval Office, as his father did before him

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks at the Growth and Opportunity Party, at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, on Oct. 31, 2015. Steve Pope/Getty Images

GREENVILLE, S.C.—George W. Bush won a bruising South Carolina presidential primary on his way to the Oval Office, as his father did before him.

Now it’s his brother’s turn, and for Jeb Bush, the most consequential foreign policy decisions of his brother’s tenure are suddenly front-and-center in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination—thanks to Donald Trump.

The 43rd president already had announced plans to campaign for his younger brother Monday in South Carolina, marking his most direct entry into the 2016 race to date, when Trump, the GOP front-runner, used the final debate before the state’s Feb. 20 primary as an opportunity to excoriate George W. Bush’s performance as commander in chief.

The former president, Trump said, ignored “the advice of his CIA” and “destabilized the Middle East” by invading Iraq on dubious claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

“I want to tell you: They lied,” Trump said. “They said there were weapons of mass destruction. ... And they knew there were none.”

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Las Vegas on Jan. 21, 2016. AP Photo/Isaac Brekken