George Bush made an embarrassing slip of the tongue when he slammed the “unjustified and brutal” invasion of Iraq - when he meant to say Ukraine.
The former US president was giving a speech on the importance of democracy and condemned the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin ’s forces.
He honed in on the lack of democracy in Russia which he said gave Putin the green light to start the attack on its neighbour last February.
Like with Tony Blair’s time as UK prime minister, the Iraq war will always be associated with Bush’s presidency and it appeared to be playing on his mind as he spoke on Wednesday night.
While referring to “one man” launching a “wholly unjustified and brutal invasion” he then said Iraq before pulling up sharply, and while shaking his head and smiling, he corrected himself with: “Ukraine.”
He said "In contrast, Russian elections are rigged. Political opponents are imprisoned or otherwise eliminated from participating in the electoral process.
"The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean of Ukraine."
There was then murmuring in the audience and Bush appeared to say: "Iraq too, but anyway."
He jokingly blamed the mistake on his age as the audience burst into laughter, saying: "75."
In 2003, when Bush was president, the United States led an invasion of Iraq over weapons of mass destruction that were never found. The prolonged conflict killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced many more.
Bush's remarks quickly went viral on social media, gathering over three million views on Twitter alone after the clip was tweeted by a Dallas News reporter.
The former US President also compared Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to wartime leader Winston Churchill, for the way that he has rallied his nation in the face of the threat from Russia.
Bush said that Zelensky, whom he spoke to via video call this month, had "legitimacy" after winning elections.
He claimed that now "he's (Zelensky) leading his nation heroically against Russian invading forces.
He continued: "The way countries conduct elections is indicative of how their leaders treat their own people, and how nations behave toward other nations.
"And nowhere is this on display more clearly than Ukraine."
