During a speech at the University of Connecticut in Storrson Tuesday, former Bush White House staffer Karl Rove – known as “Bush's Brain” for his closeness to the former president – was asked by an Iraq war veteran whether he would apologize for his role in the Iraq war.

“I have taken responsibility for my actions and dealt with my demons while advocating for a peaceful resolution of a war that was an act of aggression with no clear goal,” explained the former veteran, Ryan Henowitz. “Can you take responsibility and apologize for your decision in sending a generation to lose their humanity and deal with the horrors of war, which you have never had the courage to face? Will you apologize to the millions of fathers and mothers who lost their children on both sides of this useless war?”

Rove was unapologetic. “I appreciate your service for our country. I’m sorry for what you went through but it was the right thing to remove Saddam Hussein from power,” he replied. “The United States government and the United States military was right to do so. We should be proud of what we were able to do in Iraq and we should be sorry that we left them alone, because when we left them, things deteriorated.”

Watch the full exchange, via the Eastern Connecticut Young Democrats (h/t Raw Story).