NEW YORK -- Donald Trump has repeatedly implied -- on the campaign trail, in television interviews, at last month's presidential debate and in a recent op-ed -- that he was ahead of the curve for opposing the Iraq War in July 2004, even though the U.S. invasion began 16 months earlier.

In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war in Iraq because it was going to destabilize the Middle East," he said at the Aug. 6 Republican presidential debate hosted by Fox News. "I am the only one on this stage who knew that and had the vision to say it. And thats exactly what happened. The region became totally destabilized.

The media has largely given Trump a pass for his suggestion that he was the lone voice of dissent about the war, long after the U.S. invasion. Several journalists noted during real-time debate coverage online and on Twitter that the Iraq War started over a year before he said he was against it. But similar fact-checking has been absent from recent TV news interviews, in which Trump has seized upon his summer 2004 position to trumpet his foreign policy foresight as he campaigns to be the next commander-in-chief.

There's some evidence Trump wasn't happy with the war effort early on. About a week after the March 19, 2003 invasion, he described the war as a mess when The Washington Post approached him at an Oscar after-party.

But recently, Trump has primarily cited an article published by Reuters in July 2004 -- entitled "Donald Trump Would Fire Bush Over Iraq Invasion" -- to illustrate his farsightedness about the war.

The oft-cited Reuters story doesn't provide a comprehensive look at Trumps foreign policy worldview. Its a brief article that references his comments in an Esquire cover story published the same week. The Daily News , and other outlets, also ran stories quoting Trumps provocative comments to Esquire.

In the Esquire interview, Trump called the Iraq War a mess," while also harshly criticizing how the Bush administration handled it. He dismissed the idea of Iraq becoming truly democratic, and predicted the U.S. withdrawal would lead to a revolution, and the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over.