Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., December 18, 2008 Kislev 21, 5769 | | Israel Time: 22:27 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate GA 2008 Travel Week's End Anglo File
Last update - 21:45 01/12/2008
Bush: My biggest regret is false intelligence on Iraq WMDs
By Reuters
Tags: iraq war, george w. bush 

U.S. President George W. Bush said the biggest regret of his presidency was flawed intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Bush told ABC "World News" in an interview scheduled to air on Monday that he was unprepared for war when he took office.

Bush leaves the White House on Jan. 20 with public approval ratings near record lows partly due to the unpopular Iraq war that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein after the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. More than 4,200 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.
Advertisement
"The biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq," Bush said. "A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam Hussein."

But he declined to speculate on whether he would have gone to war if the intelligence had said Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction.

"That's an interesting question. That is a do-over that I can't do," Bush said, according to excerpts from the recent ABC interview at Camp David.

As he prepares to hand over wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to successor President-elect Barack Obama, Bush said the issue he was most unprepared for when he became president was war.

"I think I was unprepared for war. In other words, I didn't campaign and say, 'Please vote for me, I'll be able to handle an attack,'" Bush said. "I didn't anticipate war."

Pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq before the appropriate time would have compromised his principles, he said.

Related articles:
  • Obama names Clinton secretary of state, Jones national security adviser
  • Bush says he's hopeful for democratic reform in Middle East
  • Obama says Bush policies strengthened Iran, Hamas
    "It was a tough call, particularly, since a lot of people were advising for me to get out of Iraq, or pull back in Iraq," he said.

    There are 146,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and 32,000 in Afghanistan.

    In his final months at the White House, Bush said he was required to take bold action on the financial crisis to ward off another Great Depression.

    He was asked whether it scared him that government actions to address the financial crisis amounted to about $9.5 trillion, equivalent to about half the U.S. economy.

    "What scared me is not doing anything, which would have caused there to be a huge financial meltdown and the conceivable scenario that we'd have been in a depression greater than the Great Depression," Bush said.

    He told ABC: "I will leave the presidency with my head held high."
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Picking up the pieces
    U.S. Jews ponder 'catastrophic' effects of Bernard Madoff affair.
    Little Adolf
    Three-year-old Adolf Hitler finally gets his name on his birthday cake.
      1.   Bush is war criminal 21:48  |  American 01/12/08
      2.   Intelligence failure? No. Strategy failure? Yes 21:48  |  Bennie 01/12/08
      3.   Rightly So 22:02  |  Mark of Lewiston 01/12/08
      4.   #2 IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT 22:11  |  David 01/12/08
      5.   35,000 disabled (only between americans) 22:23  |  Pedro 01/12/08
      6.   A SMIRKING SMILE REVEALED HIS LIES 22:25  |  Barry S. Roffman 01/12/08
      7.   Goofy W. Bush the criminal 22:30  |  Allan 01/12/08
      8.   Bush ready to admit and regret... 22:33  |  Esther 01/12/08
      9.   This is a LIE!! 22:43  |  William 01/12/08
      10.   For "flawed intelligence" read "deliberate lies" 22:52  |  Clickfool 01/12/08
      11.   #8 Re Colin Powell 22:59  |  American Patriot 01/12/08
      12.   LET´S FORGIVE HIM 23:05  |  Jose Marcio 01/12/08
      13.   WMD to Syria? 23:09  |  Sam 01/12/08
      14.   Bush Manufactured "Intelligence" to start an Illegal War! 23:15  |  Reasonable 01/12/08
      15.   # 2, 4 23:25  |  Axel 01/12/08
      16.   False Intelligence? Pooh. Perle,Wolfowitz,Feith wanted war 23:35  |  Lou Medel 01/12/08
      17.   Bush: still blaming everyone else... 23:48  |  Silvienne 01/12/08
      18.   to all the comments here that miss the point 23:48  |  avi 01/12/08
      19.   #1, Well said, American...good post! 23:50  |  Silvienne 01/12/08
      20.   #8, Esther, he is not admitting it! 23:55  |  Silvienne 01/12/08
      21.   Mench! 00:08  |  steve 02/12/08
      22.   # 13 avi 00:18  |  Axel 02/12/08
      23.   Lying skunk! 00:18  |  Maureen Ann 02/12/08
      24.   Thank goodness he didn`t say ONLY regret! 00:21  |  Johnboy 02/12/08
      25.   What`s meant isn`t said 01:07  |  said and meant 02/12/08
      26.   Flawed intelligence 01:12  |  Sherlock Holmes 02/12/08
      27.   #13. WMD`s, Saddam and Kurds 01:13  |  American Patriot 02/12/08
      28.   George was a good Shabbos Goy 01:18  |  Bitin Dawg 02/12/08
      29.   too bad bush;false intelligence stills lies on your shoulders!you 01:28  |  glenna 02/12/08
      30.   Strange 01:38  |  guy 02/12/08
      31.   Silvienne: What? No terrorist attacks in America since 9/11? 01:50  |  Bennie 02/12/08
      32.   He should do the honorable thing 01:54  |  Mark Lincoln 02/12/08
      33.   Pres. Bush 02:18  |  David 02/12/08
      34.   not my fault 02:25  |  bri 02/12/08
      35.   BRING HIM TO HAGUE, WE WILL FORGIVE THE US FOR KILLING MUSLIMS 02:33  |  indrajaya 02/12/08
      36.   Cut the B.S. Mr. President 03:26  |  Baz Mann 02/12/08
      37.   Bush, the Decider, newly-born Christian ... 03:33  |  American 02/12/08
      38.   #2 is spot on 04:21  |  Scott G 02/12/08
      39.   #5 Pedro 04:28  |  Scott G 02/12/08
      40.   Bush: Thanks to false WMDs report, my friends won huge contracts 04:35  |  Aounist 02/12/08
      41.   #10 clickFOOL...What have you contributed.. 04:50  |  Pastor Joseph 02/12/08
      42.   God`s way 05:03  |  Ohio/American 02/12/08
      43.   Bennie - wow!!! 05:11  |  Greg 02/12/08
      44.   Scott G. - read some, maybe then you will learn a little 05:13  |  Greg 02/12/08
      45.   Bush regrets . 05:16  |  Robert Malouf 02/12/08
      46.   Bull crap Bennie 05:20  |  Mark Lincoln 02/12/08
      47.   He got the intelligence he demanded 05:25  |  Mark Lincoln 02/12/08
      48.   #1Bush is war criminal 05:29  |  Mark Lincoln 02/12/08
      49.   #25, Pastor Joseph aka the private investigator... 05:33  |  Silvienne 02/12/08
      50.   " I BELIEVED" 05:45  |  SUNDAY 02/12/08
      51.   #26 At least ClckFool did not commit genocide 05:53  |  SUNDAY 02/12/08
      52.   indrajaya For every Moslem killed by Bush,100 killed by moslems 05:54  |  I 02/12/08
      53.   The Real Shame 05:55  |  Mark of Lewiston 02/12/08
      54.   # 25 " At least ClickFool Did Not Commit Genocide 05:55  |  SUNDAY 02/12/08
      55.   Arrest this War Criminal! 06:04  |  Niva dos Santos 02/12/08
      56.   Talk about Justice In The World 06:12  |  SUNDAY 02/12/08
      57.   Mark Lincoln: Bull crap to you and your Texas-size lies 06:27  |  Bennie 02/12/08
      58.   Mark Lincoln: More of your bull crap 06:37  |  Bennie 02/12/08
      59.   Men believe what they are apid to - Mark of Lewiston 06:59  |  Mark Lincoln 02/12/08
      60.   #39 Bennie....mark lincoln is a disgrace to 07:10  |  Pastor Joseph 02/12/08
      61.   For Bennie # 54 10:15  |  Clickfool 02/12/08
      62.   #44 Greg 13:35  |  Scott G 02/12/08
      63.   #47 Mark Lincoln 13:45  |  Scott G 02/12/08
      64.   Common Sense 13:53  |  Scott G 02/12/08
      65.   Pastor Joseph & Bennie....Mark Lincoln 22:17  |  Silvienne 02/12/08
      66.   ScottG`s delirium 00:08  |  Jean-Paul DOGUET 03/12/08
      67.   #2 and #4 and #21 05:59  |  AB 08/12/08
     Read & React
    3-year-old Adolf Hitler finally gets his name on his birthday cake
    Responses: 174
    Barak: Iran could attack the U.S. with a nuclear bomb
    Responses: 131
    Britain steps up fight against West Bank settlements
    Responses: 164
    Leftist U.S. Jewish group backs Israelis who shun IDF draft
    Responses: 60
    Jews of Yemen reportedly to be relocated in wake of deadly attack
    Responses: 31


    More Headlines
    22:08 Hamas: Gaza cease-fire with Israel is officially over
    20:30 Olmert: It is possible to negotiate peace deal with Syria
    20:04 Eilat crash driver under house arrest; bodies of Russian victims flown home
    17:49 Barak to Haaretz: The truce with Gaza was not a mistake
    21:55 Radioactive bomb-detection system installed in Haifa port
    19:20 IN PICTURES / The victims of Bernard Madoff's fraud scam
    20:45 Palestinian journalists protest for release of Iraqi colleague who threw shoes at Bush
    20:29 Want to help improve the Haaretz.com homepage?
    14:32 Hadassah Women: We lost $90 million in Madoff's Wall Street scam
    15:53 School teacher dies after falling eight meters into Golan Heights stream
    12:18 Poll: Kadima narrows gap with Likud as party picks potential lawmakers
    12:11 Israel bites back at UN watchdog over alleged strike on Syria reactor
    12:36 Jews of Yemen reportedly to be relocated in wake of deadly attack
    14:46 Dozens of police officers injured in botched civil unrest drill
    10:59 Leftist U.S. Jewish group backs Israelis who shun IDF enlistment
    10:17 Exclusive Jewish country club feels the sting of Madoff fraud
    05:29 Circumcision more bitter than sweet for motherless twins
    Previous Editions
    Special Offers
    Advertisement
    Summer in Israel
    Israeli style - Tzofim Chetz V'Keshet 2009
    Summer Camp in Israel
    The best place for your children this summer
    Living in Israel Studying in English
    Click & Meet our students from all around the world
    Fattal Hotel Chain
    Perfectly located hotels on best resorts of Israel.
    Car rental in Israel
    Shlomo Sixt Receive $15.00 from our low rates.
    Eldan Rent a Car
    Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations
    Jewish Singles Personal Ads
    Find the love of your life on JDate.com
    Hebrew Summer courses
    From $39.95
    Junkyard
    Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
    Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Underground | Site rules |
    Real Estate in Israel | Travel to Israel with Haaretz | Hotels Israel | Restaurants Israel | Tourist attractions Israel | Shops Israel
    birthright Israel | Search engine marketing
    Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
    © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved