Gerald Ford speaks from the grave — criticizes Bush’s War
Former president Gerald Ford said he
wouldn’t have invaded Iraq and described the Bush administration’s
public case for the war as a “big mistake” during a lengthy
interview with Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward in 2004.
“Some of these fools voted for me twice!”
Former president Gerald Ford said he wouldn’t have invaded Iraq and described the Bush administration’s public case for the war as a “big mistake” during a lengthy interview with Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward in 2004.
“Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction,” Ford told Woodward. “And now, I’ve never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do.”
Ford added: “I don’t think, if I had been president, on the basis of the facts as I saw them publicly, I don’t think I would have ordered the Iraq war. I would have maximized our effort through sanctions, through restrictions, whatever, to find another answer.”
“‘Well, I can understand the theory of wanting to free people,’ Ford said, referring to Bush’s assertion that the United States has a ‘duty to free people.’ But the former president said he was skeptical ‘whether you can detach that from the obligation number one, of what’s in our national interest.’
He added: ‘And I just don’t think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people, unless it is directly related to our own national security.’”
Too bad consideration for the good-ol’-boy network rationalized keeping his mouth shut while he was alive — requesting this interview to be withheld till after his death.
Posted: Thu - December 28, 2006 at 08:16 AM