Looking back on his eight years in the White House, President George W. Bush said he was "unprepared" for war and pinpointed incorrect intelligence that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction as "biggest regret of all the presidency."

"I think I was unprepared for war," Bush told ABC News' Charlie Gibson in an interview airing today on "World News." "In other words, I didn't campaign and say, 'Please vote for me, I'll be able to handle an attack,'" he said. "In other words, I didn't anticipate war. Presidents -- one of the things about the modern presidency is that the unexpected will happen."

"I was unprepared for the difficult task of cooking intelligence. Or at least Dick Cheney was."
- tom moody 12-04-2008 1:05 am

its official hes going to keep lying that the fault was with tenents bad intel. no admission that he cooked and stove piped intel. no remorse and no ownership of his actions. that shit wont stick to the wall. i hope history will slaughter him.
- bill 12-04-2008 1:56 am

One night when he's hammered at the Dallas Country Club, saying for the umpteenth time that if only he'd had better intel about Saddam, someone else at the bar will say, "Georgie, you are so full of shit."
- tom moody 12-04-2008 3:01 am

Bush Gets Out the Shovel

via dday
- bill 12-04-2008 3:25 am

GIBSON: You've always said there's no do-overs as President. If you had one?

BUSH: I don't know -- the biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq. A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam Hussein. It wasn't just people in my administration; a lot of members in Congress, prior to my arrival in Washington D.C., during the debate on Iraq, a lot of leaders of nations around the world were all looking at the same intelligence. And, you know, that's not a do-over, but I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess.

GIBSON: If the intelligence had been right, would there have been an Iraq war?

BUSH: Yes, because Saddam Hussein was unwilling to let the inspectors go in to determine whether or not the U.N. resolutions were being upheld. In other words, if he had had weapons of mass destruction, would there have been a war? Absolutely.

GIBSON: No, if you had known he didn't.

BUSH: Oh, I see what you're saying. You know, that's an interesting question. That is a do-over that I can't do. It's hard for me to speculate.

GIBSON: Greatest accomplishment? The one thing you're proudest of?

Gibson probably peed his pants with excitement to interview the great man.
- tom moody 12-04-2008 6:34 am