Bush Charts Course With Instincts, Advisers

Dec. 13 -- Below are excerpts from Barbara Walters' interview with President and Mrs. Bush, airing on 20/20. Click here to read more excerpts.

WALTERS: You have recently assigned Henry Kissinger to look into what conditions led to 9/11. And I had read that at one point you said to your wife, "Was I responsible for any of this? Should I have known more?"

PRESIDENT BUSH: I don't think whoever wrote that obviously hadn't talked to Laura and me, but look, first of all, I'm honored that Henry Kissinger, one of the great public servants of our country, has agreed to take on this assignment, which is to analyze, what was known, why other evidence wasn't known on the roughly decade leading up to September 11th, so that we can learn lessons from the past and better prepare for the future. That's what the commissioner is meant to do.

WALTERS:: You didn't feel that maybe there was more you could have done? …

PRESIDENT BUSH: Listen, if I'd have known al Qaeda was going to use an airplane to murder Americans, you can bet I'd have acted. And I would have done everything in my power, used every asset available to me to have prevented the attacks. Book it.

WALTERS: Is that the way he talks to you?

MRS. BUSH: Every once in a while.

Going With His Gut

WALTERS: You know you've talked in the Bob Woodward book, you said, "I'm not a textbook player. I'm a gut player. I rely on my instincts." Can you give us an example of where your insights were right or where they were wrong?

PRESIDENT BUSH: My instincts are that … here's my instincts … and they're consistent. If people, if a person does not respect freedom, if somebody is repressive, if somebody doesn't understand the value of freedom, that person is a failed leader right off the bat. That's an instinct. And so I make judgments based upon, many times based upon on a value system that I believe is true and universal.

WALTERS: Are you a gut player, an instinct player?

MRS. BUSH: Sort of, I guess. Slightly. Maybe not as much as he is, but you know, I think he has really good judgment, and nearly every time in our whole 25 years of marriage, when he's made a decision it's been right, and I know it. When you talk about instincts or that judgment, what you're really talking about is somebody who knows people and who understands people and who can really read people when he's with them, and he certainly can do that.