Bush Tells British Paper He Regrets War Legacy

Kevin – you advocate us invading every country that isn’t run by “a great man who should stay in power?”
I think that’s nuts.
That aside, I do think we’d be better off with Hussein still there. It certainly would be costing less American lives and dollars – and that used to be the bottom line for conservatives with regard to foreign policy, back when people knew what the word conservative means.

But the real question is why are Republicans so scared of two-bit dictators?
Its a dangerous world. It always has been, and it always will be. Granted, weapons of mass destruction up the ante some, but still, cowardice isn’t part of the American character.
You guys are like the wimpy townsfolk in a Western movie, trying to hire a gunslinger to slay the local badman.

Wow. For a moment i almost felt sorry for the guy. But then I remembered the graveness of his mistakes. His war of choice based on distorted intelligence. His embrace of torture, his spitting on international law and human rights. He has poured enough gasoline on the anti-american hate-fire to make it last another generation.
Such a pity when you know how great America CAN be.

Yeah, Bushie, we don’t care for your vacations, your lies, or your double-talk. We are swimming in debt, the economy is on the rocks, you have done nothing to help prepare our Nation for the energy crunch in which we find ourselves, and what are you doing? Taking a vacation in Europe, trying to bolster YOUR legacy. We don’t give two hoots about your legacy. It is irrelevent.

david g, we … the world wasn’t leaving Saddam alone.

Cowboy Bush+Cheney spun the media into war, talk big on opposing global warming so he + Cheney can get rich in oil. He must be so proud and sleep well at night knowingly the economy in shambles and US soldiers are dying in Iraq on his watch. I pity the next President of USA. Is going to be John McBush or Barack Obama?

“He Regrets War Legacy”, we regret ever having heard of him.

It’s interesting that he won’t say these admissions when he’s home in the US.

FreaknHotNBoston: Even know these laws exist in this country…there are millions of homes still in the US that have lead paint on their walls, pealing and waiting for unsuspecting kids to eat. Even if you don’t hear about it, I am sure there is some form of environmental disaster lurking just around the corner. Just because we have these laws doesn’t mean we are protected, because it requires each individual to follow said laws. As it was stated before, our greatest asset is individualism, which in turn will be our biggest downfall.

It is funny how Bill Clinton nearly got impeached for having sex with an intern in the White House but not impeach a president who’s war is causing an economic downturn in the U.S. and also the lives of soldiers who were told to fight a country who “had” weapons of mass destruction.

Obama wants to bring “hope” and “change” to America because he and his far left America hating buddies of long standing think America is a bad place and needs to be changed into their utopian vision of a socialist society. A socialist society of less prosperity for all, more hate and rage against America and the traditional values of the middle class, and an America that has replaced the stars and stripes with the white flag of defeat, been disarmed and rendered helpless to defend herself or her allies against attack.OBAMA: “We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said.”That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen,” he added, if that’s the type of “change you can believe in” and YOU WANT TO BRING PROSPERITY DOWN A NOTCH OR TWO, AND TRIIPLE GAS AND FOOD COSTS vote Obama. OBAMA: “ White folks greed runs a world in needs” Sounds a lot like the Black liberation theology teachings of the Rev. Wright’s(“God D### America”) Trinty chruch that Obama was a member of for twenty years. If that’s the type of “change you can belive in” and you want MORE RACIST, ANTI-SEMITIC AND HATE AMERICA TRUE BELIEVERS AND THEIR ILK IN THE SEATS OF POWER IN GOVERNMENT RUNNING YOUR LIVES AND DESTROYING THE TRADITIONAL VALUES OF THE MIDDLE CLASS INCLUDING: FREE SPEECH AND THE “RIGHT TO LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS” vote ObamaOBAMA: “Iran Does Not Impose a Threat to the US” and wants to help pay for his top heavy and corrupt government boondoggles by disarming the military If that’s the type of “change you can believe in” and you want AN AMERICA THAT HAS REPLACED THE STARS AND STRIPES WITH THE WHITE FLAG OF DEFEAT , BEEN DISARMED AND RENDERED HELPLESS TO DEFEND HERSELF AGAINST ATTACK , vote Obama

President Bush did not lie about the reasons behind invading Iraq. Every intelligence agency in the world thought Saddam had WMDs. Records from Saddam’s files now show Saddam’s Generals even believed Saddam had WMDs. The US is winning in Iraq and if Obama has his way and pulls the US troops out of Iraq, their comrades will have given their lives for nothing and the lives of the people of Iraq who risked their lives to support the US will be in be at risk.

earthisnotflat, Even the French think the US is winning in Iraq and have reaffirmed their commitment to Iraq.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Sunday that the security situation in Iraq was improving and reaffirmed France’s willingness to help rebuild the war-ravaged country.
“I have the feeling that things are better. Statistics show a drop in security incidents,” Kouchner told AFP after a working lunch with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari on the last day of his two-day visit to Iraq.

if saddam was still in power, iran woudl be balanced out, 4000+ americans woudlbe alive, we wouldn’t have this spiraling debt, hence teh dollar woudl not have fallen, hence gas wouldbe still be cheap and we’d all be a lot better off.

but the french are not bringing more troops… every major country in the world has pulled out of iraq… why? face it… it’s a failed endeavor and we need to admit our mistake and CORRECT it, not just push forward more blindly using our children as pawns to SAVE FACE… what an embarassment! no wonder bush is ‘apologizing’ for his ‘rhetoric’… (an empty but revealing comment)… what france is willing to do is what EVERY country including the democrats would be willing to do … REBUILD a country we have destroyed… we owe it to the iraqis!… but not until we end our illegal military occupation and let the iraqis sort things out… believe it or not, the overwhelming majority (poll after unreported poll show) that the majority of iraqi citizens want the US military OUT

Blind faith.
I guess Obama was right, when he describe Americans as being lost, needing someone to care and listen to them.
“It seems to me that each day, thousands of Americans are going about their lives – dropping the kids off at school, driving to work, shopping at the mall, trying to stay on their diets, trying to kick a cigarette habit – and they’re coming to the realization that something is missing. They’re deciding that their work, their possessions, their diversions, their sheer busyness, is not enough.
They want a sense of purpose, a narrative arc to their lives. They’re looking to relieve a chronic loneliness. And so they need an assurance that somebody out there cares about them, is listening to them – that they are not just destined to travel down that long road toward nothingness. And this restlessness – this search for meaning”
Obama is using you.
Maybe you do not realize that today. One day you will.
He has used so many things to work your minds. You do not see it now, but one day you will.

…..And the world is way better without Saddam – the Iraqis are prospering, the entire Middle East is engulfed in peace and the US is pumping oil as much she wants! Uh….paradise!

Just a comment to Terry up there.
Technically Hawaii might not be a state of the United States of America, but when everyone believes something is true, IT IS TRUE. I have never heard of 49 states of America, only 50 states of america.

“So, in the end you have to ask yourself’ Do I feel lucky today?”
Who do you think the Taliban would want for president?

bear, actually Iraq is pumping more oil now , the surge is working and the middle east is becoming much more stabilized. I know this must make you sad. I know that you want Obama to raise the white flag of defeat in Iraq and let Al Qaeda and Iran have their way with Iraq so they can have all of Iraq’s oil so they can use it to provide the means to attack the US making another 9/11 more likely. Oh I forgot you may also be sad that the US has not had another 9/11 and that is why you are supporting Obama. oh my.

Not everyone posting on this board is an American so take it with a grain of salt if it’s way out in left field.

Mr. Coffee, Saddam was in contact with Al Qaeda prior to the war and if Iraq had not been invaded, the consensus of many is that Saddam would have pursued further contacts with Al Qaeda and who knows what may have evolved. The fact Al Qaeda has marshaled their resources in an attempt to defeat the US in Iraq is a good thing. I shudder to think what Al Qaeda would be up to if they were not being confronted by the US in Iraq. Another 9/11?
Iran and Iraq both with nukes would most certainly be something the US and the West would be facing now if the US had not invaded Iraq. Also, the fact that the US is now in Iraq and thus a threat to Iran is a good thing. Again think where the US and the West would be with no base of operations in Iraq and dealing with TWO major middle eastern powers with nukes, not to mention the treat Al Qaeda would still be.
Again, a moral victory is Iraq means keeping our word to the Iraqi people who risked their lives to stand by the US., A moral victory in Iraq means stabilizing Iraq after the havoc of Saddam and the invasion of the US by making sure that Iran and Al Qaeda do not take Iraq over and use the oil of Iraq to spread havoc across the Middle East and beyond, maybe to your home town. A moral victory in Iraq means making sure the lives of American troops lost in Iraq were not lost in vain. Finally, and most importantly, a moral victory in Iraq means making sure the killing fields of Cambodia are not played out again in Iraq by Al Qaeda. , Only this time the people murdered could be the very people that risked their lives to support the US. Question, Mr. Coffee, if Obama wins can you sleep well at night if you get what you want and this happens? I hope not.

All the liberal cowards in here need to shutup. The Democrats will never get the White House back because they’re fake. Keep whining ladies.
McCain ’08

I cannot understand why the only country to ever use nuclear weapons on human beings, the only country that has military bases, some 740, all around the globe, the country that launches “premtive strikes” against other nations, of course, all the while refering to them as evil, should also be the country that gets to decide who can and who cannot have nuclear capabilities. If you are a history buff, the similarities to the USA today, and Nazi Germany in the 1930′s is frightening. Don’t be a bit surprised if we, along with Israel, launch an attack on Iran. This is the only way the neocons will have a prayer on getting another Bush/McSame in office.

Ramage, about your post on 11:11:36 PM, good question and I’m glad you asked it. Why would any American support Bush? It makes me think more critically about the people we live with. Bush somehow got the votes of lots of Americans. Bad move, America.
Two factors that contributed to this are 1) Americans’ lack of worldly education and 2) too many Americans’ false sense of morality.
Start with the first: I believe education encourages us to get to know and understand other people better. If fear of the unknown is real, then learning about and understanding people of other countries, religions and cultures would leave America as a whole less fearful of the rest of the world. Bush played much on the fears of Americans. The more educated of the world Americans become, the less susceptible they will be to supporting policies of war and torture out of fear.
My second point has a fit with the word “ideology.” Republican morality works like belonging to a clique. It values support of some in-crowd over support of humanity and conscience. Republican morality is exclusive: you must support what they preach or they’ll brand you as evil. Republican morality parades to tunes like “Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war.” What a stirring tune!
Question: How dare I question the ideals in that hymn?
Answer: That is exactly my point. If parading to Republican morality causes the deaths of half a million civilians, we should question it very hard.
Morality isn’t owned by America, or by Republicans, Christians, Muslims or me. Consider all those hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians that died, or lost children or parents: Do you think most of them got up in the morning with plans to praise the devil? I doubt it. I think they got up in the morning to love their children, take care of their families, work, and go to worship. Republican morality, or any morality, that supported the Bush war should have tried a lot harder to consider choices besides war. America had a lot of support around the world before 9/11, and could have used it to fight our attackers in lots of ways other than with bombs.

THIS WOULD MEAN THAT MCCAIN IS THE LAST PERSON ON PLANET WHO DOESN’T REGRET SENDING YOUNG AMERICANS TO UNECESSARY WAR??? HUMMMM ….

To suggest that something might be considered (without giving details) is not a backtrack. When determining economic policy it is natural to leave everything on the table…….Obama is recommending that the tax be implemented….this is what he wants to do….When Carter tried it it was a disaster.
The story should really be that Obama is developing policy around a debate gaffe again….
Jake
You saw the debate. Do you think Obama knew what he was talking about or the ramifications to raising capital gains tax?
That’s the story. You have a candidate who talks off the top of his head about meeting with terrorists with no preconditions….kind of tries to take it back…then goes on the stump and advocates the position….now is changing it.
This is the same way his stance on capital gains taxes was developed.
God help us all.

Gee
They still keep saying that everyone went along with this War – Yet, Obama spoke up (even though it was a major Political risk to do so), people lost jobs (like Bill Maher and a few Reporters the questioned the buildup to the War) and all the other Countries that agreed that there were WMD’s based on info from Curveball (the guy the Germans and French repeatedly said was a complete liar) proved incompetent.

BretC, Bill Maher did not lose his job because he questioned the war. No reporter lost their jobs in fact most of them got promotions. Obama was not brave for opposing the war. Obama was not even in the US Senate at the time and was speaking to the choir to his very leftist constituents. What is very troubling to me is that all this talk from Obama of retreating from Iraq is emboldening the enemy and causing more US troops and Iraqi people to be killed and none of you boneheads seem to care about that. Think what would have happened in WWII if the media and prominent politicians like Obama had been so god awful negative about the war. A lot more lives were lost during WWII and I think that the US may have been very well defeated by Hitler with the same type of media and anti-war politicians we have like Obama running around.

I think one of the failures of the Clinton administration was his inability to root out Al Qaeda.
Now all the liberals want to just take all the troops home and we shall have bliss on a silver platter.
Not that these idiots wont attack us unprovoked again like they did on 9/11.
No. We can just bring all the troops home and wait for another attack.
Better yet, we can go SCOLD rogue leaders in person, and they will SHIVER in fright.
Or best of all, APPEASE THEM privately while looking strong publically.
Thats not change you can believe in.

Actually it was no regret for the war, only his cowboy behavior. He dodged the issue. His cowboy persona is what started the war, and not his cowboy rhetoric. 4,000 plus wonderful Americans are dead because of his lies and his cowboy rhetoric, thousands and thousands of Iraqis are dead because of his cowboy rhetoric. All of these charges are true and they more correctly tell the story of his original sin of telling a lie to get us into this despicable war. His words of regret do not tell the true situation regarding the Iraq war story. Scottie has told that and I say, “God bless you, Scott McClellan for your brave expose even if it is a bit late”.. Bush’s statement completely avoids a personal acceptance of his responsibility for his war itself nor the war crimes committed by our country. Until he fesses up to those things, he can save his wimpy illusion to his regrets.

Bush supporters are like lemmings,if Bush told them to jump of a cliff they’d ask which one? The eighty percent who can’t stand Bush laugh at you pathetic people! Wake up please!

To be a Bush supporter at this point would be like the guy who is trying to find a good deal on an ‘Edsel’…Good luck! You’ll need it!

Sure hope he regrets his “mission accomplished” aboard the aircraft carrier statement … lots of brave Americans have died since that statement – and we are still at war since that statement.

Bush bashers are out in force this morning. The man is MAN ENOUGH to admit he used the wrong language and this is the type of crap he gets from his fellow Americans, but I am sure none of you self righteous wonderful people have never said anything that you later regretted. How pathetic we are.

Has anybody checked to see if hell has frozen over? I do believe this is the first time he has admitted he screwed up royally.

To Terry, do you know that the democratic party primary election had already ended? or are you a McBush’s prawn?

El_Pajaro, there is one poll you did not mention. Bush’s approval rating is around 29%. Congress’s approval rating is around 10%. Surley if the Democrats offered a better alternative, their approval rating would be in the 90s by this time.

A little too late for the 4,000+ dead soldiers, thousands injured and tens of thousands of dead Iraqis.
And yet, McFlip Flop continues to carry your banner of lone American cowboy against the rest of the world. Enough of this, as the price is simply too heavy for the American people to pay. If it is one thing you have taught us Bush, is that we MUST find the way to mend our relations with allied nations and approach the terrorists and other international crises as a group of allied nations coming together for the greater good of the world. The American people simply cannot afford the huge consequence of going it alone.

I think Bush was dreaming when he thought he could bring democracy to Iraq.Saddam was a Tyrant yes,But he had to be like that to survive in that kind of jungle where there are many Tyrants who want to kill you.Guess what? Bush has removed one tyrant and left the other who are just waitng for the next President to bring home the troops to start their own brand of tyranny.Bush started a war that achieved nothing because the middle east is as dangerous as it has ever been maybe even more.All the war did was kill our young men and women and bring greater economic distress to america and it’s allies.

And on the same day, he hasn’t ruled out bombing Iran. Will someone get this idiot out of the White House.

I do not like this tactic of Bush. Why now does he realize his mistakes after spending years in Iraq. I believe he did what he needed for his term and that was to make money for high corporation who invested money in war material and make it nearly impossible to fix the problem we created. It’s funny how money hold such a higher value than life. I hope that an investigation is made on the Bush administration and the true means of the war is revealed

lucky:
Is that anyway to speak of your president?

Bless his little heart, of course he was misunderstood. Most of the American
people misunderstood and thought he was telling the truth when he and his
criminal cohorts were lying through their teeth. It’s too late for impeachment, but once that bunch leave office there’s hope for charges of war crimes.
I guess we shouldn’t have expected it, but I’ll ask anyway: why didn’t ABC give more/any coverage to the Senate
intelligence report that came out earlier this month? Hey, ABC people,
the Daily Show with Jon Stewart covered it!
Scott McClellan was correct when he said the media was complicit in covering up the lies in the run up to the war; even Katie Couric recognized the press should be embarrassed. Yep, the media was played and shown to be cowards by the Bush Administration and ,unfortunately, over 4,100 American heroes and hundreds of thousands of Iraqui citizens had to die, over 25,000 American heroes are wounded physically and/or mentally, and millions of Iraquis have been displaced from their homes. Thank God for Knight Ridder news service that had the courage to tell us the truth. Maybe ABC can lose some of the talking heads and hire some of their real journalists.
But through all the lies perpetuated by the media, isn’t it a shame that
we’re less safe now (according to Gen. Petraeus) than we were before bush
took us to war with Iraq? The Daily Show and Knight-Ridder – the only news
sources you can believe in.

All I can say is that if Bush did NOTHING, and we were attacked again, you would think even WORSE of him. Its a no win situation. Democrats will always blame Republicans, and Republicans will always do what they think is right, not what the poles think.

Once we have killed more Iraqi citizens than Sadam then can we leave? We are trying to cure a global illness with local surgery. Oh, and fatesrider, there were no Iraqis in 9/11!! They were Saudis!!

How quaint the man finally expresses some regret – not for wasting the precious lives of American soldiers in an unnecessary war of choice, but for the fact that he’s been ‘misunderstood’ and that some don’t see him as a ‘man of peace’! What a crock. Bush’s legacy is one of abject failure, and damage to our economy, our moral standing, and our system of justice. Bush is solely responsible for the deaths or our troops and innocent iraqis. He should be impeached, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law on a charge of treason and murder.

The plans to attack IRAN are already drawn up and are awaiting for someone to execute. GUESS WHO?????????????

When you think of our lost and injured soldiers, the estimated 90,000 Iraqis who have died, not to mention how many must be permanently maimed and the tremendous amount of money we’ve spent on the Iraq War and all Bush regrets is the language he used to sell the war to us? The man is unbelievable.
And Bush’s idea that Obama wanting to renegotiate trade deals is a bad thing is laughable. Our trade deficits are terrible, we’ve lost so many manufacturing jobs which provided decent livable wages and it’s obvious many of these trade deals were only negotiated to increase corporate profits.
I honestly don’t know how Bush or anyone in his administration can sleep at night when they are responsible for so much misery.

Bush jr. decided to invade Iraq with the help of Cheney and Rumsfeld, despite Arab experts warning it would lead to civil war and instability for years in Iraq. Bush sr. wrote in his book that he didn’t invade Iraq during Desert Storm for that same reason, experts warning him.
And now “More than five years after the initial invasion of Iraq, the Senate Intelligence Committee has finally gone on the record: the Bush administration misused, and in some cases disregarded, intelligence which led the nation into war. The two final sections of a long-delayed and much anticipated “Phase II” report on the Bush administration’s use of prewar intelligence, released on Thursday morning, accuse senior White House officials of repeatedly misrepresenting the threat posed by Iraq.” So now Bush supporters can no longer say he was fooled by faulty intelligence. He knew there was no wmd, he knew there was no link between 9/11 and Sadaam, was it just that he wanted a war with a country with oil? His campaign was largely funded by oil companies and what a coincidence, the oil companies are making record profits. As I’ve said before, I honestly don’t know how Bush or members of his administration sleep at night. 4,000 of our soldiers dead, thousands permanently maimed physically and mentally, 90,000 Iraq citizens dead, millions are refugees; the sheer amount of misery Bush has created is disastrous.

TWO words describe BUSH…And they are “WAR MONGER” or “WAR CRIMINAL”…Take your pick!!!!

Oh Lydia, your sarcasim is so beneath you. It just shows those of you who resort to it and the name calling really don’t have an arguement.
Go ahead and check my facts, by doing a simple Wikipedia search. Even you can do it Lydia.
Anyhow, no I am no war hero,I only support those who are. I know people with sons and daughters in Iraq and most if not all believe in their cause. Their problem is with people like you Lydia, the ones who think you can “support the troops without supporting the mission”. If you really care at all.
Their problem is with the elected officials who agreed to the war, again seeing the same intelligence that Bush did. Who, when the war turned bad undercut Bush, and threatened to pull funding. They and the Lydia’s giving hope and encouragment to Al Queda, who by objective accounts are beaten. Thanks Lydia.
I can respect anyone who was against the war, when it was being debated. Once the decision was made, support the mission or shut the hell up. And then go vote for the terrorist appeaser of your choice. You know democracy, the very thing the Islamic fundamentalists most hate us for.

Well the Bush Rat is in Italy today amid massive anti-Bush demonstrations.He has not seen any thing yet wait until November here..And George McSame will wonder what hit him.The Republicans along with the Bush Rat and McSame will be all be gone…220 more days of these thugs.

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Come on, don’t any of you armchair presidents have anything further to say.

This is really brave for Mr. Bush to have regrets in the UK. He’s done the opposite at home. Rather, its “in your face” or the big stonewall to any hint that the war and his leadership was improvident. Sometimes he lies or misleads as well as the bullying mentioned above.