Bush admits "intelligence failure" on Iraq for the first time

2008-12-02 06:29:38

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) --

With no more than two months left in his term, U.S. President George W. Bush, for the first time, admitted in public that "intelligence failure" on Iraq was his "biggest regret" during the eight-year administration, according to a TV interview to be broadcast on Monday.

"The biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq," Bush told the ABC TV. "I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess."

The interview was set to be aired in "World News Tonight" later on Monday, but its content has been released on the TV's website.

"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," Bush told ABC.

"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 looking at the same intelligence," he added.

However, Bush refused to speculate on whether he would still have gone to war if he know Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.

"That is a do-over that I can't do. It's hard for me to speculate," he said.

Bush is expected to leave the White House with a record-low approval ratings that was dragged by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as financial crisis the country is suffering now.

More than 4,200 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since the war was launched in March 2003 due to intelligence reports saying Hussein Saddam's government possessed weapons of mass destruction that was later proved false.

Another biggest disappointments Bush mentioned was the failure to pass a comprehensive bill on immigration reform.

"I firmly believe that the immigration debate really did not show the true nature of America as a welcoming society," he said.

However, Bush said that much of his White House time as "joyful" because of "the idea of being able to serve a nation you love."

He hoped that he could be remembered by Americans as a guy that "did not sell his soul for politics, had to make some tough decisions and did so in a principled way."

"I will leave the presidency with my head held high," he added.

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