Ford disagreed with Bush on Iraq

[SHRED]

Well what do you know.
A Ford that was running on all cylinders regarding Iraq.

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Ford disagreed with Bush on Iraq
Former president made comments in embargoed interview in July 2004
By Bob Woodward
The Washington Post
Updated: 5:41 a.m. PT Dec 28, 2006

Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. "I don't think I would have gone to war," he said a little more than a year after President Bush had launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford's own administration.

In a four-hour conversation at his house in Beaver Creek, Colo., Ford "very strongly" disagreed with the current president's justifications for invading Iraq and said he would have pushed alternatives, such as sanctions, much more vigorously. In the tape-recorded interview, Ford was critical not only of Bush but also of Vice President Cheney — Ford's White House chief of staff — and then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who served as Ford's chief of staff and then his Pentagon chief.

"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 said. "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."

In a conversation that veered between the current realities of a war in the Middle East and the old complexities of the war in Vietnam whose bitter end he presided over as president, Ford took issue with the notion of the United States entering a conflict in service of the idea of spreading democracy.

"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."

LINK:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16372929/


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[EFerrari]

1. Whenever we've gone anywhere "freeing people" mostly from

life on Earth, some guys made a lot of money.

Notice: "I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do."

NEXT TIME, JUSTIFY YOUR WAR CRIMES BETTER.

[SHRED]

2. good point

I overlooked that quote.

[EFerrari]

4. I'm sorry, SHRED, I'm having an attack of unkindness or something.

I'd just like to mark the passing of a public servant but through these BushCo lenses, all I can see is how banal evil really is. How pleated and well kept and soft spoken it can be. :(

[SpiralHawk]

3. Republicons condemn Nation Building -- then squander our sons and tax dollars

to go Nation Building (because they see a way for their cronies to reap Massive Profits).

Hypocrites and Pharisees = nation building republicons.

Don't listen to what they say, watch what they do.

[EFerrari]

5. The fat eaters. n/t

[kenny blankenship]

6. There you have it: even dead people think the Iraq war is stupid

[GenDem]

7. This interview was July 2004.

Pretty early on, relatively speaking. Hell, it took the majority of the country 3-4 years in to decide that Bush's war was a colossal mistake.

Ford also criticizes Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Kissinger. I will look forward to the video taped interview in its entirety.

[mtnsnake]

8. CNN said the Bush WH has no comment about this. Obviously the WH is not happy

about this turn of events and wishes this interview had stayed under moth balls.

[crispini]

9. This is all over NPR this morning.

Very interesting.

[GenDem]

13. msnbc has this story in heavy rotation, too.

[Double T]

10. The WH won't comment because it is impossible to rebut the truth.

I ONLY wish Ford had said this while he was alive.

[AndreaCG]

11. Ford's speaking from the grave?

I think you mean you wish the media had reported it better when he originally said it.

[Double T]

12. Ford requested that his comments NOT be aired until after his death.

Woodward, the interviewer, granted Ford's request.

[tnlefty]

14. And that really ticks me off.

Yesterday morning I saw a clip of an interview that Ford had done with Brian Williams in which Ford narrowed his eyes and stated that the US and Great Britain were absolutely justified in invading Iraq.

So, he states one thing while living and states something quite different that can't be made public until after his death?! Seems rather cowardly to me.

[Kazak]

15. Some man of integrity, eh?

:shrug:

[tnlefty]

17. In a word

NO, not to me anyway. Although integrity and republican rarely go together in my mind.

[Double T]

16. It is the rethugliCON way, marching lockstep with their heads knodding....

up and down, regardless of how THEY really might feel about an issue. At least 'WE' know how Ford really felt about bush and cheney. There are plenty of other rethugs that feel the same way, BUT they will remain silent.