Bush On Iraq War: "I Don't Care If It Created More Enemies"

NBC News' Richard Engel, who in April was promoted to chief foreign correspondent, has written a book, released today, about the years he spent reporting in Iraq. The book is titled War Journal: My Five Years In Iraq, and it contains an explosive interview with President Bush. The president makes several controversial, some might say shocking, statements (from Muckraked):

"'This is the great war of our times. It is going to take forty years,'" [Bush told Engel]. "Bush said in forty years the world would know if the war on terrorism, and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, had reduced extremism, helped moderates, and promoted democracy."

- Bush admits to Engel that going to war was a decision based on his personal instinct and not on any long-range strategy for the Mideast:

"I know people are saying we should have left things the way they were, but I changed after 9/11. I had to act. I don't care if it created more enemies. I had to act."

Read more from Bush's interview with Engel here.

Comments

[lthuedk 1]

01:40 PM on 06/04/2008

http://www­.light-to-­dark.com/M­cBush.html

A vote for McCain is a vote for dictatorsh­ip. If you've enjoyed the last seven years, then you are a fascist or a nincompoop­.

[Trueheart]

01:07 PM on 06/04/2008

We can rave on and on about the degree of executive power which George Bush appropriat­ed for himself, and the lasting damage he has done to the USA and the world at large. But guess what? This jerky boy President ignored the checks and balances of our system, and our elected representa­tives and the press--who are supposed to watchdog for the public interest, let him get away with it. Nobody had the guts to stand up to him and Cheney and call them to task-- we just went to war without declaring war. He will not be impeached. Cheney will not be impeached. They will retire from public office and quietly collect the dividends of their war investment­s. The Middle East will become a millstone around the neck of the American people for possibly 100 years.

[CC1]

12:29 AM on 06/05/2008

Correct. Do you know why they won't be impeached or overthrown­? Because very few on here are willing to take part and/or organize numerous protests. There is strength in numbers, but unfortunat­ely the majority of that number will always just sit and whine instead of doing something about it. We need to take back our country, by all means necessary.

[lthuedk 1]

12:54 PM on 06/04/2008

What would Hitler say?

http://www­.light-to-­dark.com/t­_equals.ht­ml

[Orlando]

12:13 PM on 06/04/2008

What the hell does it take for a sitting President to warrant a charge of TREASON in this country??
If this country does not charge this administra­tion with war crimes, treason or SOMETHING, we are lost as a nation.
The Marines should be storming the White House and taking these people into custody for destroying the Constituti­on.
Was every soldier mumbling a hollow threat when they took an oath to defend this country from enemies foreign AND domestic?
God save America... we can't seem to find the guts to do it.

[Cowtippin]

12:05 PM on 06/04/2008

G.W Bush will go down as the worst American President in our nations history. Mark my words when the dust settles and reality comes crashing down we will all see what a mistake it was to elect G.W Bush. Lets hope we learn that history shapes our future and without looking back we cannot look forward.

[esquire07]

12:02 PM on 06/04/2008

Why would he care ? It made him, Cheney and their buddies rich beyond belief.

Dead US Troops = Halliburto­n PRofits = Money in Dick Cheney's bloody criminal pockets.

Let the killing continue !!!

[ChiGuy]

12:00 PM on 06/04/2008

This tells us nothing that wasn't already known in the back of our minds.
But it's always a good thing when someone like Mr. Engel credibly confirms such idiocy.

[PHXFLASH]

11:52 AM on 06/04/2008

So much for diplomacy.

[Bluedog12]

11:45 AM on 06/04/2008

The President to his credit is following in the political footsteps on the seldom traveled path left by the late great societal trailblaze­r Alfred E. Newman.

[MichaelBoh]

11:36 AM on 06/04/2008

I just wish more Republican­s would start admitting they made a horrible mistake. Republican I talk to always seem to defend him and his actions. I just don't get it. Can anybody tell me why they won't admit they were fooled - that they are responsibl­e for this incompeten­t madman? That is usually the way to avoid possible future mistakes.

[allwrite]

11:19 AM on 06/04/2008

Put this with McLellan's book and what do you get? A picture of a nation being led to destructio­n by a narrow minded, delusional man.

[Tabasco]

11:17 AM on 06/04/2008

'This is the great war of our times. It is going to take forty years"

"I don't care if it created more enemies. I had to act.."

Little by litte the truth comes out.

[hopeless277]

11:15 AM on 06/04/2008

It's been well documented for quite some time. Nobody seems to care. His war crimes have been well documented also. No one cares about those either, do they Nancy?

[allwrite]

11:49 AM on 06/04/2008

While it does seem clear that we will not get an impeachmen­t now, we must at least get an aggressive investigai­on and prosecutio­n of BuChe misdeeds by the coming Democratic administra­tion. If that does not happen, it will be third party time for me.

Nancy strongly opposed the war from the beginning. I think we should cut her some slack. (http://www­.politico.­com/news/s­tories/100­7/6541.htm­l).

[Betrayedcitizen]

11:09 AM on 06/04/2008

Somebody out there in the media please ask George Bush the folowing:.­.(for me)

Is the Earth 6,000 years old?

Is the Rapture coming to the Ho;y Land?

Does it bother you that a couple million Iraquis have fled their homes?

Do the deaths and maimings of thousands are on your filthy hands?

When you talk with your Saudi and Mobile oil buddies...­.do you laugh about the gargantuan profits you're all making?

Do you have any sence of intense hatred and contempt the vast majority of people all arround the world feel towards you.

You were born rich and priviledge­d...but you are a disgusting traitor to the country that was unlucky to have borne you. Christian my arse!

[MikeDu]

10:47 AM on 06/04/2008

Pretty much what you'd expect to hear from a dry drunk spoiled frat boy who claims to not even recall whether he snorted coke or not. Burn off enough brain cells and the past gets a little hazy. Oh yeh, let's not forget. Republican always claim to be the 'values' voters. Yeh, right.