Bush Calls Flawed Iraq Intelligence Biggest Regret

Dec. 1, 2008

WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush said the biggest regret of his presidency was flawed intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and told ABC “World News” in an interview airing on Monday, December 1, 2008 that he was unprepared for war when he took office.

Bush leaves the White House on Jan. 20 with public approval ratings near record lows partly due to the unpopular Iraq war that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein after the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. More than 4,200 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.

“The biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq. A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam Hussein,” Bush said.

But he declined to speculate on whether he would have gone to war if the intelligence had said Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction. …

He told ABC: “I will leave the presidency with my head held high.”

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Iraq: Key Figures Since the War Began

Dec. 1, 2008

U.S. Troop Levels

• October 2007: 170,000 at peak of troop buildup
• November 2008: 146,000

Casualties

• Confirmed U.S. military deaths as of Dec. 1, 2008: At least 4,207
• Confirmed U.S. military wounded (hostile) as of Nov. 28, 2008: 30,840
• Confirmed U.S. military wounded (non-hostile, using medical air transport) as of Nov. 1, 2008: 34,618
• Deaths of civilian employees of U.S. government contractors as of Sept. 30, 2008: 1,264
• Assassinated Iraqi academics as of Nov. 27, 2008: 408
• Journalists killed on assignment as of Dec. 1, 2008: 135

Cost

• Nearly $576 billion so far, according to the National Priorities Project.

Oil Production

• Prewar: 2.58 million barrels per day
• Nov. 16, 2008: 2.40 million barrels per day

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Security Developments in Iraq

U.S. soldiers secure the area of a car bomb after it detonated close to the police academy on Palestine Street in central Baghdad, Dec. 1, 2008. A suicide bomber blew himself up near the entrance to the police academy shortly before a parked car exploded, the interior ministry said. Some 15 people were killed and 45 wounded in the twin blasts. At least 33 people were killed Dec. 1 in a spate of attacks targeting security forces across the country. (Photo credit: Ali Yussef / AFP – Getty Images)

Following are security developments in Iraq on Dec. 1, 2008, as reported by Reuters.

MOSUL – A suicide car bomb and a parked car bomb exploding in quick succession killed 15 people and wounded 37 when it struck a joint Iraqi police and U.S. military patrol in Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – A double-strike by a suicide car bomber and another on foot killed 15 people and wounded 45 outside a police academy in eastern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb killed three people and wounded 13 when it exploded next to the patrol of Iraqi Major-General Mudhar al-Mawla in the Sulaikh district of northern Baghdad.

MOSUL – Gunmen kidnapped a doctor as he headed to work in western Mosul, police said.

MOSUL – Gunmen killed the principal of an Islamic studies high school in a drive-by shooting in Mosul, police said.