Ford said Iraq war not justified
Bob Woodward writes in tomorrow's Washington Post that Gerald Ford thought the invasion of Iraq was a mistake.
But the fact he would say them at all is pretty revealing about what an old-school, non-insane Republican thought about the invasion of Iraq.
Ford also had some pretty choice comments about Henry Kissinger, saying Kissinger had "the thinnest skin of any public figure I ever knew." In essence, Ford was saying Kissinger would never admit to a mistake. Sound familiar?
It's worth noting that the source of this interview is Bob Woodward, so you can take all of it with however much salt you deem appropriate. But it's listed as page A-1 for Thursday's Washington Post, so it may get a teensy bit of attention.
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.It is too bad Ford didn't say this publicly, but unless I'm mistaken ex-presidents are not comfortable doing such things, and tend to avoid doing so, realizing the position it would put the incumbent in.
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.
But the fact he would say them at all is pretty revealing about what an old-school, non-insane Republican thought about the invasion of Iraq.
Ford also had some pretty choice comments about Henry Kissinger, saying Kissinger had "the thinnest skin of any public figure I ever knew." In essence, Ford was saying Kissinger would never admit to a mistake. Sound familiar?
It's worth noting that the source of this interview is Bob Woodward, so you can take all of it with however much salt you deem appropriate. But it's listed as page A-1 for Thursday's Washington Post, so it may get a teensy bit of attention.
