Former President George W. Bush set the record straight about his decision to invade Iraq in his new book about his father and on Sunday’s “Face the Nation.”
He said there was a lot of “gossip around the political circles” that he had invaded Iraq after 9/11 to finish what his dad started.
“My dad decided not to go into Baghdad after routing Saddam Husein out of Kuwait. And the reason why was that wasn’t the mission he stated,” Bush said. “I went in there as a result of a very changed environment because of Sept. 11. The danger we were concerned about was that the weapons would be put into the hands of terrorist groups that would come and make the attacks on 9/11 pale in comparison. Since this is a book about my dad, I thought it was necessary to kind of set the record straight.”
He stood by his decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and said he didn’t regret it.
“I think it was the right decision,” Bush said. “My regret is that a violent group of people has risen up again. This is al Qaeda plus. I put in the book that they need to be defeated. And I hope they are. I hope the strategy works.”
Watch the clip below:
