Former president: George W. Bush
(pictured speaking to CBS News in a two-part interview that will air on
Sunday) has only one regret about invading Iraq - that it paved the way
for the rise of the Islamic State
George W. Bush appeared to take aim at his successor President Obama in an interview aired today - as he suggested the draw down of troops in Iraq had allowed ISIS to flourish.
Speaking to CBS News
in a two-part interview, the 68-year-old former president said he
thought it was 'the right decision' to take military action in 2003 in a
bid to oust Saddam Hussein.
But
he added: 'My regret is that…a violent group of people have risen up
again…This is "Al-Qaeda plus"…they need to be defeated. And I hope we
do…I hope the strategy works.'
Militant: Bush told correspondent Bob
Schieffer: 'My regret is that…a violent group of people have risen up
again…This is "Al-Qaeda plus"…they need to be defeated.' Above, an ISIS
militant in Raqqa, Syria
During
the interview with Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer, Bush also
revealed that when he threatened to invade Iraq, then-president Hussein
did not take him seriously.
'You
know, when he was captured... I was told that the FBI agent that talked
to him, he said "I just didn’t believe Bush,"' he said. 'And it’s hard
for me to believe he didn’t believe me.'
'In
retrospect…I don’t see how he could doubt my word,' Bush, who is
currently promoting his new book, '41: A Portrait Of My Father', which
is a biography of his father, George H.W. Bush, added.
The
2003 invasion of Iraq, which spanned March 19 to May 1 that year,
signaled the start of the Iraq War, which claimed the lives of nearly
half a million people.
Discussing the war: During the
interview, the 68-year-old former president (pictured, right, with
Schieffer), said he thought it was 'the right decision' to take military
action in 2003 in a bid to oust Saddam Hussein
After the invasion: Bush is pictured
addressing the nation aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham
Lincoln on May 1, 2003. He declared major fighting over in Iraq, calling
it 'one victory in a war on terror'
Former Iraqi president: During the
interview with Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer, Bush also
revealed that when he threatened to invade Iraq, then-president Hussein
(pictured) did not take him seriously
In
December 2011, under the orders of President Barack Obama, all U.S.
troops departed from Iraq, bringing the American mission in the war-torn
country to an end.
However,
in the past few years, ISIS has quickly risen to power in Iraq and
Syria, taking control of swathes of both countries. In June, the terror
group overran Mosul, Iraq's second largest city.
On
Saturday, American warplanes reportedly launched a strike on a
gathering of ISIS rebels in al-Qaim, Syria, critically wounding their
leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Bush's
two-part interview will air on CBS News's Sunday Morning at 9am on
Sunday, as well as the channel's 'Face The Nation' at 10.30am the same
day.
'Critically injured': On Saturday,
American warplanes reportedly launched a strike on a gathering of ISIS
rebels in al-Qaim, Syria, critically wounding their leader, Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi (pictured)
In the
biography, Bush also reveals his father, now 90, seriously considered
not running for re-election in 1992, even though he loved his job.
This
is because he felt his role was creating scrutiny of his son, Neil
Bush, who was facing a federal lawsuit. 'It killed him to see Neil
singled out because he was the President's son,' Bush wrote.
The
book also discusses George H.W. Bush's decision to launch the first war
in Iraq in 1991, his early failures in politics and his stinging defeat
to Bill Clinton in 1992.
The biography is set to be released on Tuesday, November 11.
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