[TinyRedLeaf]

Bush: I was unprepared for war

United States (Dec 1, 2008): Looking back on his eight years in the White House, President George W. Bush pinpointed incorrect intelligence that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction as "biggest regret of all the presidency".

"I think I was unprepared for war," Bush told ABC News' Charlie Gibson in an interview airing today (Dec 1) on World News.

"In other words, I didn't campaign and say, 'Please vote for me, I'll be able to handle an attack,'" he said. "In other words, I didn't anticipate war... one of the things about the modern presidency is that the unexpected will happen."

In a wide-ranging TV interview, he declined to say whether he would have decided to invade Iraq if he had known it had no weapons of mass destruction.

Asked about what he regarded as his greatest achievement, Mr Bush said that his administration had fought a war against "ideological thugs".

He also defended his actions over the recent economic crises. "When the history of this period is written, people will realise a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so," he told ABC.

Mr Bush — whose approval ratings are at an historic low — said he was happy for history to be his judge.

"I will leave the presidency with my head held high," he said.

- ABC NEWS, BBC NEWS