Bush 'disappointed' with flawed Iraq intelligence

President George Bush said he was disappointed in “flawed intelligence” before the Iraq war and fears that if a Democrat wins the US presidency in November and withdrew troops early, it could “eventually lead to another attack on the United States”.

In an interview with the political newspaper 'Politico' and the internet portal Yahoo, Mr Bush also said he gave up golf in 2003 out of respect for US soldiers killed in the war, which has now lasted more than five years.

“I didn’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf,” he said.

“I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”

Mr Bush said he made his decision after the August 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad.

A question submitted from the online audience asked Mr Bush whether he felt he had been misled about Iraq as he made the decision to go to war.

“’Misled’ is a strong word,” he said. “Not only our intelligence community, but intelligence communities all across the world shared the same assessment. And so I was disappointed to see how flawed our intelligence was.”

“Do I think somebody lied to me? No, I don’t. I think it was just, you know, they analysed the situation and came up with the wrong conclusion.”

He acknowledged concerns about leaving the unfinished Iraq war to a Democratic successor. Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have said they will bring troops home if elected.

Mr Bush said his “doomsday scenario of course is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States”.

In the interview to an online audience, Mr Bush:

:: Said more was known about global warming than when he first took office in 2001. Asked if it was real, Mr Bush said, “Yes, it is real, sure is.” But he defended his opposition to the Kyoto Treaty on climate change, saying it “just wouldn’t have worked”;

:: Criticised the Democratic-led Congress, claiming it had dragged its feet on trade, renewing surveillance powers and had failed to respond appropriately to the housing crisis;

:: Said his Christian faith increased while in office, saying he sought to understand his weaknesses, better himself “and get closer to the Lord”;

:: Criticised former President Jimmy Carter for advocating what he called a “blame-Israel-for-every-problem” mentality to the Middle East;

:: Said he would return to using email after he left office, saying he gave it up to avoid leaks. He said he looked forward to “emailing to my buddies”.