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.This was an interview with Bob Wodward back in 2004. Ford spoke on the condition it would not be published until after his death. Why? Why not speak your mind?
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.
"Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction," Ford said. "And now, I've never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do."
Leadership means conviction, not hiding. Maybe Ford could have lead an effort to get the troops the hell out of Iraq back in '04. But no.. hundreds more Americans, and thousands more Iraqis are dead.
And again.. Gerald Ford started this scumbag Republican war machine by pardoning Nixon. Since then, they haven't looked back.
3 comments:
I'd like to hear your take on the Sandy Burger thing Tom.
As for on topic, while I agree it should've been published before that, do you really think that that singular publication would've stopped/shortened/halted the war in Iraq? I think you put too much stock in how much weight Gerald Ford really had.
I guess you're referring to his removing classified documents.. As it turns out, they were not unique documents as they were already digitized and stored on government computers. I really have no idea what he was doing, but he pled guilty and lost his security clearance.
Clearly no, Woodward publicizing the interview back in '04 would not have stopped the war. However, it could have helped hasten the inevitable - which is the withdrawl of the troops. That's why Lieberman and McCain are such assholes. They want to send MORE troops - as if that will make a difference.
What's the classic saying? Umm.. who will be the last man to die for a mistaken war? Maybe if Ford had some character, it would have been one less - and that would count for a lot.
He got a misdemeanor. How is sneaking classified documents out of the national archives a misdeamenor? That, and he is getting his security clearance back.
I actually find his pardon of Nixon much more appaling than his lack of publicizing his criticism.
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