Wednesday, December 03, 2008
AFP, Washington, Dec 1, 2008 (excerpts) – US President George W. Bush said in an interview set for broadcast Monday that he came to office “unprepared for war” and that his “biggest regret” was the US “intelligence failure” on Iraq.

“The biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq,” Bush said 50 days before president-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration. “I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess.”

“A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam Hussein. It wasn’t just people in my administration,” Bush told ABC.
Asked what he was most unprepared for when he took office in January 2001, Bush replied: “I think I was unprepared for war. In other words, I didn’t campaign and say, ’Please vote for me, I’ll be able to handle an attack.’”
“In other words, I didn’t anticipate war. one of the things about the modern presidency is that the unexpected will happen,” he said.