Gerald Ford on the war

By: Rob
Published On: 12/28/2006 9:56:39 AM

Gerald Ford was against the war. From a 2004 interview with Bob Woodward:
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.

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."

In fact, Ford said he would not have gone to war based on the publicly available info - which I'd imagine includes the case for war made by Bush and Co. - and would have worked harder to find an alternative to invasion.

The article ends with Ford's feelings on being called the only President to lose a war (due to his pullout from Vietnam). I think saddling him with that label is quite unfair. That would be like blaming the Iraq debacle on our next President, should the current trends continue. 

Comments



Embargoed? (Teddy - 12/28/2006 11:23:10 AM)
The interview was done in 2004, and we just now are hearing it? One wonders why Bob Woodward did not publish the interview immediately--- or, was it his editor or publisher who "embargoed" it? Oh, I remember: it was that this interview occurred during the period Mr. Woodward was still slavishly lavishing encomiums on George W. Bush (compare the different tones in his two books on Bush at war)? Whoever killed the interview did a disservice to the country.


it was Ford (Rob - 12/28/2006 11:30:40 AM)
Teddy - Pres. Ford requested this not be released until after his death. (see the article).


I bet he (Gordie - 12/28/2006 2:45:12 PM)
Wished he could take back all the good things he said about Bush in 2000 during the Primary, and all he said about Cheney and Rumsfeld.

For a 2 1/2 year President who did some of the most couragest things, he sure had been beaten up. I was one who thought he did the right thing when he pardoned Nixon. I just had wished he did not fall up and down stairs and hit such terrible golf shots. For a Republican he was alright. I just wonder if Betty was a Democrat before marrying him. He showed allot of D common sense.