Clinton Says Iraq Was A Big Mistake

[Glaken]

Clinton says Iraq invasion was a big mistake
<HR SIZE=1><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST </TD><TD align=right>Nov. 16, 2005</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><HR SIZE=1>
The United States made a "big mistake" when it invaded Iraq, former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday, citing the lack of planning for what would happen after dictator Saddam Hussein was overthrown.
"Saddam is gone. It's a good thing, but I don't agree with what was done, " Clinton told students at the American University of Dubai.
"It was a big mistake. The American government made several errors ... one of which is how easy it would be to get rid of Saddam and how hard it would be to unite the country." Clinton did however say that the United States had done some good things in Iraq: the removal of Saddam, the ratification of a new constitution, and the holding of parliamentary elections.

 

[dirty]

Bill Clinton Waffles On Iraq: 'It Could Still Work'

Bill Clinton Waffles On Iraq: 'It Could Still Work'

Having declared last Wednesday that the U.S. invasion of Iraq was a "big mistake," former President Bill Clinton now thinks the Bush Administration policy may succeed.
Speaking to Arab students in Dubai, the capital of United Arab Emirates, Clinton said "Saddam is gone. It's a good thing, but I don't agree with what was done."
Last night however, he told an audience of 700 in Valhalla, New York that the recent vote on an Iraqi constitution went well, and the next test will be whether the once-dominant Sunni Arabs participate in the Dec. 15 elections, according to Westchester County's Journal News. If they do, he said , "this enterprise could still work," and "we could look at having a fairly substantial drawdown (of troops) next year.

Taking a stance at odds with Democrat Representative John Murtha (D-Pa) and some of his fellow Democrats calling for immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, Clinton warned, "Sunni Iraq would become the very terrorist hotbed they were accused of being before."

The former President also differed from those Democrats who charge that President Bush lied us into a war, saying he had personally never seen any intelligence linking Iraq to al-Qaida: "No one I knew believed that was the case."
That however doesn't mean President Bush, a Republican, lied or deliberately misled the country about the reasons for going to war, Clinton said, adding that President Bush probably believed the information he was relying on was right. Clinton, a resident of nearby Chappaqua, spoke at Westchester Community College for The President's Forum, a school fundraiser.