Not to put too fine a point on it
Clinton's Critique of His Successor Takes On a Harder Edge
Ronald Brownstein
July 26, 2004
Even after completing 957 pages of memoir, Bill Clinton still has a lot to get off his chest.
About, for instance, George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq. "The American people can decide who they think is right and wrong, but the Bush administration believed Iraq was far and away the biggest security problem of the country, despite the fact that there was more support for Al Qaeda within Pakistan and now we know more contacts with Iran," the former president said in an interview as he prepared for his prime-time address to the Democratic National Convention tonight.
"There were," he added dryly, "other responsible people who had different views."
He's just as exercised about Bush's doctrine of military preemption. "I think it's a very tricky, slippery slope," he said. "I think you have to be under an imminent threat to justify any kind of preemptive attack. First of all, it was never realistic because we are not going to go to war with Iran or North Korea. I think it's hard to even think of another case."
