Bush was wrong on Iraq, says Rumsfeld

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, one of the staunchest defenders of the Iraq war, said in an interview with the Times of London that his boss, former President George W. Bush, was wrong to try to create democracy onto Iraq.

“The idea that we could fashion a democracy in Iraq seemed to me unrealistic. I was concerned about it when I first heard those words,” Rumsfeld said, adding, “I’m not one who thinks that our particular template of democracy is appropriate for other countries at every moment of their histories.”

Bush often spoke of how toppling the government of Saddam Hussein would lead to American-style democracy.

"A liberated Iraq can show the power of freedom," Bush said in a Feb. 26, 2003 speech in the run up to the invasion, "to transform that vital region by bringing hope and progress into the lives of millions. America's interests in security and America's belief in liberty both lead in the same direction: to a free and peaceful Iraq."

Read entire article at Bloomberg