oldenGoldenDecoy's picture

    How Did Jerry Ford Really Feel About Iraq?

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    Lost within all the front page headlines related to the passing of Gerald R. Ford was this little tidbit of a byline from Bob Woodward. It was an interview conducted in 2005 that had been embargoed until after Ford's death. I found it buried on page A29 of the LA Times:

    On Iraq war: 'They made a big mistake'

    And it's quite apparent that Ford did not mince words about who "they" were...

    "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."

    And there's more....

    A person can't help but notice that Ford didn't run off at the mouth by blaming it on what everyone else was parroting at the time about the Weapons of Mass Persussion from such entities as the CIA, or the British, the Clintons, the French or the Martians from outer space for that matter.

    And just so no one goes off on a tangent about Ford's feelings that the administration simply framed the sales pitch for the war in the wrong way:

    Ford took issue with the notion of the United States entering a conflict in service of the idea of spreading democracy. "Well, I can understand the theory of wanting to free people," Ford said, referring to Bush's assertion that the United States has a "duty to free people." But the former president said he was skeptical "whether you can detach that from the obligation No. 1, of what's in our national interest." He added: "And I just don't think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people, unless it is directly related to our own national security."

    In addition: There is also a very interesting section related to the firing of then Defense Secretary James Schlesinger in the mid 70s and the ensuing complaints from Henry Kissinger related to Ford's request for Kissinger to step aside from his post as security adviser.

    Be it that the LA Times requires registration, you may wish to read the entire piece mirrored at: A Nose Embedded in the Noise

    ~OGD~

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