Former US President George Bush, in an interview with CNN broadcast Wednesday, said he hates Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein but emphasized he has no regrets over failing to oust him during the 1991 Gulf war.
"I hate Saddam Hussein," the father of the current US president told CNN's Paula Zahn in an exclusive interview conducted about 800 kilometers off the Japanese mainland near an island where he was shot down as a US Navy pilot during World War II, according to AFP.
"I don't hate easily, but I think he's, as I say, his word is no good and he's a brute... So, there's nothing redeeming about this man...I have nothing but hatred in my heart for him. He's got a lot of problems, but immortality isn't one of them."
Reminiscing about the Gulf War, the former American president noted that coalition military commanders were ordered to boot Iraqi forces out of Kuwait and they carried out the mission.
He said the US-led coalition would have shattered had troops been ordered to roll into Baghdad and overthrow Saddam Hussein. "I know what would have happened. I know that the coalition would have shattered...My only regret is that I was wrong, as was every leader in thinking that Saddam Hussein would be gone," he added. "We told our military commanders, 'Here's your objective.' They saluted from halfway around the world and said, 'Mission complete, sir.' And that's the way it was, and that's the way it should have been."
However, the former president remained tight-lipped on what kind of advice he had given his son, President George W. Bush, as the latter considered whether to force Saddam from power. "That's the problem facing the president of the United States, not me," he expressed. (Albawaba.com)
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