Former President Bill Clinton yesterday called the U.S. war in Iraq a mistake because United Nations weapons inspectors had not finished their work.
He told “60 Minutes” in a broadcast scheduled for tonight that he believes life for Iraqis could be worse than it was under Saddam Hussein without the establishment of a stable government.
Asked whether he agrees with President Bush that removing Saddam from power has made the world safer from terrorism, Clinton said, “I think the Iraqis are better off with Saddam gone, if they can have a stable government. There have been more terrorists move into Iraq in the aftermath of the conflict. I still believe, as I always have, that the biggest terrorist threat by far is Al Qaida and the Al Qaida network.”
Clinton also said it was a mistake for the Bush administration to invade Iraq before United Nations weapons inspectors had finished their work.
U.N. inspectors were pulled from Iraq just before the war began in March 2003.
In an interview to be published in Time magazine, Clinton said that even though he didn’t agree with the timing of the attack, he wants the Iraq invasion “to have been worth it.”
“I think if you have a pluralistic, secure, stable Iraq, the people of Iraq will be better off, and it might help the process of internal reform in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere,” Clinton said.
Clinton gave the interviews in advance of Tuesday’s release of his memoir, “My Life.”
