Posted on 12/27/2006 7:53:39 PM PST by tobyhill
Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. "I don't think I would have gone to war," he said a little more than a year after President Bush had launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford's own administration.
In a four-hour conversation at his house in Beaver Creek, Colo., Ford "very strongly" disagreed with the current president's justifications for invading Iraq and said he would have pushed alternatives, such as sanctions, much more vigorously. In the tape-recorded interview, Ford was critical not only of Bush but also of Vice President Cheney — Ford's White House chief of staff — and then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who served as Ford's chief of staff and then his Pentagon chief.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I like the former President and as I have read he was hawk during the Viet Nam 60's. I don't agree with these views, if they are indeed his though. But, until I hear more, I wouldn't classify him as a cut and run Republican. I would be more likely to classify him as someone whose world view stopped at the Cold War.
Yeah, and I've said a lot of stuff too. Big deal. It don't mean a hoot.
I can't remember how Bobcat Goldthwait set up the joke but the punchline was:
"Ummmm...Bob Woodward said that Bill Casey's last word was 'Rosebud.'"
Ah, yes... leave it to Woodward to continue to put out hit pieces on the administration.
Liberal.
He'd better be able to prove it by producing the tape and that tape had better not have 13 minutes missing.
Woodward is such a classless troll. His timing is truly bad form.
Ford was a bit before my political awarness. I do remember him being a great "Moderate" during the clinton years. RIP
"..the ending of the Cold War.."
This is an expression I could never endorse.
The visible cold war may have ended but the reality is that communism was not defeated but went underground and showed up as today's democrat party. We are still in the mutually assured destruction (MAD) mode and, with a guy like Putin with his finger on the nuclear trigger, we'd better stay alert.
In fact, things have only gotten worse - whereas we had to deal with the USSR at one time, we now have our hands full with the Russians and the Muslims.
He was on Larry King tonight, and they aired this piece of audio tape. Ford allegedly said in the tape "Given the knowledge that was publicly available at the time, I would have not attacked Iraq, I would have pursued other options...".
I was intrigued by the "publicly available" part and wonder what he said about information on Iraq NOT publicly available. Woodward has the advantage of being to edit his tapes all he wants, and can take statements out of context.
Additionally, I think Woodward's greed is vile. He's working on overtime to cash in before the President's body has even been laid to rest. What a slime.
I am so tired of Bob Woodard. He thinks we believe every tale he spins. I just wish he would go to CNN and stay there.
More of my thoughts at Washington Post: President Ford “Strongly Disagreed” With Iraq War
Given Woodwards strong opposition to President Bush, the War and Republicans in general, I have a difficult time accepting this at full face value.
This one will likely prove to be a quote out of context. I heard the story today on the radio. The quote has a qualifier that begs for the rest of the thought and what was said.
I am guessing that Woodward did not take this quote out of context but instead made it up all together.
If a tape of this does exist it needs to be played for all the hear.
Like Rush always says, Ford came from the Bob Michel "permanent minority" millieu of Republican politics that was in full bloom in the '70s. I don't know if Ford, like Michel, ever got over being the dog under the Democrat table, begging for scraps. A lot of long-time Republicans ended up like that.
Precisely correct. Additionally, the communists STILL control the State Department.
The sick and attention driven Woodward could not wait a week, until after the funeral ceremonies to put this information out.
Woodward has been and always will be a stinking clown.
wrong
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