Former President George W. Bush considers himself “a dissenting voice” in the decision to go to war with Iraq.
In the first interview of the publicity tour for his new book, Decision Points, Bush told Matt Lauer that he didn’t want to use force.
“Not everybody thought you should go to war, though,” Lauer said. “There were dissenting voices.”
“I was a dissenting voice. I didn’t want to use force,” Bush said. “I mean force is the last option for a President. And I think it’s clear in the book that I gave diplomacy every chance to work. And I will also tell you the world’s better off without Saddam in power. And so are 25 million Iraqis.”
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Decision Points! A Look Back At The Bush Years]
Bush went on to say that he still feels like going to war was the right decision. And as he wrote in the book, “No one was more sickened or angry than I was when we didn’t find weapons of mass destruction.”
The interview will air Nov. 8.