CRAWFORD, Texas, 13 April 2008 — US President George W. Bush said on Friday he has no intention of attacking Iran in an interview in which he also gave some advice to his successor on how to deal with the Islamic Republic.
Questioned during an interview with ABC television whether his intention was to not attack Iran, Bush replied: “Exactly” — although he refused to rule out the use of force altogether.
“I have always said all options need to be on the table, but my first effort is to solve this issue diplomatically,” he said from his Texas ranch.
Bush said he was not planning an attack, adding: “I’m chuckling, because, you know, from my perch, my perspective, these rumors happen all the time ... I wouldn’t say they’re amusing. It’s part of the job, I guess.”
The president accuses Iran of seeking nuclear weapons and arming and funding groups fighting US forces in Iraq. And he made clear in the interview that he would act to protect Americans or Iraqis from Iranian actions in neighboring Iraq.
“The message to the Iranians is: We will bring you to justice if you continue to try to infiltrate, send your agents or send surrogates to bring harm to our troops and/ or the Iraqi citizens,” he said.
Asked to elaborate on this “justice,” Bush replied: “It means capture or kill, is what that means.”
With less than 10 months until he leaves office, the president also offered some advice to his successor in the White House, including thinly veiled criticism of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
The Illinois senator has said he would open a dialogue with Iran if elected president, while Bush has said any talks must take place in a multilateral forum and on condition that Tehran suspend its sensitive nuclear activities.
“If you send the wrong signals as the president to the Iranians, they may pocket that signal, become even more difficult to deal with,” Bush said.
Interrogation Techniques
Bush also said in the interview that he was aware his top national security advisers had discussed the details of harsh interrogation tactics to be used on detainees. He said he approved of the meetings, which were held as the CIA began to prepare for a secret interrogation program that included waterboarding, or simulated drowning, and other coercive techniques.
“Well, we started to connect the dots, in order to protect the American people” by learning what various detainees knew, Bush said.
“And yes, I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved.”
The remarks underscore the extent to which the top officials were directly involved in setting the controversial interrogation policies.
Bush suggested in the interview that no one should be surprised that his senior advisers, including Vice President Dick Cheney, would discuss details of the interrogation program. “I told the country we did that,” Bush said. “And I also told them it was legal. We had legal opinions that enabled us to do it.”
The Washington Post first reported in January 2005 that proposed CIA interrogation techniques were discussed at several White House meetings. A principal briefer at the meetings was John Yoo, who was then a senior Justice Department attorney and the author of a draft memo explaining the legal justification for the classified techniques the CIA sought to employ.
The Post said that the attendees at one or more of these sessions included then-presidential counsel Alberto Gonzales, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, then-Defense Department general counsel William Haynes II, then-National Security Council legal adviser John Bellinger III, CIA counsel John Rizzo, and David Addington, then-counsel to Cheney.
It reported that the methods discussed included open-handed slapping, the threat of live burial and waterboarding. The threat of live burial was rejected, according to an official familiar with the meetings.
State Department officials and military lawyers were intentionally excluded from these deliberations, officials said.
Gonzales and his staff had no reservations about the proposed interrogation methods and did not suggest major changes, two officials involved in the deliberations said.
— With input from LA Times
