Clinton backs Iraq war but not timing

The Time excerpts, in particular, leave Clinton’s views on Iraq somewhat jumbled. He both defends Bush for confronting a threat of which Clinton also spoke in dire terms while president, and minimises the size and urgency of the problem posed by Iraq’s suspected weapons programs.

Noting that he has ‘‘repeatedly defended President Bush against the Left’’ on Iraq, Clinton dismissed the notion that the Iraq war was principally about protecting petroleum or financial interests.

Instead, he asserts that Bush acted primarily for ideological reasons and that the president was under the sway of Vice-President Dick Cheney and Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

‘‘We went in there because he bought the Wolfowitz-Cheney analysis’’ that defeating Iraq would help transform the greater West Asia toward democracy.

In the Time interview, Clinton said ‘‘I never really thought’’ Saddam would use his weapons but did worry that they might be sold or given away. He ordered missile strikes against Iraq in December 1998 but did not press aggressively for UN inspectors to return.

Bush administration officials said this was the ‘‘ambiguous third route’’ in Clinton’s warning. But Bush has been embarrassed by the failure of inspectors after Saddam’s fall last year to find major weapons programmes. —(LAT-WP)