MOSCOW, November 9 (RIA Novosti) — Former US President George W. Bush said in an interview to CBS Sunday, that his only regret to the military intervention in Iraq eleven years ago was the rise of Islamic State (IS) militant group.
“My regret is that … a violent group of people have risen up again,” Bush was quoted as saying by CBS. “I think it was the right decision [to go to Iraq]," he added.
According to the news outlet, Bush stated that he was surprised that Iraq’s former president, Saddam Hussein, did not believe Bush would take military action in 2003.
"You know, when he [Hussein] was captured … I was told that the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] agent that talked to him, he said, 'I just didn't believe Bush,'" he was quoted as saying in the interview.
The interview comes ahead of G.W Bush’s new book set to begin selling on Tuesday ‘41: A Portrait Of My Father’. In his book Bush said he discusses the rise of the IS.
“I put it in the book; they [IS] need to be defeated. And I hope we [US-led coalition] do,” Bush said.
The 2003 Iraq Intervention, under G.W. Bush, joined by troops from the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland overthrew former Sunni President Saddam Hussein, who was captured in December 2003. Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging for crimes against humanity in 2006.
Later in 2012, Islamic State jihadi group began fighting the Syrian government. The group launched an offensive in Iraq in June 2014 seizing vast areas in both countries and announcing the establishment of an Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control.
In an attempt to impede the military advancement of the group, the United States launched airstrikes against the jihadists' positions in Iraq and Syria in mid-September, with some other countries such as France, the United Kingdom and Australia joining later to form an airstrike coalition to crack down on the militants.
