Justifying his decision on Iraq, former US President George W Bush said on Friday said dislodging of the "brutal dictator" Saddam Hussain was a necessity after 9/11 attacks but regretted that military had to be used to do so as there was no other "choice".
Bush, who had earned immense criticism for the war on Iraq launched in March 2003, rejected the suggestion that his action had led to radicalism among the Muslim community and insisted that the world and Iraq were "better off" now. Describing Hussain as a "brutal dictator" who posed a danger to the US, he said it had become more important for America to remove him after the 9/11 attacks.
Removal of Hussain was important as it was "felt" that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction and he was not allowing International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in, Bush said while addressing the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi. Hussain was arrested by the US troops from a hiding place in December 2003 and was hanged on December 30, 2006.
Bush said the decision to "change regime" in Iraq had actually been taken by the previous Bill Clinton administration. "My hope was to disarm Saddam peacefully... I am sorry we had to use military but there was no choice," the former US President said. Explaining the necessity of using force, he noted that the UN Security Council had passed 17 resolutions calling for disarming of Hussain but the Iraqi ruler was not cooperative.
Bush claimed the US action had given Iraqis a chance to choose an alternative to the "tyrant" ruler through democracy. He said the decision to go to Iraq was not that of the US only as 41 other nations had joined the campaign. Rejecting the suggestion that the military campaign had resulted in radicalism in Muslim world, the former President argued that even before the US action, over 10,000 Iraqis were getting training in terrorism in Afghanistan.
"What could we do, let them do whatever they could and not let them anger? I don't buy this argument that we led to more radicalism. We could not wait for them to attack the US. The most important job for the President is to secure the US,"he said. Contending that extremists were posing an ideological challenge to democracies and free societies, he said "These killers want to change societies. We have to find these people and bring them to justice. We have to strike before they strike. We can't sit back and watch," he said.
At the same time, he insisted that he respected Islam and wanted the Muslims to live in a society where they could practise their religion freely. The former President, who is seen as a hated figure among many Muslims which was reflected by an incident in Iraq when a scribe hurled a shoe at him, said in a message to the community that they should not heed to "propagandists that Bush and the US do not respect you and your religion."
