Interview With the President
Bob Woodward interviewed President Bush on Dec. 10 and Dec. 11, 2003, for a total of 31/2 hours. The following are excerpts from those interviews.
On how he decided to go to war:
I want to work you back, take you to the day I declared war, or committed the troops. When I went in the Command Center, and it was a -- I was fully prepared at this point in time, reluctant to use troops. Tried diplomacy, tried diplomacy, tried diplomacy, recognized we would have to use troops, had the troop build-up there. Got very frustrated with the diplomatic circle. Working with [British Prime Minister Tony] Blair, [Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria] Aznar, [Australian Prime Minister John] Howard, all of whom stayed the course. 'Mr. President, we need this diplomacy.' The big build-up there. Began to wonder, worry about America saying: Well, maybe Bush isn't serious about Saddam. Why the build-up? Why the hesitation? There was a lot of conflicting pressures, and so by the time it came time to commit, I was fully ready to go psychologically, and knowing it was the right thing to do. But it was a dramatic moment.