Bush: War 'Only circumstance... known'

by Mark Silva

"I'm going to write a book,'' the retiring President George W. Bush says. "Part of the purpose of the book is to set history straight."

The outgoing president has suggested that historians will set the record straight, long after he is gone from the White House, on the question of his presidency. Yet he too may be eager to start helping them, not long after leaving office.

"I mean, people forget the environment right after 9/11,'' Bush says in an interview with FOX News' Sean Hannity, in a program that will air as part of a two-part interview with the president Monday and Tuesday on FOX News Channel's "Hannity.''
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"I want people to fully understand what it was like here in the Oval Office and what the times were like,'' Bush tells Hannity. "Because in the world in which we live, it's so easy to forget what the moment was like five years ago... You can't forget it.''

Asked about the toughest moments of his presidency, Bush says: "Well, by far the toughest moment is to make the decision to put men and women of our military into combat... A decision, by the way, on an issue of this magnitude, takes a while to arrive at. In other words, before you put people in harm's way, you want to listen to a lot of voices, at least I wanted to, and a lot of opinions, and to think through all of the different circumstances as best as you possibly can before you make the commitment."

He has been, after all, a "war-time president.''

"The only circumstances I've known as president has been in time of war,'' he says. "When I walk in that Oval Office in the morning, I am briefed on the war... I'm briefed on intel and homeland security issues six days a week...I get a report, an overnight report every day, seven days a week. And, you know, obviously in that report are the casualties... And those casualties weigh heavily on you."

He says this about the office he is leaving:

"The great thing about America is that the institution of the presidency is more important than the person. And that's important because no matter who the president is, they'll bring, you know, different strengths and different weaknesses.... It is a reminder that presidents come and go, but the institution survives."

And this about his advice for his successor, President-elect Barack Obama:

"Well, my advice is...follow your instincts, stand strong on principle and surround yourself with people who want to serve not you as a person or not a political party, but serve the country first and foremost,'' Bush says.

Today, also was a day for retrospectives on the presidency from two who have held the office, Bush, and his father, former President George H.W. Bush. They appeared in a joint interview with Brit Hume aired on FOX News Sunday.

Here, courtesy of FOX News Sunday, are excerpts from the talks with the 41st and 43rd presidents of the United States:

President Bush:

ON HOW THE PRESIDENT 'FEELS' WITH LESS THAN TWO WEEKS LEFT IN OFFICE:
"I've got mixed emotions. I'm going to miss being the commander-in-chief of the military."

"I've got such great respect for the men and women who wear the uniform, and I've been through a lot with them. And I've called upon them to do hard tasks."

"And I'm going to miss all the folks who have made our life so comfortable here in the White House. On the other hand, I am looking forward to going back to Texas."

"I'm excited about the next chapter in my life."

ON SAYING HE 'DID NOT COMPROMISE' HIS 'PRINCIPLES IN INTEREST OF POPULARITY':
"Well, one principle is I believe in the universality of freedom...And therefore, it's incumbent upon those of us with influence to act upon that principle."

"I had faith that freedom exists in people's souls. And therefore, if given a chance, democracy and Iraqi-style democracy could survive and work. I didn't compromise that principle for the sake of trying to, you know, bail out my political party, for example."

"My presidency was defined by the attack on the country.
And, therefore, used the powers inherit in the Constitution to defend this country."

ON USING 'ENHANCED INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES':
"My view is, is that the techniques were necessary and are necessary to be used on a rare occasion to get information necessary to protect the American people."

"And I think when people study the history of this particular episode...they'll find out we gained good information from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in order to protect our country."

"We believe that the information we gained helped save lives on American soil...but I also emphasize, we were doing it within the law."

"Look, I understand why people can get carried away on this issue, but generally they don't know the facts."
"And by the way, one of the interesting things that did take place is, before anything happened on this particular program, that we did brief members of Congress."

"We had an obligation to share information with the legislative branch."

"And all I can tell the American people is, we better have tools in place that are legal and that can help us protect the American people from an enemy that still exists."

"And my concern is not for President-elect Obama, because I'm confident that he understands the nature of the world and understands the need to protect America."

"But I am concerned that America, at some point in time, lets down her guard. And if we ever do that, the country will become highly vulnerable."

"I do want to -- you know, I firmly reject the word "torture."

ON USING 'PRESIDENTIAL POWERS':
"I did find the presidential powers intact."

"I have at times used those powers in ways that people had not anticipated."

"Now, many of the decisions I made are being adjudicated and, of course, I have lived by and future presidents will live by the decisions of the Supreme Court."

"But as a wartime president, what remained intact, by the way, was the Constitution...which we have honored."

"And so however I interpret the Constitution, I kept in mind what the Constitution said, the legality of what my decisions were, but I also fully understood the checks and balances inherit in our system."

ON WHETHER HE IS 'WORRIED' FOR THE FUTURE OF THE 'TOOLS' HE HAS USED:
"I would hope that the team that has the honor of serving the country will take a hard look at the realities of the world and the tools now in place to protect the United States from further attack. I would hope they would take a sober assessment, and I believe they will."

"...we have gone from an administration that was accused of not connecting dots to an administration that's connecting dots...linking pieces of information to better protect the country with the civil liberties of our citizens in mind."


ON OBAMA'S NOMINATIONS:
I really don't feel comfortable commenting upon President-elect Obama's supposed choices in this case.

ON THE FUTURE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY:
"I mean, obviously, we got whipped in 2008."

"...it's very important for our party not to narrow its focus, not to become so inward-looking that we drive people away from a philosophy that is compassionate and decent. And my call for our party is to be open minded about... different people's opinions."

"We shouldn't have litmus tests as to whether or not you can be a Republican."

"I think that we shouldn't change our philosophy. We may want to change our messaging. We definitely want to change messengers. We need a new group of leaders." You know, but the idea of keeping taxes low...

ON EMERGING LEADERSHIP IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY:
"Governor Jeb Bush."

"I mean, there are a lot of bright young guys and women in our party that will emerge. And parties go through cycles."

"I'm optimistic about it. I don't want the party to feel like it has got to sell its soul on defending the country, that freedom is transformative, that we've got to be compassionate conservatives, that low taxes make sense, that the military needs to be supported."

"I mean, there is a lot of just basic tenets to our party that make a lot of sense to the average person."

ON WHAT IS NEXT FOR THE PRESIDENT AFTER HE LEAVES THE WHITE HOUSE:
"I have -- the same sense of anticipation heading out of political life, but without the sense of gravity."

"But I imagine I'll spend a fair amount of time in Dallas working on the policy center that will be associated with a library on the SMU campus."

"I do want to continue to promote not a political party, not my personality or my record, but a set of values that I think are very important for the country."

"And you know, I plan on writing a book."

"I'm not quite exactly sure what it's going to be, but I'm toying with the idea of maybe describing the toughest decisions I had to make as president, and the context in which I made them."

ON HIS FATHER, FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH ADVISING HIM WHILE HE IS IN OFFCIE
"See, the interesting thing is that a president has got plenty of advisers, but what a president never has is someone who gave him unconditional love."

"And therefore when I talked to my dad I was more interested in the father-son relationship."

"You've got a lot people who can give you advice. But you rarely have people who can pick up the phone and say, I love you, son, or, hang in there, son, and be -- and provide the kind of comfort that, you know, a president needs on occasion."

"Well, I said that being the son of a president was a lot harder than being the president."


ON PRESIDENT- ELECT OBAMA'S 'RANGE OF APPOINTMENTS':
"I've been impressed."

"One he showed decisiveness."

"Two, he has picked people that are capable and confident people and I think he did a very good transition and frankly, I think Josh Bolten and my chief of staff and the people that are working in the White House have also had a good transition because they have reached out to the president-elect's team at all levels and the message is, we want there to be a seamless move from us leaving and you coming in and we want you to succeed."

"I've been very pleased with what I've seen over - since the election.

Former President George H.W. Bush:

ON ADVISING HIS SON, PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, WHILE HE HAS BEEN SURVING AS PRESIDENT:
"And we sometimes would talk about policy."

"But I was determined to stay out of his way and avoid speculation of what the old guy thinks. I mean, we don't need that."

ON BEING THE 'FATHER OF THE PRESIDENT':
"Tough at times. Only when you see criticism you know is very unfair."

"I tried not to speak up, it might just exacerbate the problem for him. But when I saw things I knew were grossly unfair in the press, in the print, anywhere, it hurt."

ON 'HOW' HE REGARDS HIS SON'S PRESIDENCY:
"Very positively...And he's been tested unlike any other president with 9/11. So he passed the test."

"He is almost too humble to be president and when history finally gets objective, they will be able to say a lot of positive things about George Bush."

"I cannot worry, I tell people I'm still reading biographies of George Washington, analyses of his presidency. They're still writing about the first guy, the 41st guy and the 43 guy simply don't need to worry about it."

ON HIS PLANS TO 'JUMP OUT OF THE AIRPLANE AGAIN':
"True...it's a thrill."

"You don't want to sit around just because you're an old guy, drooling in the corner and secondly, you want to send a message out around the world actually because of the promise of the presidency that you can still do stuff, old guys can still do stuff"

ON HIS THOUGHTS ON 'PANETTA BEING NOMINATED OR SELECTED FOR THE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY':
"I really thought there was so many outstanding people there and so I went in there at a time the agency was under tremendous fire...the Church report and it was just decimating the morale of the agency."

"I viewed my job not to learn all the trade stuff, but to defend the quality and the character of the agency and the people there."

"But all I hope is that whoever goes out there, will go with confidence in the CIA and the people around the CIA. They're good people, more Ph.D's than in many universities and many different disciplines and everybody just thinks it's kind of a James Bond operation."

ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRESIDENTS, AND FORMER PRESIDENTS, OF THE UNITED STATED OF AMERICA:
"I think everyone, everyone who's a member of that club realizes there can only be one president."

"He's not going to be turning to you every day saying what do I do now?"

"He doesn't need a lot of advice from former presidents and...the current president needs to have good people around him who will help him pursue the goals he set out and so I don't think there's much to it, except collegiality and the idea that you know, you want to be out there if you need support."

ON REFRAINING TO COMMENT ON OTHER PUBLIC FIGURES:
"Why be out there looking like you're carping and criticizing and know everything."

"I mean, I've heard what the president's said about President Obama, President-Elect Obama and I feel the same way. Support him when you can and don't go out there criticizing and carping."

"Mainly he needs support and if it's something you disagree with violently, sit on the sideline and shut up."

ON, KUWAIT, HIS MOST 'VIVID MEMORY OF HIS TIME IN OFFICE'
"I remember Colin Powell reaching under this desk and -- a desk and pulling out the telephone to call Schwarzkopf to see if the mission had been accomplished. Because they said, it's time to shut down this war, 100 hours...we had done what we said we wanted to do. And he called up, and that one sticks in my mind as a dramatic moment."