Ex-President Bush 'Feels Sick About Iraq'
Former US president George W Bush says he still feels sick when he thinks about Iraq and the fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction.
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Mr Bush's memoirs are to be published next week
The revelation came in Mr Bush's memoirs, Decision Points, in which he wrote of errors during the Iraq campaign, and the failure to find WMDs there, despite intelligence reports suggesting otherwise.
"No one was more shocked or angry than I was when we didn't find the weapons. I had a sickening feeling every time I thought about it. I still do," he wrote.
The book - to be published next week - contains anecdotes and behind-the-scenes details of Mr Bush's tenure.
It takes an inside look at the eight-year presidency that began shortly before the September 11, 2001 ****** attacks in America and ended with the economic meltdown.
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No weapons of mass destruction were ever found in Iraq
On the collapse of the economy, Mr Bush was frank. "I felt like the captain of a sinking ship," he admitted.
The politician rejected claims he "squandered" the budget surplus left to him by his Democrat predecessor, Bill Clinton, when he took office in 2001.
"That never made sense. Much of the surplus was an illusion, based on the mistaken assumption that the 1990s boom would continue," Mr Bush said.
"Once the recession and 9/11 hit, there was little surplus left."
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Hurricane Katrina was Mr Bush's lowest point, he felt
On Hurricane Katrina, Mr Bush said his initial mistake was not communicating his concern to the storm's victims, and doing an Air ***** One flyover of New Orleans while much of the city was under water.
Accusations that he was a racist because of the response to Katrina "was the worst moment of my presidency. I feel the same way today", he wrote.
Mr Bush, 64, has largely remained out of sight since returning to Texas in 2009.
Although his book clearly aims to put his point of view across, the former president believes it will be a long time before the definitive judgment will be made.
"Whatever the verdict on my presidency, I'm comfortable with the fact that I won't be around to hear it," he wrote.
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