Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte now says if he’d had his way, the invasion of Iraq wouldn’t have proceeded quite like it did. In fact, he would have waited until weapons inspectors finished their job and the U.N. had passed a resolution backing the war before sending U.S. troops to Iraq.
In an interview with Mainichi Shimbun, one of the largest newspaper’s in Japan, Negroponte took issue with part of the Bush administration’s conduct.
According to a translator, Negroponte essentially acknowledged that the Bush administration “didn’t give proper justification” for the war and “was too optimistic about what would happen after the fall of Saddam.”
Reached by email, Negroponte took issue with Mainichi Shinbun’s characterization, but effectively confirms much of it.
“Inaccurate, completely!” Negroponte writes. “Don’t have time to set record straight at the moment. What I said was that I would have waited longer before invading, giving inspectors more time. Also said that the invasion did not have the legitimacy of a UN resolution but there was a coalition of the willing and our invasion got rid of a terrible dictator. My view is that we were justified in invading Iraq but paid a political price around the world for not having the legitimating imprimatur of a second UN resolution.” Negroponte was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations at the start of the Iraq War.
We’re working on getting a recording of the interview, if indeed there is one, and will let you know if and when we get our hands on it.
[Ed. note: this post was edited after publication.]
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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