George
Bush Jr., the 43rd president of the United States, from an interview with ABC
News, December 1st [watch below]
"I'm sorry it's
happening, of course [the financial crisis]. Obviously I don't like the idea of
people losing jobs, or being worried about their 401Ks. …
the biggest regret of the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure
in Iraq. A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam
Hussein. It wasn't just people in my administration; a lot of members in
Congress … a lot of leaders of nations around the world were all looking at the
same intelligence … I was unprepared for war … I didn't anticipate war. The
war has adversely affected the domestic and foreign policies of the United
States [this sentence not in transcript]. … I wish him [Obama] all the very
best. And I don't want to be a - I don't want to be out there critiquing him,
his every move."
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Mikhail
Gorbachev , the first and last president of U.S.S.R., from an
interview with V. Pozner on Channel 1, December 1st.
"Now I have
regrets: I should not have left (Gorbachev went on vacation to Foros, Ukraine, in August of 1991 - when an attempted coup
brought his government to an end). I think that the Soviet Union would have
lasted … and there was another mistake - that I didn't send Yeltsin away
forever to some country to prepare bananas for processing when the [Party] Plenum
demanded: "'exclude (Yeltsin) from the ranks of Communist Party
members!'"
"But I'll tell
you this: we all made mistakes on three additional occasions. We were late
reforming the party. Second - we were late reforming the Union. And third …
When it really got tough here, especially after 1989, in 1990 - when the entire
country was standing in lines and we didn't have the goods to satisfy
demand, when one might have been crushed just waiting in line for Italian shoes
… We should have found $10 billion to $15 billion (to purchase good for general
consumption). It [the money] could have been found …"
