6/1/2004

A member of the press asked if President Bush felt misled by his administration in regards to Iraq, his reply, “Let me step back there and remind you that going into Iraq, we had some — we had a belief that certain things — that we had to plan for certain courses of action. One, that the oil production, the Iraqi oil production would be disrupted through sabotage or Saddam’s own whims. And it didn’t happen. We also thought there would be major refugee flows — that didn’t happen — or a lot of hunger, and it didn’t happen. What did happen was, as a result of us storming through the country, many of Saddam’s elite guard kind of saw what was happening — laid down — well, didn’t lay down their arms — stored their arms and hid, and then regrouped. As well as what happened was is that some of the foreign fighters there were encouraged and bolstered by a foreign fighter that had been there during the period, Mr. Zarqawi. And it’s been tough, tough fighting. I fully recognize that.”

 – Transcript, “President Bush Discusses the Iraqi Interim Government,” George W Bush – White House Archive, June 1, 2004, Accessed 8-16-16