Former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton
Photo: AP
Bolton says US has no strategic interest in united Iraq
Former US ambassador to UN supports US decision to send additional troops to Iraq, admits mistakes made during war
The United States has no strategic interest in ensuring that Iraq remain united, former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said in an interview published on Monday.
Bolton, a close ally of US President George W. Bush who stepped down after Democrats made it clear they would block his re-nomination, also told Le Monde newspaper the United States should have handed power over to Iraqis more quickly.
"The United States has no strategic interest in the fact that there be one Iraq or three Iraqs," the newspaper quoted Bolton as saying.
"We have a strategic interest in ensuring that what emerges is not a completely failed state that becomes a refuge for terrorists, or a terrorist state," he said.
Sunni and Shiite Muslims are engaged in an embryonic sectarian civil war in Iraq, and Bush has said he will send 21,500 extra troops there in a bid to quell the violence.
Bolton said that decision was "the best of a series of bad options", adding that he believed the decision to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein was the right one, while admitting that mistakes had been made.
"In retrospect, we should have transferred authority to the Iraqis more quickly after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein," Bolton said, adding, "We did the Iraqis a disservice by depriving them of political responsibilities."
As for who led the country now, Bolton said Washington had no interest in any particular setup.
"Whether it is one state or three states, whether it is led by the Shiites or by a coalition, is not a matter for our strategic interest," he said.
