THE NATION
Bush Foresaw No War Casualties, Robertson Recalls
The president was the 'most self-assured man I ever met' during a 2003 encounter, televangelist says. The White House says he's got it wrong.
By Peter Wallsten and Edwin Chen
Times Staff Writers
October 21, 2004
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — Democrats trying to portray President Bush as too headstrong when he decided to invade Iraq got help this week from an unlikely source: televangelist and Bush supporter Pat Robertson.
Appearing on CNN on Tuesday night, Robertson recalled a private meeting with Bush before the Iraq war began, at which he said the president asserted there would be no casualties.
"I warned him about this war. I had deep misgivings about this war, deep misgivings. And I was trying to say, Mr. President, you better prepare the American people for casualties," Robertson told CNN's Paula Zahn.
But Bush said, " 'Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties,' " Robertson related.
During the meeting, Bush "was the most self-assured man I ever met in my life," Robertson said. "You remember Mark Twain said, 'He looks like a contented Christian with four aces.' He was just sitting there, like, 'I'm on top of the world.' "
Robertson's comments quickly became an issue in the presidential campaign and put the White House in the awkward position of denying comments from one of Bush's most prominent supporters.
"I think he must have either misunderstood, misheard or been confused about what the conversation was because I've never heard the president say anything of the sort, and he wouldn't have," Karen Hughes, a senior Bush advisor, told reporters. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "Of course the president never made such a comment."
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