Condoleezza Rice: Bush deserves some credit for Gadhafi

{mosads}She pushed back against the idea that the U.S. intervention in Iraq following the 9/11 attacks could have taken a similar form to the U.S-backed NATO intervention backing the Libyan rebellion. Libyan rebels ultimately ousted Gadhafi and reported his death earlier this month.

“It would be a mistake to make the leap of faith that this would somehow have worked in Iraq,” she said. “I do think that an Arab spring in Iraq would have been unthinkable under Saddam Hussein.”

Rice also said she thinks people are starting to understand “the things that [the Bush administration] tried to do in really uncharted territory and under unbelievably difficult circumstances after 9/11.”

Rice is making the media rounds this week to publicize Tuesday’s release of her new memoir, No Higher Honor. Rice has not always been so available to the spotlight, and she told USA Today that she is “happy to be away” from Washington, D.C., and its politicians.

Rice’s book also details how she handled Gadhafi’s apparent fixation on her and her conflicts with Bush and with Vice President Cheney during her time in office.

“We were all working under enormous pressure. It was tough. We didn’t always agree, and everybody’s human,” she said.