Bush to Europe, "I am not a Gun Slinger"

On June 11, Tom Baldwin and Gerard Baker of The Times of London reported on an exclusive interview with President George W. Bush, President Bush regrets his legacy as man who wanted war. At a U.S.-EU summit in Slovenia Bush expressed regret about what The Times calls his “gun-slinging rhetoric” in the build-up to the war in Iraq. The use of phrases such as “bring them on” or “dead or alive,” Bush said, “indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace.” His remarks were heavily covered by worldwide media.

The New York Times published a somewhat self-satisfied media analysis, saying that Bush had noted his regrets about his tough tone before and The New York Times had known about his concerns for several years. Although The New York Times made a snide reference to “the British paper’s triumphalism about its scoop,” no such “triumphalism” was detectable in the text of The Times’ report on the interview.