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BUSH Look, I asked a lot of questions before. Anytime you put a large group of people into a combat zone, you ask a lot of questions. Yes, obviously, all of us that now look at intelligence say, Let's make sure that the analyst who came up with that information has gotten additional input. We've just got to make sure that as we connect the dots, everybody's voices are heard.
TIME Can you talk about the discussions you had about what it was going to take to enter an Arab country and introduce democracy with an army?
BUSH With an army? Well, yes, that's an interesting way to ask the question. Yes, we had a lot of discussion about whether it was possible. And, obviously, I came down on the side that not only is it possible, it's necessary. There are some people who are very skeptical. I mean, there's a lot of people in the Republican Party who don't believe it's possible. I do.
I know that in the long run, the only way to secure our country is to spread freedom. I just believe that, as sure as I'm sitting here. We've laid out a doctrine that says we're going to secure the peace, protect the peace and extend the peace. To secure the peace in the war on terrorism, we're very aggressively searching for al-Qaeda and affiliates of al-Qaeda and holding people accountable if they harbor al-Qaeda. Preserving the peace is alliance building, working with others. The Proliferation Security Initiative is a classic example of something new that's occurred as you preserve the peace. From one nation, the United States, to now 60 nations are all involved with the interdiction of technologies and information of weapons of mass destruction. And I'm extending the peace with the spread of democracy.
And that's really the interesting debate. I mean, you've hit upon the crux of whether or not the foreign policy of this Administration will work. Now, look, we went into Iraq because I felt, as a lot of other people did, Saddam was a threat and therefore had to be dealt with for short-term security. But the long-term strategy is for Iraq to be a democracy. It takes a while to get there, but I will tell you, the world has got to be somewhat heartened by the fact that now 10 million Afghan citizens have shown up to register to vote. It's a fantastic thought. They had me watch this movie, Osama, which I urge you to watch. Get it on a DVD. It's about a young girl in Afghanistan. It's powerful. It affected me. Do you remember when they pulled the women off the bus and killed them because they had voter ID cards or something? The Taliban just shot them. And there was this attitude that, well, there goes the elections. It can't possibly happen. And since that day, there have been over 7 million more people registered to vote in Afghanistan, which was, regrettably, one of the most backward outposts in the world.
TIME How do you assess Iraq's progress toward democracy?