President George W. Bush warned in an interview that Democratic candidates’ plans to withdraw abruptly from Iraq could “eventually lead to another attack on the United States” and would embolden terrorists.

“The United States pulling out of Iraq or pulling out of the Middle East or not maintaining a forward presence would send all kinds of signals throughout the Middle East,” he told the Politico and Yahoo! News.

“And it would shake everybody’s nerves, and it would embolden the very same people that we’re trying to defeat.”

For the first time, Bush revealed a deeply personal and important choice he made to acknowledge the sacrifice of soldiers and their families.

Bush said he made this critical policy decision after the August 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad:

“I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”

NOTE #1: Starting an unnecessary and endless war, however? That signal is cool. This is also the first time we’ve seen the act of playing golf equated with disrespect for U.S. soldiers. Anyone want to buy a set of used clubs?

NOTE #2: The picture above was taken in 2004! Not only is Bush’s argument probably the dumbest thing we’ve ever heard, it’s not even true!

Follow the jump for more amazing George W. Bush quotes from the interview …

• “‘Misled’ is a strong word, it almost connotes some kind of intentional,” Bush saidq on the call to go to war in Iraq. “Intelligence communities all across the world shared the same assessment. And so I was disappointed to see how flawed our intelligence was.

• “Do I think somebody lied to me? “No, I don’t. I think it was just, you know, they analyzed the situation and came up with the wrong conclusion.”

• He says global warming has “been more clearly defined” during the last eight years. Asked if it is real, Bush said: “Yes, it is real; sure is.”

• “I could have supported a lousy [Kyoto] treaty and everybody would have went, ‘Oh, man, what a wonderful-sounding fellow he is,’ but it just wouldn’t have worked. I don’t think you want your president trying to be the cool guy and not end up with policies that actually make a difference. So the policies I’ve outlined are policies that will actually make a difference: nuclear power for generating electricity, battery driven cars, ethanol.

• Asked a question that was submitted online about skyrocketing gas prices, Bush said the problem doesn’t have “a quick answer. It took us a while to get to where we are — very dependent on oil. So my answer … is that the best thing we can do is to increase supply and to drill for oil and gas in environmentally friendly ways at home and build more refineries.

• On the federal gas tax holiday pushed by Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain in their respective campaigns: “I’ll consider it. There’s all kinds of ideas. The truth of the matter is that in order for there to be a substantial change, either consumers have to change their habits. Or there has to be an increase of supply.”

• On the Middle East: “Americans at home ought to care for the advance of free societies throughout the Middle East. After all, this is the center of anti-Americanism and hatred. The big challenge in the 21st century is to advance freedom in the Middle East for our security.”

Continue reading Bush’s interview here …