Bush's "miscalculations" and "unintended by-products"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

U.S. President George W. Bush speaks at a campaign rally in Las Cruces, New Mexico, August 26, 2004. Bush acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that he had miscalculated post-war conditions in Iraq, the New York Times reported. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20040827/pl_nm/bush_iraq_dc_3

NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that he had miscalculated post-war conditions in Iraq (news - web sites), the New York Times reported.

The paper quoted Bush as saying during a 30-minute interview that he made "a miscalculation of what the conditions would be" in post-war Iraq.

But he insisted that the 17-month-long insurgency was the unintended by-product of a "swift victory" against Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s military, the Times reported.

Bush said his strategy had been "flexible enough" to respond. "We're adjusting to our conditions" in places like Najaf, the paper quoted him as saying.