CHICAGO, July 1 (UPI) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton says Americans can only hope and pray President George Bush's democratization plan for Iraq works.
Clinton was in Chicago Thursday for interviews, a book signing and a fund-raiser for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
"We have to hope and pray it works," he said about U.S. intervention in Iraq during a one-on-one conversation with the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the 33rd annual Rainbow/Push Coalition Conference.
On the economy, Clinton said Bush was hit by the double-whammy of a telecommuncations stock crash and the Sept. 11 terror attacks, but said the administration's reaction was a return to tax cuts for the rich and trickle-down economics.
Clinton said the 200,000 Americans who made more than $1 million in 2003 got an average $88,000 tax cut.
"The way they take care of me is touching," said Clinton, who reportedly was paid $10 million to pen his best-selling memoir, "My Life." "I think it's a terrible mistake."
He said a national goal of energy independence from imported oil and a clean environment would fuel job creation for the next decade.
