Bush: No regrets over waterboarding

Former U.S. president George W. Bush's hotly anticipated memoir Decision Points reveals that heauthorized the waterboarding of an organizerof the 9/11 attacks.

"He doesn't believe it was torture and hedoesn't believe it was in contravention of any international charters," CBC reporter Susan Bonner told CBC News Network.

The book does not go on sale until Tuesday, but several U.S.news organizations have received advance copies and some key details have begun to leak.

Aside from Bush's personal hand in the waterboarding decision,other revelations include thatBushwas stunned to discover there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq the key justification his administration gave for launching the 2003 invasion.

Bush alsowrites thathe considered removing former vice-president Dick Cheneybeforehis second termbecause of Cheney's low popularity.

Cheney also angrily confronted Bush because the then-president did not pardonLewis (Scooter) Libby, convicted of lying during the investigation into the leaked identify of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Bush givesinterviews

Bush has media appearancesscheduled throughout the week to promote the book, starting with a pre-recorded interview with NBC's Matt Lauer that airs Monday evening.It's the 43rd president's first one-on-one interview since leaving the White House in January 2009.

In portions of the interview released by NBC, Lauer mentions that Bush believes it will be decades beforeany definitive conclusions can be made about hispresidency.

Bush replies that his main purpose was to provide a "data point" for future historians.

"This may seem strange to you: I really don'tcare about perceptions at this point in time," he said.

It was already revealed last week that the former presidentbelieves the low point of his presidency was whenrap starKanye West said that "George Bush doesn't care about black people" in the wake of the government'sslow response to Hurricane Katrina.

In the interview, Lauer asks Bush if he thinks he might be criticized for saying the low point was being insulted, not the suffering of the people in Louisiana.

"I also make it clear that the misery in Louisiana affected me deeply as well," Bushreplies. "There's a lot of tough moments in the book."

One lighter moment has Canadian content.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd says Bush writes that he visited Russian leaderVladimir Putin, who boasted that his black Labrador, Koni,was "Bigger, stronger and faster than Barney," Bush's small Scottish terrier.

When Bush later told the story toPrime Minister Stephen Harper, Harper replied, "You're lucky he only showed you his dog."