Colin Powell regrets U.N. speech justifying the Iraq invasion

During an interview with The Daily Show host Jon Stewart, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said he regretted telling the United Nations that Iraq was harboring weapons of mass destruction.

"I, of course, regret the U.N. speech that I gave," he said, "which became the prominent presentation of our case. But we thought it was correct at the time. The President thought it was correct. Congress thought it was correct."

In a February 2003 speech to the U.N. Security Council, Powell alleged that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction from inspectors and refusing to disarm. However, after the U.S. had invaded Iraq and overthrown Saddam Hussein, no weapons of mass destruction were found.

"Of course I regret that a lot of it turned out be wrong," he said.

But Powell insisted a lot of his intelligence was "on point."

If Saddam Hussein stayed there, and his regime stayed in place, and he got out of U.N. sanctions, you would have seen weapons of mass destruction."

Watch the interview, courtesy of Comedy Central, below: