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Outspoken: President Bush said during a 100K bike ride he doesn't feel sorry for injured vets. Here, the former president stands with one of the riders, retired Staff Sargent Matt DeWitt, who lost his arms on duty in Iraq.
George W Bush has risked a backlash from veterans by claiming that he does not feel sorry for soldiers who were injured after he sent them into battle. The former President said that that 'to a certain extent you can't help it' when men got hurt on the battlefield.

He claimed that because soldiers are volunteers it absolved him from blame to a degree - and claimed that none of them were angry about their injuries. Mr Bush said: 'You know, I don't feel sorry for them, because they don't feel sorry for themselves'.

His comments are likely to be seen by Democrats as another attempt to whitewash his legacy as one of the least popular presidents in history. But they risk angering veterans' groups who have long backed him as a former Commander in Chief.

During his presidency Mr Bush embarked on two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan resulting in a total of 6,471 American troops being killed so far. Some 32,000 soldiers were injured in Iraq and 18,000 in Afghanistan, many with horrific injuries such as loss of limbs or psychological scars which will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

At least 132,000 civilians have died in both conflicts.

Mr Bush was speaking to The Huffington Post during his third annual Warrior 100K, a three-day mountain bike ride hosted at his ranch in Crawford, Texas as a way to show veterans he 'still care(s) about them'.

Some 75 riders took part including 13 veterans who have been physically or psychologically wounded during their service in Iraq or Afghanistan - wars that Mr Bush sent them to.

Asked if he felt responsible for the injuries of the men he was riding with, Mr Bush said: 'Well, to a certain extent you can't help it, because had I not made decisions I made, they wouldn't have been in combat.

'On the other hand, every one of these men were volunteers. None of them are angry. They themselves don't blame anybody.

'And so I believe strongly that the decisions I made were the right decisions, you know?'

He added: 'I knew going in that there were bad consequences to war.

'That's why, if people study my decision, they would recognize I tried to solve the problems diplomatically.'

Mr Bush's comments are the latest attempt to recast his legacy in more positive terms.

Since leaving office in 2009 he has written a memoir in which he says it was 'damn right' to waterboard terrorism suspects in the wake of the September 11 2001 attacks, which left 2,971 people dead.

He was also dismissive of those who opposed his decision to open the Guantanamo Bay detention center and claimed that he was 'blindsided' about the abuses of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Speaking to the Huffington Post, he did however hint that he may have been seduced by the trappings of office to the extent that he did not achieve all he hoped for.

Mr Bush admitted said that during his two terms in the White House he saw how 'fame came become very addictive'.

He said: 'I've had all the fame a man could want.

'Yeah, to a certain extent. I mean, it wasn't my life. It wasn't the center of my life. But I mean, when you're - let me rephrase that. I enjoyed being president.

'And when you're president, you're famous. Now whether I enjoyed fame itself, I just, you know, you'd have to get the psychoanalyst on me.

'I don't long for [fame]. Nor do I long for power. I've come to realize that power can be corrosive if you've had it for too long.

'It can dim your vision. And so I came to the conclusion that, you know, I don't long for fame. And really, gonna shy away from it. Not shy away from it. Avoid it. I'm not very shy. Avoid it.'

Mr Bush does indeed have some way to go to rehabilitate his image.

A poll last year found that he is the most unpopular living president with 54 per cent saying they had an unfavorable view of him.

Some 43 per cent did like him, but this was low compared to the two thirds who said they still liked former President Bill Clinton.

Since leaving office Mr Bush has largely stayed out of the public eye, instead spending time on his ranch where he recently revealed he has taken up painting.