Washington ( CNN ) -- If the Bush administration had known there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq , it probably would n't have decided to invade in 2003 , former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in an interview broadcast Sunday . Speaking on CNN 's `` State of the Union '' program , Rumsfeld noted there were multiple reasons for attacking Iraq and ousting Saddam Hussein from power . However , intelligence reports -- now shown to have been false -- that Iraq possessed WMDs were the main reason for going in , Rumsfeld said . `` No question it was the big one , '' he said . Asked if the United States would not have invaded if the administration had n't believed Iraq had the weapons of mass destruction , Rumsfeld said : `` I think that 's probably right . '' He criticized the source known as `` Curveball '' -- an Iraqi defector who admitted his claims that Iraq possessed WMDs were false -- but stopped short of condemning the U.S. intelligence community . `` The intelligence community talks to hundreds of people , '' Rumsfeld said . `` They have human assets , such as this man . Some are honest , some are dishonest . Some do it for money , some do it for self aggrandizement . Some do it , apparently , to lie . '' Now peddling a book , four years after being replaced by Robert Gates as defense secretary following heavy Republican losses in the 2006 mid-term elections , Rumsfeld maintained the swagger and bravado that were his hallmarks when dealing with the media as a Cabinet member . He said said the Obama administration was `` wrong in attacking the Bush administration 's structures that have kept this country safe for almost a decade now , '' including the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba . President Barack Obama campaigned on the promise that he would close the facility known as Gitmo in his first year in office , but it remains open . `` They now have switched from the campaign mode , and they are keeping Guantanamo Bay . They are keeping indefinite detention , '' Rumsfeld said . `` They are keeping military commissions . So obviously , they 've come to the conclusion that their campaign promises -- easier to campaign than it is to govern . '' Rumsfeld also rejected the premise that the United States is viewed more favorably around the world with Obama as president . `` No , and I do n't think there 's data that supports that , '' Rumsfeld said . `` I think he had made a practice of trying to apologize for America . I personally am proud of America . '' He was also critical of the Nobel Peace Prize awarded Obama in his first year in office in 2009 . `` Well , he had not accomplished a thing when he got the Nobel Prize , '' Rumsfeld said . `` It was given to him on hope . Had to have been , because there was n't anything that he 'd done . '' Despite receiving some boos when he recently was honored at the Conservative Political Action Conference , the annual gathering of conservative activists , Rumsfeld said the Tea Party movement has brought `` a lot of energy into public life and public affairs . '' He said he was `` deeply worried about the budget '' and that the country needs to start saving money now . Some of those savings can come in the Pentagon budget he formerly oversaw , he said . `` My goodness , every year the Congress was stuffing $ 10 billion down the Pentagon 's throat that we did n't want , '' Rumsfeld said . `` There 's no question that there 's money there . ''
The former defense secretary says intelligence sources sometimes lie . Rumsfeld rejects notion that U.S. is more popular overseas under President Obama . The Obama administration is keeping some Bush policies , Rumsfeld says .