I think he honestly believes in preservation. The problem is that he found he could go back and "fix" things he never liked with new technologies and got way too carried away. Now the OOT looks too old and he thinks no one would bother with the rough version anymore.

I just can't believe he spoke out against every single thing he did to his own films.

Wasn't the the re-release cut of THX the original film? I could understand why the theatrical was never released (although I would want to see it like Touch of Evil).