Allawi's ridiculous answer to Jim Lehrer|TPM

[BootinUp]

From Josh Marshall www.talkingpointsmemo.com

An amazing exchange from Jim Lehrer's interview this evening with Iyad Allawi, which opens and shuts the case on the latter's credibility about anything.

JIM LEHRER: What would you say to somebody in the United States who questions whether or not getting rid of Saddam Hussein was worth the cost of more than a thousand lives now and billions and billions of U.S. dollars?
PRIME MINISTER IYAD ALLAWI: Well, I assure you if Saddam was still there, terrorists will be hitting there again at Washington and New York, as they did in the murderous attack in September; they'll be hitting also on other places in Europe and the Middle East.

Read more at the link above...

I struggled with the thread title:
Allawi reveals himself for the stooge he is?
Allawi is better than Bush at spewing lies?

add your own

[AIJ Alom]

1. Uhm yeah....

Because like Rummy had advised him before this meeting, Saddam Hussein may still be out there alive and had killed Ahmed Shah Masood. Meanwhile Osama Bin Laden was safely inside an Iraqi jail cell after being a brutal dictator for 30 years.

[Paradise]

2. Allawi never mentions Iraqi dead? n/t

[jdj]

9. "worth the cost of more than a thousand lives now"

yes, thank you, what a load of crap.

but onto to the billions of dollars, where the important part lies.

[baldguy]

10. His script was written in the WH

Iraqi dead don't matter to the WH

[Demit]

3. It was infuriating--a "foreign leader" reciting talking points right out..

of Rove's election playbook. There should have been a message at the bottom, "paid for by the Republican National Committee". I had to turn it off in disgust--something that's happening on a regular basis with me and NewsHour.

Then he has the balls to chastise the press for being so "negative" in the reporting of what's happening in Iraq, and not reporting all the wonderful progress there. Pretty much presaging what "democracy" will be like if he is elected for real in January. Oh dear god.

[Hubert Flottz]

4. If somebody made you the top dog in an oil rich country like...

Iraq, wouldn't you say anything that, that somebody told you to say, to repay that debt? The Rovebots aren't fooling anyone but the foolish! The Iraqis love Allawi right? I'll bet the Iraqis throw rose petals everywhere Mr. Allawi goes!

[G_j]

5. He is campaigning for Bush

Everything he has said has been crafted for Bush's reelection. My guess is that it all is being written by the Bush campaign. "Stooge" is a good word.

[kcwayne]

6. Allawi made the claim that there are many areas of Iraq where it is safe

and that things are "very good" there in response to a question about whether it is safe enough to hold elections.

Keith Olbermann interviewed a reporter who is in Iraq last night and asked him to comment on Allawi's assertion. The reporter said that he couldn't go into any of those areas without armed escort, nor could Allawi. The reporter also noted that the areas mentioned did not include any of the major population areas, Baghdad included.

Allawi is a stooge for the Bush Administration, nothing more, and will be murdered in Iraq if he doesn't move to his estate in the US soon.

[Hubert Flottz]

7. Everything was going to be peachy and Iraqis would throw rose

petals at the troops!

Then everything was going to be fine in Iraq, the mission was accomplished!

Then everything was going to be fine in Iraq, after Saddam was found!

Then everything was going to be fine in Iraq, when sovereignty was restored to the Iraqi government!

Now are we to believe that a dog and pony show, bogus, election in Iraq, will stop the killing?

[neebob]

8. Didn't Bush say the same thing?

There was a story on Yahoo! News yesterday that Bush had said if we pulled out of Iraq, insurgents and/or terrorists would "plot and plan attacks elsewhere," including the United States. It was in the opening paragraph, and I believe he said it in the rose garden. I commented on the idiocy of it to a couple of co-workers. Later, I read another story where he'd said - also yestereday, I believe, though I don't know where he said it - that he was glad to live in the United States where it's "nice and safe and secure."

So Allawi's just on message. You'd think Bush's bullshit would be as big a story.

ON EDIT

I can't find the particular story I read, but if you search Yahoo! News on "plot and plan," a whole bunch of stories on other sites come up. This transcript is #29:

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/09-04/09-24-04/a02wn452.htm

BUSH: ... If we stop fighting the terrorists in Iraq, they would be free to plot and plan attacks elsewhere, in America and other free nations. To retreat now would betray our mission, our word and our friends.

<snip>

Talk to the leader. I agree, I'm not the expert on how the Iraqi people think, because I live in America where it's nice and safe and secure.

<snip>

So, basically, we are safe BECAUSE of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Damn, he's really getting brazen.

:puke:

[shawn703]

11. Jon Stewart pointed that out last night

He said that Allawi and Bush must have the same speechwriters because they say exactly the same thing word for word.