Bush Responds To "Withering Attack" By Kerry On Iraq

[DrFunkenstein]

Bush, at a campaign event, spoke at length about the occupation in an apparent response to a withering attack from Democrat John Kerry who accused Bush of "living in a fantasy world of spin" and failing to tell the truth about chaos and violence in Iraq.

Bush, who has always avoided talking about when U.S. troops might come home, was a bit more expansive on Friday amid mounting U.S. casualties and efforts by the U.S. military to train Iraqis for their own army and police.

"Once we get these folks trained and get them on the path of building a democracy, our folks are coming home, for the honor they earned," Bush said.

"We didn't find the stockpiles we thought we would find, the stockpiles that everybody thought was there. But I do know, that he had the capability of making those weapons, and he could've passed that capability on to an enemy ... Knowing what I know today, I would've made the same decision," Bush said.

"We're making progress, we're making progress," Bush said. "It's tough, of course it's tough, because there are killers there who are trying to shake our will and shake the will of the Iraqis. It's tough on the Iraqi citizens," Bush said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&e=6&u=/nm/campaign_bush_dc

[theshadow]

1. So now just "intent"...

... is enough to justify a preemptive war. He's certainly lowered the bar.

[DrFunkenstein]

4. This Is A Taste Of What The Debates Will Look Like

There won't be Rovian stagecraft to lean on. Bush and the truth are on a collision course.

[Vincardog]

2. who is stupid enough to believe we can train an Iraqi army to do what

the USMC can't do? George put down the fantasy and step away from the pResidency. It is time for the adults to take over.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. I would've made the same decision

However , without the WMD he would have had a bitch of a time getting anybody to go along with his fucking "Decision"

[DrFunkenstein]

5. This Makes Him Seem Pig-Headed, Not "Resolved"

Paul Wolfowitz:

"The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on which was weapons of mass destruction as the core reason, but there have always been three fundamental concerns. One is weapons of mass destruction, the second is support for terrorism, the third is the criminal treatment of the Iraqi people.

The third one by itself, as I think I said earlier, is a reason to help the Iraqis but it's not a reason to put American kids' lives at risk, certainly not on the scale we did it."

http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20030509-depsecdef0223.html

[Vincardog]

6. So after 23 attempt to get us behind his illegal immoral illegitimate

war of imperial aggression he finally stuck on WMD. Even knowing that was a lie you would make the same decision? Really now.

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. Nobody is calling the bastard to task for this..... NOBODY.

Who put the crown in this asshole anyway "my Decision" my ass. This shit can only push people so far.

[Cartooner]

13. YEP, YOU'RE RIGHT... we're talking IRRESPONSIBILITY!!!!

When little kids tell their friends GHOST STORIES, it's all in innocent fun...

WHEN A PRESIDENT TELLS THE NATION GHOST STORIES, it COSTS BIGTIME!!! And that's what it amounts to. He scared the country into going to WAR.

[SoCalDemocrat]

8. We're making progress ... for AL QAEDA

This General knows what he's talking about. "We're achieving Al Qaeda's ends.", damn straight.

Far Graver than Vietnam
By Sidney Blumenthal
The Guardian

Thursday 16 September 2004

Most senior US military officers now believe the war on Iraq has turned into a disaster on an unprecedented scale.

'Bring them on!" President Bush challenged the early Iraqi insurgency in July of last year. Since then, 812 American soldiers have been killed and 6,290 wounded, according to the Pentagon. Almost every day, in campaign speeches, Bush speaks with bravado about how he is "winning" in Iraq. "Our strategy is succeeding," he boasted to the National Guard convention on Tuesday.

But, according to the US military's leading strategists and prominent retired generals, Bush's war is already lost. Retired general William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency, told me: "Bush hasn't found the WMD. Al-Qaida, it's worse, he's lost on that front. That he's going to achieve a democracy there? That goal is lost, too. It's lost." He adds: "Right now, the course we're on, we're achieving Bin Laden's ends."

Retired general Joseph Hoare, the former marine commandant and head of US Central Command, told me: "The idea that this is going to go the way these guys planned is ludicrous. There are no good options. We're conducting a campaign as though it were being conducted in Iowa, no sense of the realities on the ground. It's so unrealistic for anyone who knows that part of the world. The priorities are just all wrong."

Jeffrey Record, professor of strategy at the Air War College, said: "I see no ray of light on the horizon at all. The worst case has become true. There's no analogy whatsoever between the situation in Iraq and the advantages we had after the second world war in Germany and Japan."

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[Moderator]

10. SoCalDemocrat

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[faithnotgreed]

9. what a cliche merry go round this guy rides

sheesh

[Cartooner]

11. BUSH'S VIET NAM; BUSH'S VIET NAM; BUSH'S VIET NAM

Kerry does MUCH BETTER to OVER AND OVER tell the American people "I've been in VIET NAM and I know one when I see one. My opponent DODGED Viet Nam and has no clue. I'll bring our troupes home, because I know how to do that. My opponent says he HAS NO IDEA WHEN THE WAR CAN END. Mr. President, WHEN would you be willing to liken this to VIET NAM: AFTER 2000 American troupes are killed? ...5000? 10,000? 50,000? This is YOUR WAR, AND RIGHT HERE AND NOW I'M CALLING IT 'GEORGE W. BUSH'S VIET NAM'!"

GLOVES OFF ... POUND HIM!!! .... OVER AND OVER AND OVER.!!!!!!

[rndmprsn]

12. pathetic comeback...

oh i forgot shrub is in good cop mode right now.