Bush Defends Iraq Policy, Chides Critics

[underpants]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/IraqCoverage/wireStory?id=1303712

TOBYHANNA, Pa. Nov 11, 2005 — President Bush forcefully attacked critics of the war in Iraq on Friday, accusing them of trying to rewrite history and saying they are undercutting American forces on the front lines.

"The stakes in the global war on terror are too high and the national interest is too important for politicians to throw out false charges," the president said in his combative Veterans Day speech.



Bush said the United States and its allies are determined to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of extremists and prevent them from gaining control of any country.

Bush singled out Syria for particular criticism, saying its government had taken "two disturbing steps" in recent days. He cited the arrest of Syria pro-democracy activist Kamal Labwani and a "strident speech" by President Bashar Assad. In that speech, Assad said his government would cooperate with a U.N. investigation that implicated Syrian officials in the killing of a Lebanese leader, but warned he would no longer "play their game" if Syria "is going to be harmed."

[PDJane]

1. Can someone muzzle him?

How much does it take to get this bunch in front of a war crimes tribunal?

[existentialist]

2. "it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history"

Bush said, "it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began." Bush said criticism of his positions is legitimate but what he called "baseless charges" are not. (as quoted on CNN)

"eeply irresponsible to rewrite the history." Does that translate into deeply irresponsible to find out the truth? (the efforts at which his administration has continually tried to stymie)


Or does it mean to lie about what happened and why? (as he and his administration have continually done?

[freesqueeze]

3. Creepy….

What bothers me about that speech is that he spent so much time trying to justify a war, a war that we have been in for 2 years and lost more than 2000 lives and he's still trying to make a case for going into Iraq.

Pathetic!

And his obligatory attempt to lump 9/11 and Iraq together went over like a led balloon. WOW, that was a tortured tie in!

[cliss]

13. SUCH a good point....

If this was such a "noble" cause, and Saddam was such a threat to civilization as we know it, then why has he spent the last 2 years trying to defend it?????????

[xchrom]

4. false charges?

ok prove it -- this is a throw down.

evidence from the downing street memo to point by point refutation of powels speech before the u.n. is out there -- now where's yours?

and uh -- the clenis did it doesn't count.

[wake.up.america]

8. It is going to be a blood bath. Bush will use every trick in the book ...

to try to make it appear as if he were right and everyone else is wrong.

I hope the "good guys" are up for the fight.

I would love to see him in the ring with certain members of this forum.

It would not be a pretty sight after our guys got through with him.

[twaddler01]

15. i would love to see a debate

between both sides :popcorn:

[jaysunb]

5. This holiday never has meant much to me, or

other vets I know, but this chickenshit draftdodger makes it even worse, with his stupid remarks that, only underlines his political failings, and need to destroy any and everything he touches.

Hey George...FUCK YOU BITCH !

[MisterP]

6. U.S. --> Syria; U.K. --> S.W. Iran

wildcard: Israel (next to Syria, but might want to "prove" it's not all about a world empire in the Middle East)

[0007]

7. Glad I didn't watch this phony charlatan....the folks in this country

have caught on to his game. Now junior's fighting a fire that is out of control.

[Peter Frank]

9. It always cracks me up when those who seek out and report the truth...

...are accused of rewriting history.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. So how do we know they're 'false charges'? Because Chimpy says so

I want an unbiased evaluation of the 'intelligence' and to hear from those CIA and OSP's guys that passed the stuff to the WH. I also want * and company to be put under oath and have to answer questions.

[underpants]

11. He should know about "false charges" huh?

Remember when he said that there were WMD there and and then the inspectors went in there and didn't find any and then and then W sent the military in there anyway and then OUR inspectors went in and said "We were all wrong" and then they replaced him and that other guy, Dalfour I think he name was, went in and HE couldn't find anything either. Remember that? Man that was so cool.

[goforit]

12. Buddy-boy you're falling hard!!!

No ones gonna help ya up either.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

14. rewrite history

rewrite history
rewrite history
rewrite history
rewrite history
rewrite history
rewrite history
rewrite history
rewrite history
rewrite history
rewrite history
rewrite history
rewrite history

[XemaSab]

16. What an asshole.

n/t

[Lasher]

17. Bush spars with critics of Iraq war

"It is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began," Bush said as he used a Veterans Day address here to lash out at critics. "These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will." Democrats retaliated with a barrage of statements accusing the president of skewing the facts, just as they maintain he did in the run-up to the invasion of March 2003.

<snip>

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 64 percent of Americans disapprove of how Bush is handling the war and 60 percent believe it was not worth fighting -- in both cases, the worst numbers for the president since the invasion. The perjury indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who resigned as chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, has revived the issue of the administration's truthfulness in building the case for war, and nearly 3 in 5 voters in the Post-ABC poll do not consider Bush honest.

<snip>

Taking aim at Kerry, who recently announced his support for a phased withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Bush quoted the senator's statement in voting in 2002 for a congressional resolution authorizing use of force against Saddam Hussein. At the time, Bush noted, Kerry said that "a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a threat and a grave threat to our country." Bush added that other Democrats "who had access to the same intelligence" voted for the resolution.

Kerry later fired back. "This administration misled a nation into war by cherry-picking intelligence and stretching the truth beyond recognition," he said. "That's why Scooter Libby has been indicted."

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Bush had "resorted to his old playbook of discredited rhetoric" and was "attacking those patriotic Americans who have raised serious questions about the case the Bush administration made to take our country to war."

http://www.detnews.com/2005/politics/0511/12/polit-379835.htm

Edit to add paragraph about polls.

[shenmue]

18. 'Critics of the war' would now seem to include 'most of the country'

He is a dumb-ass.

:grr:

:nuke:

[opihimoimoi]

19. The man is desperately trying to regain his numbers by lying and distortin

the truth....

Hardly anyone believes him anymore...even the Fox boys are trying to shore up Bush as is those rw radio boys...to no avail...peeps not buying this time...

[dutchdemocrat]

20. revisionism my ass. I doubt he can spell the word.

[truthisfreedom]

21. i love the line "bush hits back"... it's like he's having a hissy fit and

slapping wildly with his eyes closed.

[rodeodance]

22. (AFP) Embattled Bush defends case for Iraq war

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051112/ts_alt_afp/usiraqbush_051112085329;_ylt=ApAncsrqfAqOJhhnM.ixPASs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg-
Embattled Bush defends case for Iraq war

Sat Nov 12, 3:54 AM ET

TOBYHANNA, United States (AFP) - Embattled US President George W. Bush has hit back at what he calls "deeply irresponsible" charges that he won support for war in Iraq by using suspect intelligence on
Saddam Hussein's weapons programs.


"Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war," Bush said.

"Many of these critics supported my opponent during the last election," he said in a speech to former and active US military personnel on the Veterans Day holiday.

"These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will," Bush underscored.....

[rodeodance]

23. good, this article picked up the Wash Post counter points of today.

Bush pointed to ample support among Democrats "who had access to the same intelligence" for a congressional resolution in late 2002 that authorized him to use force to remove Saddam Hussein.

Yet, The Washington Post stressed, "Bush and his aides had access to much more voluminous intelligence information than did lawmakers, who were dependent on the administration to provide the material."

Bush also mentioned the repeated UN resolutions on Iraq that cited Saddam's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction, as well as the stated belief by his 2004 Democratic rival for the White House, Senator John Kerry, that the Iraq dictator had such arms.

.....But Democrats have noted that neither that probe, nor a bipartisan panel known as the Silberman-Robb commission, looked at whether the administration misused the intelligence they received.

[rodeodance]

24. "Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy punched back,"--love it.

Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy punched back, calling the speech "a campaign-like attempt to rebuild his own credibility by tearing down those who seek the truth about the clear manipulation of intelligence."

Kerry, who voted in favor of authorizing Bush to use force in Iraq, charged in a statement that Bush was "playing the politics of fear and smear" on a day set aside for honoring US veterans.

"This administration misled a nation into war by cherry-picking intelligence and stretching the truth beyond recognition," said Kerry. "It's a dangerous day for our national security when an administration's word is no good."

A spate of recent polls have shown deep and growing pessimism about the situation in Iraq and found that many in the United States now think that Bush deliberately misstated Saddam's capabilities.

[smoogatz]

25. Pointing out that Bush lied=not supporting the troops. Same old

bullshit.

[sendero]

26. Dear Mr. Bush...

... The American people by and large believed you (though I never did) about our need to go to Iraq. Any reservation they may have had they put aside in deference to your leadership.

Now, they realize they might as well have given whiskey and car keys to a teenaged boy.

No amount of blame deflection is going to help you now. The scales are off the eyes of most Americans. They know you lied then, they have no trouble seeing that you are lying now.

But keep digging, I like watching you receive your Karmic reward.

that sure felt good!

[bufffbison]

27. Embattled Bush defends case for Iraq war

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051112/wl_mideast_afp/usiraqbush_051112103942

TOBYHANNA, United States (AFP) - Embattled US President George W. Bush has hit back at what he called "deeply irresponsible" charges that he won support for war in Iraq by exaggerating intelligence on Saddam Hussein's weapons programs.


"Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war," Bush said. "Many of these critics supported my opponent during the last election," he said in a speech to former and active US military personnel on the Veterans Day holiday.

"These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will," Bush underscored.

Opposition Democrats fired back that Bush had highlighted Iraqi intelligence that supported his position and ignored or suppressed data that did not, and some said his speech smacked of political desperation.

Unabated violence in Iraq has overshadowed political progress there, helping to drive Bush's poll numbers to their worst levels ever, as the number of US soldiers killed there passed the symbolic milestone of 2,000.


in bold, i believe he just said it in that sentence they did lied to us.

[mia]

28. Rate this up on Yahoo.

Thanks for the link!

[cliss]

29. Lacking in class, Bush never fails to disappoint.

Bush chooses a day, which should be used to honor those brave men & women who have been loyal to their country.

What does he do? He chooses Veterans Day to use for a campaign "stump" speech. He fights back, angrily. What does he care about Veterans?