Bill Clinton says Bush erred by giving Saddam priority over bin Laden

[NewYorkerfromMass]

Perhaps people will take notice.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/132/region/Bill_Clinton_says_Bush_erred_b:.shtml

[robbedvoter]

1. Been saying this all along while he was preparing the war

he even said Iraq was a joke (militarily). Then he stopped , unfortunately.
Well, I guess he figured, W would go, if only just to spite him.
Check AP's snarkiness:

"
Clinton, whose administration defined Saddam's removal as a key U.S. policy objective but did not act on it,"

[NewYorkerfromMass]

5. With all this hindsight now more will listen

it's too obvious to most but many others are just too dense.

[Nlighten1]

2. Bush doesn't make mistakes remember?

Geez Bill.

[dogman]

3. Listened to his General?

Old news that the general public wont listen to. Here's a cartoonist that gets it.
http://www.freep.com/voices/cartoons/050404_mt

[Ganja Ninja]

4. Clinton states the obvious. Expect outrage from the blowhards ..

of the GOP and their media allies.

[0007]

6. Just heard a caller on c-span ask Senator Dayton

if he'd like to see the photos of Clinton and the cigar scene with Monica in the Oval Office from hidden cameras.

Mark Dayton said all photos from Abu Ghraib prison should be shown.

[jobycom]

9. Good that Republicans have such a sense of perspective

I guess I'd be just as horrified watching my child have consensual flirtations with a president as watching her have her head sliced off on tv, or watching her beaten and tortured in a prison by foreign invaders.

See, it's all a game to them. They don't care about the issues, they just want to win, and one political move is equal to another to them. They impeached Clinton over nothing, which led to a government that didn't bother chasing down Bin Laden (as Clinton wanted them to do) and that led to 9-11. In the minds of Repubs, it's all the same, it's only a question of which side gets votes out of it.

Sick people. Sick. I'm beginning to believe that being a Republican is a mental illness, or an outright mortal sin.

[johnnie]

11. When I first started voting and all...

...I figured I would go with the best candidate. I quickly found out that the Republican party is friggin nuts. After the Clinton witch hunt I saw how low the Republican party will stoop to win. They are all like school kids putting gum in the hair of the people they don't like. Not only that, every single Republican I have ever met have an evil tone in their voice.

[Tellurian]

16. Yes, gum or bullets!

[jobycom]

25. I still vote for the best candidate

It's just almost always a Democrat. In a few past elections, there were Republicans who were better, in some state and local elections where the Democrats where just party machine louts, but I haven't seen that since sometime before 1992. That type of Republican seems to have died out.

[Ganja Ninja]

13. Yes it's all a game to them....

And their motto is; "Win if you can, loose if you must but always, always cheat!"

[Tellurian]

14. I know, I know a few...

my mother is a republican and her mind set fits your model to a T:

"Being Republican is a mental illness, or an outright mortal sin."

actually it's both. You can't have one without the other.

[thecrow]

21. Maybe that's what the MRI's were all about!

Remember recently when researchers MRI'ed people's brains to see what the difference betwenn Republicans and Democrats was?

http://www.bongonews.com/layout1.php?event=1044

:tinfoilhat:

[Classical_Liberal]

8. The DLC establishment that runs the Kerry campaign

will sweep this under the carpet too. They are 100% committed to persuing the PNAC agenda over the true security interests of America. Remember the only thing that stands between Al Qaeda and nukes in Pakistan is a dictator named Musharif. Persuing the PNAC agenda in place of focusing on that is reckless and dangerous beyond belief.

[jobycom]

10. You know, that's just...

Oh never mind. Some people have no shame.

[Tellurian]

18. hmmm...Thanks for pointing that out...

Via Kerry's speeches, I wasn't sure how much play was going to corporate
interests. Last week was when I got a real good whiff of it.

[Gman]

7. Rush perpetuates the Iraq-9/11-Al Queda connection

''To be fair to the president, they don't even say it anymore,'' Clinton said, yet half the nation remains convinced that ''U.S. forces went to Iraq and their sacrifices occurred because of some relation to 9-11, which is not true.''

I heard Rush cut off a caller that confronted him on the WMD lie by saying, "You ever heard of Al-Queda? You ever heard of 9/11? That's why we're at war in Iraq!"

Bush et al doesn't have to say a word. People like Rush perpetuate the misconception about 9/11 and Iraq. Its all in the grand plan for Bush's election.

[robbedvoter]

12. Retropoll findings on that:

As in earlier Retro Polls most support for the war in Iraq and the War on Terrorism was found among people who still think that Saddam Hussein worked with Al Qaeda and among the 32% of people who believe the War on Terrorism is preventing terrorism. However, 24% of Americans believe that the War on Terrorism is actually creating terrorists. In addition, 56 % of people who gave an opinion say the War on Terrorism is removing important democratic rights in the US and large percentages (50-80%) oppose various intrusive provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act."
http://retropoll.org/press_release_poll04.htm

[Norquist Nemesis]

30. Rush would herald a wifebeater as an American Hero

as long as the wife is Muslim.

[ConcernedCanuk]

15. "Perhaps people will take notice" - sadly, no they won't

.
.
.

Even 911 is "old news"

Osama is way off the radar

The short attention span of the "audience" must be fed.

Even the "abuse" will slide into the grey abyss of the American memory banks.

Now the US has a new crusade, vengeance for the one beheaded.

There is no consistent "cause" for this Administration. Just keep the taxpayers "entertained" while they fleece their pockets to fund the Administration's evil quests. No one thinks that any of this is costing the BFEE one penny do they?

Heck, they are fleecing HUNDREDS of BILLIONS out of the taxpayers pockets (and lining their own) while they run around on a killing spree. Even if they don't get one drop of oil out of it, they still get to keep the $$$$$

It's a win-win for the BFEE.

Welcome to the new "distraction".

(sigh)

[SammyWinstonJack]

28. To quote Will Pitt

"Woop, there it is."

[PeaceProgProsp]

17. Surprised by the priorities? Nope.

Bush needs Hussein's oil. And he needs OBL's threat of terror.

[Tellurian]

23. I'm recommending this as a title for a Broadway musical:

"Bush needs Hussein's Oil and OBL's Threat of Terror."

cha-cha-cha!

[Virginian]

19. Bush Morphed the message.

You could almost hear Bush morphing the name Osama into Saddam. I am sure that the 50% who still think Iraq was connected to 9/11 couldn't tell you which wore the turban and which wore the beret.

In Bush's speeches, he would use the words 9/11 in the same sentence with Iraq, Saddam, WMD and Baghdad. He did not actually say there was a connection, he let the listeners make the subconscious connection. If one calls the Clinton "sexual relations" speech a lie, then all of the Bush "9/11 - Saddam" speeches are also lies. IMHO they are all deliberately misleading, but not technically lies. Even the 18 words in the SOTU speech have the disclaimer of "British Intelligence" to keep them from technically being a lie. The intention seems to be, "Lie your ass off; lie about anything, but don't get caught."

There may be some lies out there. If the media wants, they can search for them. They are more likely to find lies than inspectors are to find the WMDs -- the existence of which was so liberally sprinkled throughout the arguments for switching from the war on terror to the war of terror on the Iraqi people.

Before I get flamed for the "War of Terror" comment above, let me define it before it is mis-defined for me. In bringing a war to Iraq, we have made innocent Iraqis (and the people who are trying to help them) the targets of the terrorists who are trying to drive us from that nation. Our military people are strong and brave, but the enemy they are up against is not a traditional target. The terrorists are mostly invisible until they strike the innocents.

My prediction before the war was "Same game, different name." I felt we would only be replacing Saddam with another brutal dictator. I could have been wrong, we may be opening the path for a ruler who believes in religious training on all Iraqi boys -- A training that first and foremost teaches "Death to the (American) Infidels."

[truthisfreedom]

20. hey Bill, nice gesture, but couldn't you have spoken up earlier?

like when millions of us were in the streets?

[PeaceProgProsp]

22. I think Bill does speak up all the time, but the media...

...doesn't pay attention because (1) it hurts Bush, and (2) they had nothing to gain until now when he has a book to sell.

[krkaufman]

26. It's traditional that ex-Presidents limit criticism ...

... of the sitting Pres. So his speaking out against the * policy is a pretty big thing.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

29. True

but he's only yet returning the favor to 1/1000th of what they gave him.

[Zero Gravitas]

33. Right

The outgoing President rarely criticizes his replacement, especially early on in the replacement's term. I'm sure, however, that Bush* will be criticizing President Kerry from day one of his Administration.

[ithacan]

24. this is one of Richard Clark's main points...

but the media just ignored it.

It is so obvious that this is one of THE major blunders of the BUshies, that they are totally incompetent in areas of foreign and security policy. Otherwise they are complicit, which may be even worse.

Either way these guys have to go, they are the best thing for the terrorists...

[JohnOneillsMemory]

27. Just finished Clarke's book. Clinton worked HARD against al Queda.

Clarke details how the threat grew and they responded.

Clarke rips Lois Freeh as head of the FBI as a useless obstruction and the FBI as next to useless.

He says the CIA has lifer professionals who are leary of every new admin. coming in with their own pet projects to sic the CIA on so they take a risk-averse go slow attitude.

Clarke rips Ashcroft to shreds.

Great book for understanding how the US has been almost at full war with Iran ever since 1979.

He does cover up the eyewitnessed surface-to-air missile downing of TWA800 with a completely rediculous cover story so he doesn't spill all the beans but a great backgrounder to US interests in the oil zone.

[BuckeFushe]

31. he will always be OUR President

[CJCRANE]

32. It's true

the whole "war of terror" is a complete failure if taken at face value of being to actually reduce terrorism.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

34. Yep. And it will be hard to factor in FUTURE terrorism

to result from Bushler's actions.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

35. The walls are closing in on Bush! eom