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Edited on Tue Jan-13-04 10:31 AM by Crisco
(four technically, but the song remains the same)
the Australian:
I did not plot war after poll, says Bush
By Roy Eccleston, Washington correspondent
January 14, 2004
GEORGE W. Bush has rejected charges by his former top economic adviser that he plotted the Iraq war well before September 11, 2001, and insisted the ousting of Saddam Hussein had made the US and the world safer.
.. Speaking in Mexico, Mr Bush rejected Mr O'Neill's claims that he had planned the Iraq war within days of becoming President, and not as a result of the terrorism that shook the US.
"No, the stated policy of my administration toward Saddam Hussein was very clear," he said. "Like the previous (Clinton) administration, we were for regime change. And then all of a sudden September 11 hit," Mr Bush said in Monterrey at a press conference with Mexican President Vicente Fox.
from the Post Intellegencer:
Bush admits he targeted Saddam from the start
WASHINGTON -- President Bush acknowledged for the first time yesterday that he was mapping preparations to topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as soon as he took office.
"The stated policy of my administration toward Saddam Hussein was very clear -- like the previous administration, we were for regime change," Bush told a joint news conference in Monterrey, Mexico, with Mexican President Vicente Fox. "And in the initial stages of the administration, as you might remember, we were dealing with (enforcing a no-fly zone over Iraq) and so we were fashioning policy along those lines."
Houston Chronicle:
Bush admits wanting new Iraqi regime before 9/11
Invasion plot not addressed
MONTERREY, Mexico -- President Bush acknowledged Monday that he has been in favor of regime change in Iraq since entering the White House.
But he dodged the question of whether he was plotting direct U.S. military action to take out Saddam Hussein long before Sept. 11, 2001.
"The stated policy of my administration towards Saddam Hussein was very clear. Like the previous administration, we were for regime change," Bush said. "And in the initial stages of the administration, as you might remember, we were dealing with Desert Badger, or fly-overs and fly-betweens and looks, as so we were fashioning policy along those lines. And then, all of a sudden, September the 11th hit."
NY Times:
Bush Disputes Ex-Official's Claim That Iraq War Was Early Goal
ASHINGTON, Jan. 12 — President Bush on Monday disputed a suggestion by Paul H. O'Neill, the former Treasury secretary, that the White House was looking for a reason to go to war with Iraq from the very beginning of his administration.
Responding to an account provided by Mr. O'Neill in a book to be published on Tuesday, "The Price of Loyalty," by Ron Suskind, Mr. Bush said he was working from his first days in office on how to carry out an existing national policy of promoting a change of government in Iraq. But the president said his focus at the time was on re-evaluating the ways in which the United States and Britain were enforcing the "no flight" zones in northern and southern Iraq.
"And no, the stated policy of my administration toward Saddam Hussein was very clear," Mr. Bush said at a news conference in Monterrey, Mexico, when asked whether he had begun planning within days of his inauguration for an invasion of Iraq. "Like the previous administration, we were for regime change."
"And in the initial stages of the administration, as you might remember, we were dealing with desert badger or fly-overs and fly-betweens and looks, and so we were fashioning policy along those lines," Mr. Bush continued, apparently referring to confrontations with Iraq over the no-flight zones. "And then all of a sudden September the 11th hit."
Facinating tug of war, isn't it?
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