*ahem* Class please turn to Ron Suskind's 'The Price of Loyalty' page 71

[underpants]

Now as we know this book was published in 2004 and deals with the first few months of the Bush administration and what Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill saw and learned.

Okay let's read starting from the bottom of page 71


President Bush echoed the view: 'We're going to correct the imbalances of the previous administration on the Mideast conflict. We're going to tilt back toward Israel." Bush continued, 'If the two sides don't want peace, there is no way we can force them.' Colin Powell said, 'a pullback by the US would unleash Sharon and the Israeli army.' ; Bush added, 'Sometimes a show of strength by one side can really clarify things'
The Price of Loyalty, by Ron Suskind, p. 71-72

[Benhurst]

1. Nice find. NT

[grasswire]

2. that explains a lot

I hope Keith Olbermann finds this quote.

[Totally Committed]

3. Absolutely terrifying in it's idocy....

This is who is running the country now. :hide:

TC

[AtomicKitten]

4. actually Clinton did have balance and they're having none of it

[underpants]

5. Their first few months were nothing but turning back the clock

and resetting to 1993

Overturn the Clinton tax policy raising the highest bracket's taxes
National Parks set aside land reversed
Ergonomics study overturned
Their perception of the Clinton ME policy reversed

and so on.

Anything Clinton supported, proposed, or signed had to be rejected, withdrawn, or reversed.

[AtomicKitten]

6. Anything But Clinton has worked out nicely, hasn't it?

[underpants]

9. Like a charm

like a freakin' charm

:sarcasm: <--- I pretty much have to do that now.

[Vadem]

15. I love that picture of Tipper and Al! What a beautiful couple...n/t

[AtomicKitten]

17. they always seem

to be amused by the idiots in this administration

[emmadoggy]

23. Me too! Love it. Such a stark contrast to Georgie & Pickles.

:)

[blm]

14. Add the refusal to read Hart-Rudman Report on Global Terror that was

handed to BushInc on Jan 30, 2001, after a two and a half year study of the problem of growing terror and included urgent proposals for homeland security measures to take before this nation gets hit.

[OzarkDem]

22. I hope Dems have a similar plan

to turn back the clock and fix this mess when they take back Congress in November. Oh, please, please, please, DC Dems, tell me you're working on such a plan.

[Straight Shooter]

7. In other words, what's happening now *is* bush's fault.

All those undercurrents of secretive foreign policy, should we wonder why the Middle East is exploding in tension?

Good find, underpants.

[underpants]

8. |

I was hoping that I didn't have to go home and type that in. I found that website (LINKED) but I think there is a bit more in the book-like O'Neill being quite shocked at this policy and the shift in policy.

A very good book. Highly recommended to anyone who hasn't read it. Suskind writes it like a mystery novel-- almost.

[OzarkDem]

21. Not just his fault - his intention n/t

[progressoid]

10. That book put me into a month long depression.

Of course, everything this administration does is depressing.

Sometimes with regard to B* & Co., it's better to be uninformed. And sometimes drunk.

[bloom]

11. That's interesting.

The Administration is probably getting advice from Daniel Pipes:

Israel’s Unnecessary War
July 18, 2006
by Daniel Pipes

The blame for the current fighting falls entirely on Israel’s enemies, who deploy inhuman methods in the service of barbaric goals. While I wish the armed forces of Israel every success against the terrorists in Gaza and Lebanon and hope they inflict a maximum defeat on Hamas and Hezbollah while taking a minimum of casualties, erroneous Israeli decisions in the last 13 years have led to an unnecessary war....

http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3763?
__________________________________________

This whole thing reminds me of the US "reasons" to invade Iraq - "They might do something - so we have to do something first". (This probably makes more sense for Israel than it did for us - but it's still basically the justification for an offensive, disproportionate attack).


I was noticing this at right-wing site,

"ITS ALL ABOUT THE INTENTION OF SYRIA AND IRAN TO DESTROY ISRAEL"

http://www.israpundit.com/2006/?p=1910


And there is this Orwellian reasoning,

"Lebanese civilians are dying, not because of Israel, but because of the aggression of Hezbollah, Syria and Iran."

http://www.suntimes.com/output/otherviews/cst-edt-hunt20.html

[DallasNE]

18. Pre-emptive War Prevents Nothing

Israel is a fast learner. When there were no consequences to Bush starting a pre-emptive war based on delibertly false intelligence Israel decided to roll the dice as well.

There was never any doubt but what Israel was going to invade and occupy a large section of southern Lebanon.

And so much for the Bush claim that democracies don't invade democracies.

[Roland99]

12. He CUT AND RAN from diplomacy *10* days into his 1st term. *10* days!

[Supersedeas]

13. How come no interviews of Colin Powell right about now M$M???

They have Madaly Albright, but no Powell...odd?

[DallasNE]

16. There Were A Lot Of Other Gems As Well

On Principles & Values: Bush places personal loyalty over loyalty to the truth

It seemed, suddenly, that there were no "let's-look-at-the-facts brokers" in any of the key White House positions. A strict code of personal fealty to Bush--animated by the embrace of a few unquestioned ideologues-- eemed to be in collision with a faith in the broader ideals of honest inquiry. Even quite junior staff would sometimes hear quite senior staff pooh-pooh any need to dig deeper for pertinent information on a given issue.
Source: The Price of Loyalty, by Ron Suskind, p. 125 & 171

On Social Security: Privatize SS while maintaining govt system

The President's plan is to move Social Security from its safe, sleepy, government-run home to higher-yielding private accounts that individuals could help direct. In May 2000, candidate Bush had championed the idea of private accounts. Bush's bridge proposal would mean funding two retirement systems at once. Bush had suggested that workers under about age 50 could set up new accounts--but the benefits promised to older workers and current retirees would be protected.
Source: The Price of Loyalty, by Ron Suskind, p.139

The Social Security issue is one that really tightened my jaw in 2000. When Al Gore pointed out that Bush was giving the same money to two different groups of people it gained no traction. Rather, the media treated it like there Gore goes again with more policy wonk stuff that doesn't really matter. The media should have been asking Bush, well how about that because it looks like Gore is correct. Instead they responded like paid campaign staff.

On War & Peace: O'Neill: Bush planned on war in Iraq before 9/11

Bush's campaign positions, that the US would be noninterventionist-that we would hesitate to become embroiled in disputes; that we would be 'humble abroad' and not 'engage in nation-building'-were the very opposite of the policy that O'Neill & Powell saw unfolding. Actual plans, to O'Neill's astonishment, were already being discussed to take over Iraq & occupy it-complete with disposition of oil fields, peacekeeping forces, and war crimes tribunals-carrying forward an unspoken doctrine of preemptive war.
Source: The Price of Loyalty, by Ron Suskind, p. 129

Bush the liar was established early on. He had been in office only one month when he provoked North Korea with inflamitory language and his first reaction to the EP-3 spy plane doing a forced landing in China was not one of diplomacy but to send the Navy steaming toward China with who knows what intentions. Humble indeed!

[allemand]

19. One of the reasons why I miss Colin Powell.

He was much less hawkish on the Middle East. He dared to say that the killing of Palestinian children by Israel "must stop":

"The overwhelming majority of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have grown up with checkpoints and raids and indignities. Too often they have seen their schools shuttered and their parents humiliated. Palestinians need security as well. Too many innocent Palestinians, including children, have been killed and wounded. This, too, must stop."
Speech at the University of Louisville, November 19, 2001
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,602488,00.html

[emmadoggy]

20. Well, well...All is can say is...

this is all just way too scary. :scared: Bush is insane. And the calculation and manipulation that he and his cohorts have employed is criminal and astonishing. The last 5 1/2 years are truly a world nightmare.