Bush now 'working the phones"

[rodeodance]

gee, it is such hard work being a war Pres!!





http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20071205/wl_mcclatchy/2774033
Bush defends Iran policy amid doubts on new U.N. sanctions

By Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers Tue Dec 4, 8:07 PM ET

WASHINGTON — President Bush worked the phones Tuesday to salvage his hard-line policy toward Iran , lobbying foreign leaders for tougher economic sanctions despite a new U.S. intelligence report that concluded that the Islamic republic halted its secret nuclear weapons program four years ago.


Several U.S. officials and experts, however, said that the new National Intelligence Estimate has upended Bush's policy and erased any justification for threatening military strikes. The president will now find it difficult to persuade Russia and China — and even America's European allies— to impose new sanctions on Iran , even though it refuses to heed United Nations demands to stop enriching uranium, they said.

"A new resolution is going to be very hard to get, if not impossible," said a State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Bush showed no sign of backing down.

[orleans]

1. the asshole is trying to figure out how to dial a number!

[rodeodance]

3. love it.

[Azathoth]

2. Translation: Bush is drunk and eating pretzels while his henchmen are bullying foreign leaders n/t

[orleans]

4. just for you

[Azathoth]

6. lol

:rofl:

[Not_Giving_Up]

5. Is he pronouncing their names right?

After the way he butchered the names last week, I wonder how many people got a personal reminder that the guy in the White House can't speak English properly, let alone pronounce their names correctly.

[donheld]

7. Gimmie a Break

He doesn't know how to "Work a phone" :silly:

[Richard Steele]

8. What, he's angling to be "Grand Pooh-Bhaa" of the Alumni Weekend again?

[izquierdista]

9. Would you people chill?!?

Here's the phone the staff lets him "work"



They used to let him play with a larger, desk model, but this one is safer when he gets frustrated and starts throwing things

[calimary]

10. Dear Lord... just how big a laughing stock are we in the eyes of the world community?

Can he even convince anyone that the sun comes up in the morning?

It's sad to see him dig in his heels like this. Just CAN'T admit he's screwed this up - again.

Maybe I should hope that he and rove and all the rest of 'em just keep it up. They're in a deep pit. And they seem to want to keep digging.

[TexasLawyer]

11. Jonathan Landay rocks!

Landay and McClachy-- Some of the only people in MSM who seem to be actually investigating and reporting the real news.

McClatchy Scribe Hit 'Hype' On Iran's Nukes a Month Ago

By E&P Staff

Published: December 04, 2007 9:20 PM ET

NEW YORK Five years ago, Jonathan Landay was one of several Knight Ridder reporters in Washington, D.C., who later earned much praise for being among the few who repeatedly questioned the validity of White House claims of Iraqi WMDs. Now, in the wake of yesterday's National Intelligence Estimate bombshell, debunking years of White House claims of an active Iranian nuclear weapons project, Landay (now under McClatchy's banner) can take a bow again.

Exactly one month ago, on Nov. 4, the McClatchy moved a lengthy Landay probe titled, "Experts: No firm evidence of Iranian nuclear weapons." An excerpt follows
*

Despite President Bush's claims that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons that could trigger "World War III," experts in and out of government say there's no conclusive evidence that Tehran has an active nuclear-weapons program.

Even his own administration appears divided about the immediacy of the threat. While Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney speak of an Iranian weapons program as a fact, Bush's point man on Iran, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, has attempted to ratchet down the rhetoric.

"Iran is seeking a nuclear capability ... that some people fear might lead to a nuclear-weapons capability," Burns said in an interview Oct. 25 on PBS.

"I don't think that anyone right today thinks they're working on a bomb," said another U.S. official, who requested anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity. Outside experts say the operative words are "right today." They say Iran may have been actively seeking to create a nuclear-weapons capacity in the past and still could break out of its current uranium-enrichment program and start a weapons program. They too lack definitive proof, but cite a great deal of circumstantial evidence. Bush's rhetoric seems hyperbolic compared with the measured statements by his senior aides and outside experts.

"I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon," he said Oct. 17 at a news conference.

"Our country, and the entire international community, cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfills its grandest ambitions," Cheney warned on Oct 23. "We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

<snip>

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003681037