Dubya Starts The " I Didn't Lie To Justify The War" Tour

[blueturk]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/international/middleeast/11cnd-bush.html

Bush Forcefully Attacks Critics of His Strategy in Iraq

By MARIA NEWMAN
Published: November 11, 2005
President Bush lashed out today at critics of his Iraq policy, accusing them of trying to rewrite history about the decision to go to war and saying their criticism is undercutting American forces in battle.

President Bush challenged a new round of accusations by Democrats that he exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's weapons programs.
"While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decisions or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began," the president said in a Veterans Day speech in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Bush delivered his aggressive and unusually long speech as part of an effort to shore up his credibility as he faces growing public skepticism about Iraq and accusations by Democrats and others that he led the nation into war on false pretenses.

Those accusations seem to be making a dent in public confidence in him, as public opinion polls show more people questioning the president's honesty about Iraq and about whether American troops should remain in the fight.

Today's remarks by the president, which painted his critics as hypocrites, drew quick and angry responses from Democrats, and quickly led to a back-and-forth with Republicans about who was exploiting Veterans Day by using it as a forum to voice their views on Iraq. The president's speech is part of a new strategy by the administration that will play out in the next few weeks in other presidential speeches and remarks by other leading Republicans, top senior administration officials said.

The president spoke at the Tobyhanna Army Depot near Wilkes-Barre. He talked not only about why Americans are at war - "the terrorists are as brutal an enemy as we've ever faced, unconstrained by any notion of our common humanity or by the rules of warfare" - something he has mentioned in almost every speech, but turned on his critics more directly than he usually does.

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

Before going to war, Mr. Bush said, Democrats and Republicans alike were privy to the same intelligence that indicated former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

"Some Democrats and antiwar critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war," he said. "These critics are fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments related to Iraq's weapons programs. They also know that intelligence agencies from around the world agreed with our assessment of Saddam Hussein."

The Senate's Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said Mr. Bush had "resorted to his old playbook of discredited rhetoric about the war on terror and political attacks as his own political fortunes and credibility diminish."

"Attacking those patriotic Americans who have raised serious questions about the case the Bush administration made to take our country to war does not provide us a plan for success that will bring our troops home," Mr. Reid said. "While the Bush administration continues to stonewall the Congress from finding the truth about the manipulation of pre-war intelligence, Democrats will continue to press for a full airing of the facts."

In his Pennsylvania speech, Mr. Bush said the United Nations had passed more than a dozen resolutions that cited Mr. Hussein's development and possession of weapons of mass destruction.

Mr. Bush mentioned Senator John Kerry, whom he defeated in the 2004 election, something he seldom did even during the campaign. Mr. Bush recalled that Mr. Kerry, a Democrat, also voted to go to war, and quoted him as saying that he had done so because Mr. Hussein had "a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hand" and that he was "a threat and a grave threat to our security."

The president said: "That's why more then a hundred Democrats in the House and the Senate, who had access to the same intelligence, voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power."

Mr. Kerry responded in Boston, where he participated in ceremonies honoring veterans and active duty forces. "I wish President Bush knew better than to dishonor America's veterans by playing the politics of fear and smear on Veterans Day," Mr. Kerry said. "This administration misled a nation into war by cherry-picking intelligence and stretching the truth beyond recognition."

[Nickdfresh]

He threw us a "CURVEBALL" alright...

Fucker.

[blueturk]

The simple fact is that Bush rode an understandable wave of post 9/11 patriotism to do what he had planned to do since being elected, and he knows it. This tour reeks of desperation.

[Warham]

Why? He's not running for re-election.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by Warham
Why? He's not running for re-election.

Because he knows he won't last three years if this keeps up...

[Warham]

The only way he's getting impeached is if the Democrats control the House in two years, which won't happen by the way. Other than that, he'd have to resign. He's too stubborn to do that.

Bush until '08.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by Warham
The only way he's getting impeached is if the Democrats control the House in two years, which won't happen by the way.

Bush until '08.

Wanna bet?

:cool:

[FORD]

Dean Response to Bush's Failed Iraq Policy and Misleading Political Attacks

11/11/2005 7:57:00 PM

To: National Desk, Political Reporter

Contact: Karen Finney or Josh Earnest, 202-863-8148, both of the Democratic National Committee Staff

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement today on President Bush's misleading attacks on Democrats and his failed policies in Iraq:

"On Veteran's Day, a day to honor the sacrifices of Americans who have so bravely served our country, President Bush chose instead to deflect from the truth and resort to political attacks, even as more Americans now doubt his honesty and his ability to handle the war in Iraq.

"While the White House continues to shamefully stonewall and hide behind their attacks, Democrats will continue to press for the truth. The President ought to be ashamed of himself. With more than 2,000 brave Americans dead to date and tens of thousands more injured, the President ought to be telling the truth to the American people. Mr. President, the best way to honor our troops is to tell the truth about why they went to war and when they can come home.

"The fact remains that pre-war intelligence was manipulated and cherry-picked. Instead of trying to pass the buck to members of Congress, who like so many Americans were willing to trust their Commander-in-Chief, the President should tell the truth to our troops and their families about how they were sent to war. In a democracy, the truth is not withheld. In a democracy our leaders provide real leadership and do not hide behind political attacks.

"Democrats stand committed to our troops and their families. Americans deserve the truth and the answers to hard questions when it comes to the decision to go to war. We can no longer stay the course. Our troops and the American people need a comprehensive plan so that success can be achieved in Iraq and our troops can come home safely."

Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, http://www.democrats.org. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by Warham
The only way he's getting impeached is if the Democrats control the House in two years, which won't happen by the way. Other than that, he'd have to resign. He's too stubborn to do that.

Bush until '08.

Who said anything about impeachment...

How about if the Republicans completely turn on him and, along with Democrats that WILL reap what BUSH has sowed in 06', pressure him to resign for the good of the country after his administration is completely catatonic?

[FORD]

Republicans started the proceedings against Nixon.

Of course there were a lot more honest Republicans back then. :(

[DrMaddVibe]

http://www.msu.edu/~santosdo/dean-freaks.wav

[Hardrock69]

Originally posted by blueturk
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/international/middleeast/11cnd-bush.html

"While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decisions or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began," the president said in a Veterans Day speech in Pennsylvania.




Fucking Chimpy. That is just the first of many demonstrations of fucktardedness during today's "speech".

How the fuck could they have orchestrated this so well? Clinton AND Bush both sobbing in public "OH I BEEN DONE WRONG!!! WAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"

Give me a fucking break.

"Rewriting History"???

How about LOOKING BACK AT HISTORY!!! NOT "rewriting" it.

Christ. Fucking dumbass.




Today's remarks by the president, which painted his critics as hypocrites, drew quick and angry responses from Democrats, and quickly led to a back-and-forth with Republicans about who was exploiting Veterans Day by using it as a forum to voice their views on Iraq. The president's speech is part of a new strategy by the administration that will play out in the next few weeks in other presidential speeches and remarks by other leading Republicans, top senior administration officials said.


Ahhh I see. So the "administration officials" have ADMITTED that they cooked up some strategy to try to drum up some public support for their FUCKUPS.


"The White House is trying to coordinate a response from administration officials to congressional Republicans.

Republicans on Capitol Hill who have criticized the White House for failing to coordinate responses to a host of issues say Bush aides are working noticeably harder to set up meetings and conference calls to arrange a widespread response."

Link for the above quote can be found below...

Shit. Like the public is going to tolerate such crap.



The president spoke at the Tobyhanna Army Depot near Wilkes-Barre. He talked not only about why Americans are at war - "the terrorists are as brutal an enemy as we've ever faced, unconstrained by any notion of our common humanity or by the rules of warfare" - something he has mentioned in almost every speech, but turned on his critics more directly than he usually does.

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



Ahhh yes...the terrists are brutal and savage, etc.

We have heard all that before.

Here he is now talking about "false charges" & "baseless attacks".

Fucking Chimpy...doesn't bother to mention the "false charges" he was throwing around so carelessly about Iraq, or the "baseless attacks" that we perpetrated as a result.

Sure Saddamite was an asshole.

But so are the Commies in China. Why doesn't Chimpy go to war against them?

Stupid fucking bastard.



Before going to war, Mr. Bush said, Democrats and Republicans alike were privy to the same intelligence that indicated former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Oh..yeah...right.
And it was the Democrats that sent the Secretary Of State to LIE to the United Nations about WMDs and other bullshit, wasn't it Mr. Goddam Fucking Chimpy Retard Motherfucking PRESIDENT?????.

Colin Powell has even admitted he lied.

Chimpy seems to think nobody will remember that.


"Some Democrats and antiwar critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war," he said. "These critics are fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments related to Iraq's weapons programs. They also know that intelligence agencies from around the world agreed with our assessment of Saddam Hussein."


Talk about a deflection by means of irrelevancy.

Any MORON will agree that Saddamite is a fucking asshole that needs to be tortured.

But just because everyone agreed he was an asshole did NOT mean that ALL the " intelligence agencies from around the world" agreed with the WMD scenario.

And of course, it is now known to be a FACT that because our own CONGRESS did not swallow that lie hook, line and sinker and decided to send a representative to Africa to investigate those claims, Chimpy and his cronies decided to try to get some revenge on Wilson's ass, only to have it backfire on their fucking asses recently.

And then Chimpy tries to sweep it under the carpet even further by stating "a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments related to Iraq's weapons programs."

Of course they did not. Chimpy and his cronies covered it up enough they did not find any evidence AT THAT TIME.

But look what has happened recently?

Fitzy Boy is FINDING the evidence NOW.

Just because they successfully covered their asses back then, does not mean they were as blameless as the driven snow!!!

All their bullshit is unraveling in front of the eyes of everyone on this planet, and they are trying to distract everyone by making speeches.


The Senate's Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said Mr. Bush had "resorted to his old playbook of discredited rhetoric about the war on terror and political attacks as his own political fortunes and credibility diminish."

"Attacking those patriotic Americans who have raised serious questions about the case the Bush administration made to take our country to war does not provide us a plan for success that will bring our troops home," Mr. Reid said. "While the Bush administration continues to stonewall the Congress from finding the truth about the manipulation of pre-war intelligence, Democrats will continue to press for a full airing of the facts."

The Bush administration IS doing EVERYTHING in their power to stonewall. They admitted that they are doing just that at the end of the second paragraph!!! They are so fucking transparent it is unreal....
:rolleyes:


Check this out: The Bushites announced 3 fucking days ago that they were working on a "campaign-style strategy" to respond to the allegations that they manipulated intel.

Guess what? They are admitting the intel was faulty!!!

Yet even though they knew that it was, they were still foaming at the mouth to go to war!!!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/08/Bush.retaliates/index.html



In his Pennsylvania speech, Mr. Bush said the United Nations had passed more than a dozen resolutions that cited Mr. Hussein's development and possession of weapons of mass destruction.


Ahhh yes...based on whose intel?




Mr. Bush mentioned Senator John Kerry, whom he defeated in the 2004 election, something he seldom did even during the campaign. Mr. Bush recalled that Mr. Kerry, a Democrat, also voted to go to war, and quoted him as saying that he had done so because Mr. Hussein had "a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hand" and that he was "a threat and a grave threat to our security."

The president said: "That's why more then a hundred Democrats in the House and the Senate, who had access to the same intelligence, voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power."

Ahhh more than a hundred, eh? In the House there were only 81 in favor, 126 AGAINST. And of course Bush fails to mention that 6 Republicans voted AGAINST going to war.

In the Senate, 29 Democrats voted for the measure, but 21 voted against it, as did one Republican and the sole independant Senator.

So Chimpy is trying to push this smokescreen off on the public, as if "over 100 Democrats" is some sort of huge number, when there were 147 Democrat Senators & Congressmen who voted against the measure.
As well as 9 non-Democrats.


In the fall of 2002, Bush was leading a fucking bandwagon like a motherfucker. Anyone who disagreed with him or his fucking slaves was slandered, attacked in the press, invalidated, made out to be unpatrioitic, or worse a "terrist sympathizer".

PUH-LEEEEEZE.....

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:




Mr. Kerry responded in Boston, where he participated in ceremonies honoring veterans and active duty forces. "I wish President Bush knew better than to dishonor America's veterans by playing the politics of fear and smear on Veterans Day," Mr. Kerry said. "This administration misled a nation into war by cherry-picking intelligence and stretching the truth beyond recognition."

Well let's see here.

Chimpy dishonored American Troops by fucking sending them to die in the desert based on a bunch of fucking bullshit!!!

THAT IS FUCKING HIGH TREASON!

Kinda interesting how all the top Democrats are firing their cannons today.

Hell, somebody needs to tell Chimpy what a fucking idiot he is.

I don't have the luxury of a high-profile....like say John Kerry has, or Mr. Bill Womanizing Slut.

So my little rant here will not make much difference.


Oh well.

By trotting Chimpy out to make a bunch of fucking speeches, his asslickers are only digging his political grave.


WOOHOO!!!!

Let us watch Chimpy's descent into Dante's Inferno!!

[Hardrock69]

Originally posted by Warham
The only way he's getting impeached is if the Democrats control the House in two years, which won't happen by the way. Other than that, he'd have to resign. He's too stubborn to do that.

Bush until '08.


Who's to say the Democrats will not gain a majority in the House in 2006? The way Chimpy is fucking up, the Mob will not stand for a Republican-controlled Congress much longer...

[FORD]

THE WORST SPEECH OF BUSH'S PRESIDENCY.
Attack Mode
by David Kusnet
Only at TNR Online
Post date: 11.11.05

For speechwriters drafting a presidential address for a patriotic holiday such as Independence Day, Memorial Day, or Veterans Day, there are three rules: Don't be wordy; don't be wonky; and, most important, don't be partisan. In his Veterans Day remarks today at the Tobyhanna Army Depot near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, President Bush and his staff broke all three rules, producing a strident speech that went on for almost 50 minutes, included a lengthy comparison of "Islamic radicalism" and "the ideology of communism," and concluded by attacking "some Democrats," while taking an implicit shot at "my opponent during the last election." It may have been the worst speech of his presidency.

At a time when Bush would benefit from sounding cheerful, forward looking, and above partisan politics, just as Ronald Reagan did during his second term even in the midst of the Iran-Contra scandal, Bush instead sounded like Richard Nixon or Lyndon Johnson during the worst days of the Vietnam War, although neither is remembered for flubbing a speech on a national holiday. It's as if Bush was reading from a cue-card that proclaimed, "Message: I'm embattled and embittered."

When a president speaks angrily and defensively for almost an hour, he might well be extemporizing, but that clearly was not true of this president and this speech: We know this because while the address may have seemed interminable, it was not ungrammatical, and it subjected listeners to a lecture about a bewildering array of personalities and events, including "Al Qaeda's number two man, a guy named Zawahari"; "his chief deputy in Iraq, the terrorist Zarqawi"; the Syrian democracy advocate Kamal Labwani; and "the Mehlis investigation into the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister."

There is a time and place for such a detailed explanation of world events, but it is a formal speech at a major academic institution such as Georgetown or West Point--not a commemorative occasion such as today, when the president should speak as the leader of the entire nation.

Moreover, Veterans Day is certainly not the venue for a president to attack the opposition party or single out a defeated opponent, as Bush did today. Towards the end of his speech, Bush declared, "While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began." He criticized "some Democrats and antiwar critics" for "claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war." Then he did something that no president in recent memory has done: He took what could be read as an implicit shot at the man he defeated, explaining, "Many of these critics supported my opponent during the last election, who explained his position to support the resolution in Congress this way." Bush then quoted Kerry's statement defending his vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq--essentially holding Kerry up for ridicule, since Kerry is now a war critic. Do you remember Clinton criticizing Bob Dole in 1997; or Reagan criticizing Walter Mondale in 1985; or even Nixon criticizing George McGovern in 1973? Of course not--second-term presidents tend to co-opt, not condemn, defeated opponents.

Bush's speech also adopted two of Nixon's smarmiest rhetorical techniques: attacking the nameless but nefarious "some," just as Nixon used to disagree with "some who say"; and lumping together very different people--the villainous "some Democrats," the "antiwar critics" who could be anyone from Russ Feingold to Ramsey Clark, and, finally, Kerry himself.

What's most remarkable about this speech is how Bush has bungee-jumped from the rhetorical high-road he usually takes to the lowest road any recent president has taken on a national holiday. Unlike previous presidents from both parties, Bush up until now has rarely attacked the opposition party, individual adversaries, or even ideological categories. (For instance, unlike Reagan and Nixon, he has rarely if ever criticized liberals or secularists.) So it is especially surprising that a president who generally avoided attacking his opponents in State of the Union speeches is now attacking them in a Veterans Day address; and it seems a sign that his shrewdest advisers--Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, and Michael Gerson--had no input into this speech.

As for the substantive points in the speech, they were either familiar or flimsy. Once again, Bush defended the Iraq war only after reporting on less controversial endeavors, such as the response to 9/11, the Afghanistan war, and efforts to destroy Al Qaeda.

Less familiar was Bush's lengthy comparison of Islamic extremism with the Communism of the Cold War era. Both, Bush said, were violent, dictatorial, and "dismissive of free peoples." But Communism was also atheist and internationalist, while Al Qaeda is neither. If current enemies have to be equated with twentieth-century totalitarianisms, why not compare Islamic extremism with fascism, which made more use of nationalist emotions and was less hostile to religion?

This was a speech that presented Bush's case implausibly and inappropriately. It's hard for a president to sound unpresidential on a patriotic holiday, but Bush achieved that dubious distinction today.

David Kusnet was chief speechwriter for former President Bill Clinton from 1992 through 1994. He is writing a book about workplace conflicts in today's America, Love the Work, Hate the Job, for John Wiley and Sons.



link (http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w051107&s=kusnet111205)

[DrMaddVibe]

This just in....Courtney Love is a fucking cunt...film @ 11!

[FORD]

Wrong forum, AssVibe. And I knew Courtney was a cunt before you even knew her name.

[Hardrock69]

Well, despite the fact that it is to be expected David Kusnet would attack Bush, his points are valid, and of course he is speaking from his professional point-of-view as a Presidential Speechwriter (never mind his politicial leanings...it was a great history lesson in what Presidents of the past 40 years have traditionally said while making speeches in general).

How many more speeches will Chimpy make in this "campaign" before his handlers realize he is only accelerating his political downfall by opening up his nonsensical retarded mouth???
:rolleyes:

[Hardrock69]

Haha Dr. Vibe is making a lame attempt to emulate Chimpy by using irrelevance as a tool...

:D

[DrMaddVibe]

Haha...I'm laughing AT you and not your lame attempt at humor!

[blueturk]

Originally posted by Hardrock69


How many more speeches will Chimpy make in this "campaign" before his handlers realize he is only accelerating his political downfall by opening up his nonsensical retarded mouth???
:rolleyes:

No matter how badly things go, Bush will insist that he is right and everybody who disagrees with him is wrong. Watch for even lower approval ratings...



" As you know, these are open forums, you're able to come and listen to what I have to say." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Oct. 28, 2003

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
This just in....Courtney Love is a fucking cunt...film @ 11!

So hip, so clever :rolleyes:

Your cutting edge humor sure has thrown us off track of your moronic leader's stupidity.


Don't quit your day job.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
Haha...I'm laughing AT you and not your lame attempt at humor!

We're rubber and you're glue....:rolleyes:


Little wonder you're a Chimpsucker:cool:

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by FORD
Wrong forum, AssVibe. And I knew Courtney was a cunt before you even knew her name.


but it was just so biting and edgy......:rolleyes:


The exclamation point was what really made it funny ;)

[blueturk]

Bush Didn't Mislead on War, Adviser Says

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
The Associated Press
Sunday, November 13, 2005; 3:26 PM

WASHINGTON -- While admitting "we were wrong" about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, President Bush's national security adviser on Sunday rejected assertions that the president manipulated intelligence and misled the American people.

Bush relied on the collective judgment of the intelligence community when he determined that Iraq's Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, national security adviser Stephen Hadley said.

"Turns out, we were wrong," Hadley told "Late Edition" on CNN. "But I think the point that needs to be emphasized ... allegations now that the president somehow manipulated intelligence, somehow misled the American people, are flat wrong."

Republican lawmakers and other officials who appeared on Sunday news shows echoed Bush's Veterans Day speech in which he defended his decision to invade Iraq.

Bush said Democrats in Congress had the same intelligence about Iraq, and he argued that many now claiming that the information had been manipulated had supported going to war. The president also accused his critics of making false charges and playing politics with the war.

Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean rejected the criticism on Sunday and said, "The truth is, the president misled America when he sent us to war."

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," the party chairman disputed Bush's claim that Congress had the same information _ the president withheld some intelligence and some caveats about it, Dean said _ and that two commissions had found no evidence of pressure being placed on those within the intelligence community .

In fact, Dean said, how the administration handled the intelligence it received has yet to be determined by a Senate committee.

Contending that the president has not been honest about the size of the deficit as well as the war, Dean said, "This is an administration that has a fundamental problem telling the truth."

Hadley said Bush received dissenting views about the accuracy of intelligence and relied on the collective judgment of the intelligence community as conveyed by the CIA director. The national security adviser criticized those who continue to claim that Bush manipulated the intelligence and made misleading statements.

"It is unworthy and unfair and ill-advised, when our men and women in combat are putting their lives on the line, to relitigate an issue which was looked at by two authoritative sources and deemed closed," he said. "We need to put this debate behind us."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Democrats have a right to criticize the war but that it was disingenuous to claim that Bush lied about intelligence to justify it.

"Every intelligence agency in the world, including the Russians, the French ... all reached the same conclusion," McCain said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

In a column for The Washington Post, former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., said he was wrong to have voted to give Bush the authority to go to war and called the intelligence on which he made that decision "deeply flawed and, in some cases, manipulated to fit a political agenda."

"The information the American people were hearing from the president _ and that I was being given by our intelligence community _ wasn't the whole story," wrote Edwards, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004. "Had I known this at the time, I never would have voted for this war."

Hadley said issues about the accuracy of U.S. intelligence have not impaired the administration's ability to pursue its policies regarding the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea.

"We've been able to move our diplomacy forward at the same time we're taking the steps we need to do to improve our intelligence," he said.

Asked why people should believe U.S. claims about the nuclear plans of Iran given the failure of intelligence about Iraq, Hadley said there has been international consensus about Iran.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/13/AR2005111300358.html

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by blueturk


Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean rejected the criticism on Sunday and said, "The truth is, the president misled America when he sent us to war."



It's too bad Howard the Coward didn't want to debate his RNC counterpart on this point. Chickenshit. :D

[blueturk]

I'm not going to waste time defending Dean. He IS a chickenshit. But so is Dubya. Every stop on the tour (campaign?) will be in front of carefully selected sheep who will undoubtedly applaud on cue, while dissenters will be in the "Freedom Of Speech Zone" where Bush won't have to see them.

[Hardrock69]

Chickenshit perhaps, but it would have been supremely easy for him to tear apart Chimpy's speech and all the lies in it.

[DrMaddVibe]

He couldn't do it.

[Nickdfresh]

Why is HOWARD DEAN a chikenshit? 'Cause Matt "packin' fudge" DRUDGE says so?

[blueturk]

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." —George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005

Bush takes fresh shots at Iraq war critics

TERENCE HUNT

Associated Press


ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska - President Bush escalated the bitter debate over the Iraq war on Monday, hurling back at Democratic critics the worries they once expressed that Saddam Hussein was a grave threat to the world.

"They spoke the truth then and they're speaking politics now," Bush charged.

Bush went on the attack after Democrats accused the president of manipulating and withholding some pre-war intelligence and misleading Americans about the rationale for war.

"Some Democrats who voted to authorize the use of force are now rewriting the past," Bush said. "They're playing politics with this issue and they are sending mixed signals to our troops and the enemy. That is irresponsible."

The president spoke to cheering troops at this military base at a refueling stop for Air Force One on the first leg of an eight-day journey to Japan, South Korea, China and Mongolia. After a Latin American trip with meager results earlier this month, the administration kept expectations low for Asia.

"I don't think you're going to see headline breakthroughs," National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said on Air Force One. He dashed any prospect that Japan would lift its ban on American beef imports during Bush's visit and said a dispute with China over trade and currency would remain an issue after the president returns home.

On Sunday, Hadley acknowledged "we were wrong" about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, but he insisted in a CNN interview that the president did not manipulate intelligence or mislead the American people.

Iraq and a host of other problems, from the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina to the indictment of a senior White House official in the CIA leak investigation, have taken a heavy toll on the president. Nearing the end of his fifth year in office, Bush has the lowest approval rating of his presidency and a majority of Americans say Bush is not honest and they disapprove of his handling of foreign policy and the war on terrorism. Heading for Asia, Bush hoped to improve his standing on the world stage.

"Reasonable people can disagree about the conduct of the war but it is irresponsible for Democrats to now claim that we misled them and the American people," Bush said.

He quoted pre-war remarks by three senior Democrats as evidence of that Democrats had shared the administration's fears that were the rationale for invading Iraq in 2003. Bush did not name them, but White House counselor Dan Bartlett filled in the blanks.

_"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons." - Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.

_"The war against terrorism will not be finished as long as (Saddam Hussein) is in power." - Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.

_"Saddam Hussein, in effect, has thumbed his nose at the world community. And I think that the president's approaching this in the right fashion." - Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"The truth is that investigations of the intelligence on Iraq have concluded that only one person manipulated evidence and misled the world - and that person was Saddam Hussein," Bush charged.

In the Senate, 29 Democrats voted with 48 Republicans for the war authorization measure in late 2002, including 2004 Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, and his running mate, John Edwards of North Carolina. Both have recently been harshly critical of Bush's conduct of the war and its aftermath.

On Capitol Hill, top Democrats stood their ground in claiming Bush misled Congress and the country. "The war in Iraq was and remains one of the great acts of misleading and deception in American history," Kerry told a news conference.

Bush is expected to get a warmer welcome in Asia than he did earlier this month in Argentina at the Summit of the Americas, where Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez led a protest against U.S. policies and Bush failed to gain support from the 34 nations attending for a hemisphere-wide free trade zone.

Japan, the first stop on Bush's trip, and Mongolia, the last, are likely to give him the most enthusiastic response, while China and South Korea probably will be cooler but respectful.

In South Korea, Bush also will attend the Asia Pacific Economic Conference summit in Busan, where 21 member states are expected to agree to support global free-trade talks. The summit also is expected to agree to put early-warning and information-sharing systems in place in case of bird flu outbreaks.

"It is good for the president to show up in Asia and say, `We care about Asia,' because that is in doubt in the region," said Ed Lincoln, senior fellow in Asia and Economic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

At Bush's first stop, in Kyoto, Japan, the president will deliver what aides bill as the speech of the trip on the power of democracy, not only to better individual lives but contribute to the long-term prosperity of nations.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/13166786.htm