Bush: Pulling Out of Iraq Not an Option

[tuvor]

WASHINGTON -
President Bush said Saturday that pulling out of
Iraq now is not an option, rejecting calls by some lawmakers and many people asked in polls to start bringing U.S. troops home.

"The terrorists and insurgents are trying to get us to retreat. Their goal is to get us to leave before Iraqis have had a chance to show the region what a government that is elected and truly accountable to its citizens can do for its people," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

"We will settle for nothing less than victory" over terrorists there, he said later.

Bush's radio address is part of a series of appearances and speeches in the coming weeks aimed at countering poll ratings that are near their lowest levels on both the Iraq war and the economy. Bush said his administration is committed to success in both areas of concern for Americans.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050618/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush;_ylt=Ao3Wcb0ItNHqmRg_0_h6JUCyFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[bemildred]

1. It beats getting kicked out. nt

[AzDar]

2. "Victory"= Getting ALL the oil!! n/t

[Conker]

11. That's all he really cares about in Iraq.

Why do so many people deny that?

[Lorien]

21. Don't forget the reconstruction profit$

Payback (to political contributors) is a bitch-for the American taxpayer. :grr:

[NeoConsSuck]

33. Bingo!

There are so many ways they criminals want to steal money from american citizens and give it to corporations. Robin Hood's evil alter ego.

One is the defense (conquest) budget, which includes the reconstruction costs. Another is the attempted privatization of SS.

Sadly, a large percentage of americans are complacent enough to let this happen. Give them enough kool aid and MJ and they won't even notice.

[Daphne08]

63. It's a wee bit more complicated

than just oil.

[Botany]

3. then w you go ......

..... you are President you can sign the order you go ......

[insane_cratic_gal]

4. why does he keep saying that?

What Dems are asking for is a timetable for pulling out of Iraq. Instead we are being given this endless bullshit that is forcing the talks of a Draft. Or is that exactly what they want, pressure for a draft looming over congress's head.

Oh and I love this line

"This mission isn't easy, and it will not be accomplished overnight."

What! I thought you said it was accomplished 2 years ago!

[confludemocrat]

20. Because a lot of Demos have said similar things

He knows he has checkmated them because the leading Demos official position is exactly that and they still stand with 10% of the nation in expressing the belief that we need more troops there. Really bad politics and Bush and Rove have got them.

Thats why. That's what you get for marginalizing a Kucinich and others like him whom I marginalized myself and also I stupidly contributed $500 to Kerry, who still
essentially wont do the one flip-flop he really needs to do if he had any guts about this and advocate withdrawal.

[sandnsea]

23. Out in summer 2005

Too bad folks like you called Kerry's plan to start pulling out troops this summer and be completely out in 4 years "weak" and "stay the course", instead of helping differentiate it from Bush. Wouldn't it be great to be looking at the start of troop withdrawal right now?

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0923-10.htm

[confludemocrat]

26. How do you know what I thought or said of Kerry unknown "plan"

Kerrys rhetoric reminded me of Nixon's in 1968, "I have a plan" and the war dragged on for 6 1/2 more years!

I could finally see no real difference between Kerry and Bush on Iraq. But I voted for Kerry anyway, fearing what domestic damage Bush could do. Never will I think that way again.

The guy blew it and I was foolish to have only understood in August 2004 that he basically couldn't distinguish himself from Bush on that matter. We need to get out now. Race as fast to the border as we swept in so that Walter Rodgers of CNN can now swoon at how fast the M1 can leave a country. We and those attached to the US are the object of the killing plus the fuckup by the US is the cause of a civil war under way now so that old bs about one starting when we leave is nonsense. Only when the US leaves will the killing stop.

[sandnsea]

27. You just said it

I was right, so what's the beef? Thanks so much for helping Bush win by blurring the Iraq war issue, which is exactly what Rove wanted. The two couldn't be more different. And, btw, nobody has a plan to get out of Iraq that doesn't call for elections, reconstruction and security. NOBODY.

[stickdog]

41. It was OUR fault for "blurring the lines," not Kerry's or his campaign?

Sure. I guess people who wanted out of Iraq MADE Kerry say he'd have voted for the IWR even if he knew Bush lied about the WMDs.

Somehow, I don't recall antiwar activists "clouding" Kerry's message for him anywhere except for perhaps places like here. And all of us voted for Kerry and most of us worked for him -- trying our best to make the case against Bush despite Kerry's less than optimal differentiation on Iraq.

[sandnsea]

46. You're still doing it

First of all, if you don't recall the entire media saying Kerry's plan was "stay the course", then you just weren't paying attention.

Second, Kerry was calling that vote what it was, a vote for authority to deal with Saddam, peacefully with war as a last resort. The question was not about Bush lieing about WMD, it was about the lack of WMD. Most importantly, it was a trap to get Kerry to flip flop and I'm astonished people on the left refused to grasp that little detail. It WAS NOT a vote for war, which people suddenly seem to grasp since that's the line that's necessary to push the DSM story, and that is what Kerry was saying then. The vote was a vote to deal with Saddam and WMD and to get inspectors into the country, even Dennis Kucinich grasped that there needed to be permanent inspectors in Iraq. Bush didn't use the IWR that way, which Kerry also said on numerous occasions. Too bad the left's hatred of Kerry delayed the proper framing of that vote and Bush's lies for so long.

[stickdog]

48. Sure, it was a trap. Sure, he might have been called a flip-flopper.

Sure, the media screwed up his message.

What does that have to do with "the left"? We were just pissed that he didn't take the opportunity to hammer Bush on no WMDs, rosy projections and no planning -- just like we were pissed when he voted for the IWR.

There's no doubt that he was in a politcal quandary and the MSM was actively trying to jam his explanations. I'm just wondering how all that was the fault of "the left"? In 2004, even the leftmost progressive activists generally said and did anything and everything possible to elect Kerry and defeat Bush. Sure we wanted Kerry to come out stronger against Bush's warmongering. Some of us even blew off a little steam on Dem message boards and blogs here or there complaining about it. But to what effect? We all still voted for Kerry, and we all still worked against Bush. I didn't hear one person saying "there's no difference between Kerry and Bush" down the stretch to the 2004 election.

[sandnsea]

60. And still doing it

"to hammer Bush on no WMDs, rosy projections and no plannning"

He did. If you didn't hear it, it was probably because you were too busy saying all the stuff quoted up above. I heard "there's no difference between Kerry and Bush" almost every single day and I live in hobunk nowhere. Deny it all you want, but the left helped Bush win.

[DerekG]

50. Bloody hell, we've got another IWR apologist

"Bush didn't use the IWR that way, which Kerry also said on numerous occasions."

The "Kerry was betrayed" diatribe manifests once again. I know, it's quite appealing to think that Kerry was a hapless victim; a living, breathing Jefferson Smith, the babe n' the woods of Capra lore whose virtue blinded him to the corruption in Congress.

The truth? Kerry was hardly ignorant of the depravity that is the very essence of Bushco...plumbing the depths of Iran-Contra would dispel that right quick. His vote for this latter day Gulf of Tonkin resolution was borne out of political expediency. He knew the administration was lying, and so did we.

I suggest you stop making excuses for a politico who is complicit in mass murder, and hope that it isn't too late for this failure of a hawk to transmogrify--or revert back, anyway--into a proud dove.

[Jacobin]

53. Thank you

Thank you

Thank you

Thank you

and





Thank you.

[sandnsea]

59. Thanks for making my point

That's the exact kind of garbage from the left that helped distort the IWR vote, Bush and his lies all of 2003 and 2004. Why should anybody vote for Kerry if he's the same as Bush? That's what the people decided, thanks to you.

[Jacobin]

64. Do you know anyone against the war who voted for Bush?

I don't.

Kerry's mushiness on the issue almost certainly kept anti-war voters at home, but whose fault is that?

[confludemocrat]

51. Huh? Your discourse here is as clear as Kerry's war position.

It was and is an illegal unjust attrocious undertaking. Kerry has never admitted that.

[sandnsea]

61. Really?

Wrong war, wrong place, wrong time. He said it.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

5. More breathtaking hyprocrisy...really george, tell me what this looks like

The terrorists and insurgents are trying to get us to retreat. Their goal is to get us to leave before Iraqis have had a chance to show the region what a government that is elected and truly accountable to its citizens can do for its people," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

I sure don't see that kind of government here. C'mon georgie, you're kidding, right. MKJ

[Roland99]

6. Trouble with his statements is that a truly democratically-elected gov't..

wouldn't be as pro-U.S. as the puppets currently running the show. And, we can't risk not having an extension of U.S. corporate interests not running the show in Iraq.

[Chicago1]

7. and not getting IMPEACHED won't be an option for him either

Bushie is on his way to IMPEACHMENT which he won't have a choice in. So I take his words with a grain of salt.

Waiting for the IMPEACHMENT WHILE THE SCANDALS KEEP UNFOLDINIG
America's Work Stories
http://usaworkstories.blogspot.com
[e-mail]

[fasttense]

8. God that sounds like Nixon during his first term. n/t

[TahitiNut]

12. No, Nixon was "Peace With Honor" in '68

Nixon beat the "Happy Warrior" because the US wanted out of Viet Nam but weren't quite ready to turn tail like we finally did. The US exit from Viet Nam was a humanitarian disaster.

[bullimiami]

9. tell the truth georgie. it never was an option.

if you pull out you lose it all.

the whole plan revolves around making iraq a neocon playground and a to establish US dominance in the middle east. if you lose that, you blew it again just like every other business you bankrupted except this one is too big for daddys friends to bail you out.

[Desertrose]

10. The man is totally delusional...I think he truly believes his own lies....

"We will settle for nothing less than victory" over terrorists there

Riiiiiiight, Georgie, riiiiiiight. Like that is going to ever happen.

Any way you spin it, we are in deep doodoo with chimp in charge.

[candy331]

13. "We will settle for nothing less than victory" over terrorists there",

My My that God complex is really showing now.

[Cha]

57. The "terrorists" that bush created..the terrorists

that the mswm won't point out that bush created.

I can't wait until one of them kicks the other out of bed.

[teryang]

14. He is now irrelevant

Cheney and Rumsfeld are running the country solely in the interests of the oil lobby and the defense industry. Frist represents other corporatist stockholders supporting the anti rights agenda. The question is the succession issue. Where can one find another impotent figurehead to allow these interests to continue their pillaging of the treasury and the world.

The financial status of US markets is a huge question mark. The current account deficit is now approaching an annual rate of $800,000,000,000.00. It is a staggering number. When will the financial meltdown begin?

The so called "bush base" thinks that they have legislated a huge moat to protect the riches they have stolen and their unassailable social position. This is the reason for the Patriot Act and the endless proliferation of security measures and agencies.

[Warren Stupidity]

15. regarding the bloat-float

The current wisdom among the economist-apologists for the Cabal and its ruinous policies is that both the current account deficit and the federal defecit are essentially limitless as none of the lenders (e.g. china) will do anything that might upset the house of cards.

This seems to fly in the face of reality: that these deficits are unsustainable. On the other hand if there is no alternative currency (which would be why our Great Leaders are talking up the End of the Euro) then where do our debt holders go if they want to dump the dollar? Gold? Actually perhaps that is the answer: eventually, like within the next year or so a slow shift to some other form of wealth accounting - gold/diamonds/crude-oil futures - as self defense by the lenders against the inevitable collapse of our out-of-balance economy would seem to be the way.

At this point isn't wealth really denominated in crude oil futures anyhow?

[teryang]

19. I agree with your perspective

Recent charts suggest big foreign dollar holders have stopped buying and mysterious buyers have appeared offshore. It is speculated by some sceptics that this is some sort of Ponzi scheme to support US debt sales.

Intangible wealth representing equity interests in natural resources is a good thing. Of course due diligence applies.

Some analysts are so leery of equities right now, they recommend US debt on the basis that when the melt down comes, a fifty percent loss due to inflation will compare favorbly to what happens to the equity markets.

During the vietam era, the government decided to inflate out of debt.

I've heard some economists say that the long term outlook for commodities is bullish in spite of the huge run-up in the last few years. They expect commodities to increase in value for the next 15 years.

The Euro is just starting to show weakness against gold. I heard a conservative investment house poo bah recommended a forty percent position in foreign markets. This is unheard of and based upon a not so sanguine outlook for US equities.

I like canadian oil companies but they are peaking right now. They are a currency play as well and substantial amounts of their energy resources are domestic. They may be entering the tulip bulb stage.

[cliss]

29. I couldn't help noticing your comment,

"...that when the meltdown comes...." Not if, evidently, but when. Since Cheney has been running the government, it's pretty clear what his opinion is on deficit spending. Wasn't he the one who said, "Deficits don't matter".

Which is amazing, since he was involved in VietNam. Stan Goff wrote that the US almost went bankrupt from that war. He said we "went from a net creditor nation to a net debtor nation", and have been one ever since". So Cheney, if anyone, should realize that staggering, uncontrolled debt will paralyze a nation.

If you accept the premise of Peak Oil, all the puzzle pieces fit together. They knew that it was only a matter of time before things would spiral out of control (from the volatility to come in oil). Our GDP and petroleum usage can be charted and they are exactly the same = more oil usage = higher GDP.

I believe they secured Iraq to buy themselves some time. It didn't do them any good, but as Wolfowitz said, "We had no choice on that one" (Iraq). When you have no choice, you're desperate.

Not that it did them any good. THey simply brought the meltdown a little sooner.

[UpInArms]

16. this POS needs to be under the Hague for his crimes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A25550-2004Apr19?language=printer

Cheney Was Unwavering in Desire to Go to War
Tension Between Vice President and Powell Grew Deeper as Both Tried to Guide Bush's Decision

On April 10, 2003, Ken Adelman, a Reagan administration official and supporter of the Iraq war, published an op-ed article in The Washington Post headlined, " 'Cakewalk' Revisited," more or less gloating over what appeared to be the quick victory there, and reminding readers that 14 months earlier he had written that war would be a "cakewalk." He chastised those who had predicted disaster. "Taking first prize among the many frightful forecasters" was Brent Scowcroft, who served as national security adviser in the first Bush administration. Adelman wrote that his own confidence came from having worked for Donald H. Rumsfeld three times and "from knowing Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz for so many years."

<snip>

Adelman said he had worried to death that there would be no war as time went on and support seemed to wane.

After Sept. 11, 2001, Cheney said, the president understood what had to be done. He had to do Afghanistan first, sequence the attacks, but after Afghanistan -- "soon thereafter" -- the president knew he had to do Iraq. Cheney said he was confident after Sept. 11 that it would come out okay.

Adelman said it was still a gutsy move. When John F. Kennedy was elected by the narrowest of margins, Adelman said, he told everyone in his administration that the big agenda items such as civil rights would have to wait for a second term. Certainly it was the opposite for Bush.

Yes, Cheney said. And it began the first minutes of the presidency, when Bush said they were going to go full steam ahead. There is such a tendency, Cheney said, to hold back when there is a close election, to do what the New York Times and other pundits suggest and predict. "This guy was just totally different," Cheney said. "He just decided here's what I want to do, and I'm going to do it. He's very directed. He's very focused."

...more...

:argh:

[grytpype]

37. This was always Cheney's war.

I didn't read Woodward big blowjob to Bush, "Plan of Attack," but according to reviews, Woodward never really says how the decision to go to war was made. It was something everyone was talking about and it just sort of happened. The first person to say definitively that the war would happen was Cheney.

[Deja Q]

17. 'government... truly accountable to its citizens...'?!

It's amazing what the US gov't will say despite doing the exact opposite of it itself.

[Robeson]

32. Yep....

...my thoughts, too.

[KansDem]

18. You're not lying to us now, are you?

Not you, Jesus Jr. You would never lie 'cause you're just a good ol' boy,
never meanin' no harm. God loves you, and so do the 'Mercan people!

[NNN0LHI]

22. Why wasn't this guy so gung-ho when he had a chance to fight in a war?

Think about the poor folks who have to serve under this clown. Hard to soar like an eagle when you are being led by a turkey.

Don

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

24. Because he's an elitist chicken who thinks the common folks

should fight to keep him and his war profiteer cronies rich

[Miss Chybil]

25. I wish we had a government "truly accountable to its citizens." nt

[Straight Shooter]

28. Just what the hell does the word "victory" encompass, anyway?

No WMD. Saddam gone. Iraqis had an election.

Ooops! We still don't have full control of their oil and commerce and government. And, incidentally, this will come around and bite us all in the butt in a big way, when another version of Osama demands that we leave Iraq just as Osama demanded we leave Saudi Arabia. Which, in effect, is precisely what bush did after the LIHOP/MIHOP September 11, 2001.

[The Night Owl]

30. Translation... Bush: I'm still stupid!

To the Bush administration, the phrase "stay the course" means keep making the same stupid mistake no matter what happens.

[depakid]

44. The word in INSANE

and I've come to the conclusion that the Republicans (and the vast majority of the people who associate with them) are in fact collectively insane-

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." ~Benjamin Franklin

[Karl Frisch]

31. Petition to Bring Our Troops Home

Yet again the President has shown a complete lack of regard for our troops in Iraq. He's getting nervous because BIPARTISAN folks on the hill are gearing up to push legislation that forces him to come up with a plan to phase out the presence of U.S. Troops in Iraq.

Iraq now has a Democratic government.

More than 1700 U.S. & Coalition troops have died. More than 20,000, perhaps more than 100,000, civilians have died. More than 15,000 U.S. troops have been maimed or wounded. More than 70,000 of our National Guardsmen and Reservists have been kept in Iraq, away from their families and jobs for an extended period of time.

These numbers continue to soar, and what for? Enough is Enough.

Please join me in supporting the bipartisan legislation that calls on President Bush to set a plan for phasing-out the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq.

www.votelouise.com/phaseout

It is time to bring our men & women in uniform home to their families.

[Jacobin]

34. He's naive enough to believe what Cheney and Rumsfeld are telling him

It'll be the major stain on his 'legacy'

It's why its important not to have a nitwit as president.

It matters. It really does.

[Orsino]

35. "Their goal is to get us to leave." Period. n/t

[lovuian]

36. In other words Military, Congress, and American People

Bush is in control and we are going to be in Iraq no matter what the costs!!!

[Disturbed]

38. Bush Regime Iraq Successes

Bush Regime Iraq Successes

1. Saddam will no longer sell Iraqi oil via the Euro.

2, A military foothold in the ME. Other than Saudi Arabia.

3, No countries will be able to buy Iraqi oil that the U.S. disapproves of.

4. The Multi-Intl. Oil Corps are reaping great profits, esp. Bush Junta fave ally Saudi Dicktatorshit.

* The ultimate goal is to control the flow of oil, dominate Iraq by U.S. Multi-Ntl. Corps,build a pipeline to Israel and overthrow the regimes of Syria and Iran.

“We live a lie when we fail to hold leaders accountable for their lies. By not calling now for impeachment, we are saying that we condone hypocrisy, pseudo-democracy, and murdering thousands of Americans and Iraqis for strategic control of energy resources that we have no right to. Patriotism demands that we insist on the ideals of democracy, not that we support the "leaders" who cynically destroy them.”
Robert Shetterly

[Carolab]

39. Democracy is on the march, doncha know?

And it's SOOOOOO important to * to ensure "democracy" in Iraq.

:patriot:

MEANWHILE, here's the truth from an activist on the ground:

http://electroniciraq.net/news/2012.shtml

My experience leaves me without question that the presence of internationals in Iraq is essential! Dangerous? Yes. Challenging? Of course. Expensive and intimidating? Certainly. But is that ever a reason not to do something? Absolutely not. Many activists, even some in CPT, believe that it is stupid for internationals to be in Iraq right now. The US has intentionally allowed the security situation to deteriorate to justify their presence and scare away international observers. It is stupid for the activist community to let them get away with that, and allow the US a free hand in occupying Iraq undocumented. We will never begin to challenge US Imperialism without taking risks and putting our comfort and safety on the line. Only when we realize what a privilege it is to be able to chose danger and then make that choice, will we approach true solidarity.

Iraqis constantly reminded me that my real work is in the US educating and organizing with my fellow Americans. My experience in Iraq has greatly enhanced my ability to do this work, and inspired me to help pull our movement out of its passive and predictable rut. The days of signing petitions and holding signs on street corners are over, it's time to be creative and militant and seriously risk ourselves for justice in American streets.

I call on all international organizations to return to Iraq, and for individuals to organize and take part in fact-finding delegations. Westerners must see what's truly happening in Iraq, only then can we begin to push for change. Americans must demand the US withdraw from Iraq and end all Imperialistic conquests, and we must disrupt the lives of those benefiting from war and occupation. Iraqis risk and give their lives daily in their struggle for freedom, its high time that we join them.

[LuPeRcALiO]

40. "The terrorists and insurgents are trying to get us to retreat."

uh, they're called Iraqis and we're supposed to be liberating them, remember?

[CTLawGuy]

42. Bush has no intention of getting out

no one is interested in "victory" except him. I would settle for setting up some semblance of stability and then leaving.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

43. The pressure on Herr George and his NeoCons is just beginning.

[Zerex71]

45. They said that about Viet Nam too, didn't they?

Of course we can't quit -- we're probably halfway done with the 14 permanent military bases over there which are totally innocuous, if you buy the crap from people like Little Scotty McClellan.

[Lecky]

47. The Rage Grows

Reading shit like this just enrages me even more and I hope it does for you all too. We need to make more phonecalls, emails to our house reps and senate.

This is another reason (besides impeachment) that we should keep pushing the DSM, maybe it will help create more dissent and we can get our troops back.

Bush is running this country into the ground, everyone in this country both republican and democrats should be equally outraged! None of my republican friends can stand Bush and are extremely concerned over this war.

Don't give up, this movement is gaining speed.

[LizW]

49. He's telling the truth on this one

We will not be leaving Iraq as long as there is a drop of oil under that sand and a penny left in the U.S. Treasury.

Three to five dead soldiers a day? That's nothing to him. Perfectly acceptable.

[confludemocrat]

52. We're seeing the other side of his "stand fast" way of doing things

He won't budge an inch, even when he is going down, and he has no plan B because he has always gotten away with the plan A scam. Let's hope that changes. I think he is crazy (brain fried from coke binges and drinking, exacerbating a personality disorder to true mental illness) myself, but that's too easy to dismiss if you say that very often.

[Raiden]

54. Fuck You Bush! The American people are on to you!

And the Congressional Repigs are starting to abandon you. It won't be long now!

[Generator]

55. Well then, he leaves the American people only one option

Get rid of HIM.

[Ilsa]

56. That's what i was thinking: Let him dig himself into his

intractable and indefensible position by continuing to claim we are in Iraq because of 9-11 and can't leave. It will make our efforts easier when he seems more stubborn and unflexible.

[Endangered Specie]

58. so long as they draft republicans only... sounds good to me

:sarcasm:

[mdelaguna2000]

62. This is soooo Vietnam - time to oust this dictator n/t.