Bush says US will persevere in Iraq

[JoFerret]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=716&e=1&u=/ap/20040525/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq

His make-up is pretty effective

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=693&e=2&u=/ap/20040525/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq_excerpts


Text of the speech:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4128851,00.html

[saigon68]

1. A STEAMING PILE OF SHIT

[saigon68]

2. The Iraqi people will always have a friend in the USA ---The CHIMP

"The Iraqi people are now free. And they do not have to worry about the secret police coming
after them in the middle of the night, and they don't have to worry about their husbands and
brothers being taken off and shot, or their wives being taken to rape rooms. Those days are
over."————Paul Bremer, Administrator, Coalition Provisional Authority, Sept. 2, 2003

"Iraq is free of rape rooms and torture chambers."————President Bush, remarks to 2003
Republican National Committee Presidential Gala, Oct. 8, 2003

““One thing is for certain: There won't be any more mass graves and torture rooms and rape
rooms."————Bush, press availability in Monterrey, Mexico. Jan. 12, 2004

[JoFerret]

3. but the abrasion cover-up is

very effective

[saigon68]

5. They still haven't figured how to slip a brain in his head

Otherwise it was the usual Bullshit (see #1 above)

I like the reference to 9-11 in the speech--that's the

NEW NEOCON REASON TO FIGHT IN IRAQ.

[onecent]

4. He's a perfect moron!

He's a fucking moron. We did not seek this war on terror, he says.

Some of our troops were suppose to come home in April, and now they'll be there indefinitely.



ahhhhggghhhhh

[JoFerret]

6. Hello OneCent

You are so right. The whole speech is predicated on a lie.

[onecent]

7. On bottom of MSNBC just now

Pres Bush: Task in Iraq is to defeat enemy and give strength to a friend. Whats up with that??????

Hello..thanks for the welcome.

I can barely breathe I'm so mad!! I WANT the general public to HEAR this idiotic speech....and wasn't the audience upbeat???? Ha

[crossroads]

13. Welcome to DU onecent!

The audience had cue cards telling them when and how long to applaude!
:hi:

[saigon68]

8. Welcome to DU onecent !!!

Glad to have you here :-) :-) :-)

[lumpy]

9. Bush managed to deliver

30 minutes of bushcrap bushwa.

[bif]

11. Welcome!

To DU.

[amber dog democrat]

23. The word Quagmire comes to mind

My sense is that there is no intention to ever leave, so long as so much oil is up for grabs.

[MGKrebs]

10. Persevere at what??

[Miss Authoritiva]

17. Persevere at persevering (it's what Bush does best).

n/t

[JoFerret]

12. No exit date set

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=524672

[JDPriestly]

14. How weak can a speech/policy be?

Same old faulty assumptions about what the Iraqis want.

No good news about the war.

The transfer of power thing sounds good on paper, but I haven't seen any signs that the Iraqis are enthusiastic about the changes. I mean, I haven't heard about hundreds of Iraqis out in the streets marching in support of democracy, much less Bush.

Bush wants the U.S. to borrow billions to give to his buddies at Halliburton, etc. to build the Iraqi infrastructure. We've heard that before, and nothing happens.

Claims we've reorganized the Iraqi schools. Hope Bush did a better job on education in Iraq than he's done in the U.S.

Big plans for a new Iraqi security apparatus. Who are they going to hire? Ex-Saddam soldiers.

And Bush's reference to Fallouja was hilarious -- joint control indeed.

What a fraud. The audience -- hardly any women. And, Bush looked like he was terrified that the crowd would walk out.

Do you think that Bush was trying to act a little like Kerry at the beginning? I thought he seemed to be trying to mimic Kerry's natural elegance and serious attitude.

[amber dog democrat]

25. Good points. Wishful thinking only goes so far.

This thing is so out of control that all the strategic fantasies in the world can not fix it. Its just that the leadership is either unwilling or incapable of admitting it.
I listened to the "speech" on my car radio while running errands, and thougt it was very weak on specifics.

Did you notice how carefully he talked around the prisioner abuse scandel ?
The official line is that we are going after the few low rank criminals - and after we have cleansed the ranks everything will be just fine.

[Nitrogenica]

15. The corrupt man makes an empty speech

has anyone heard about this yet?...I hear a couple of drivers were killed hauling around nothing.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001936339_trucks23.html

[0007]

16. The worse speech I've ever heard

[ColdWarZoomie]

18. Vapid...

...is a compliment.

Here's the Cliff Notes for those who missed it:

1. Terrorists are evil.
2. We must persevere and win.
3. Terrorists are evil.
4. Tyranny is bad, Democracy is good.
5. Everyone wants freedom.
6. Terrorists are evil.
7. 9-11
8. God Bless America

[Bhaisahab]

28. thanks for the cliffnotes

and welcome to DU. you know i was considering waking up early to catch yer chimp live (it would have been 5am in india), but thank god i did not. its the same old shit, for the same old fawning military audience. man, you guys have a BIG problem at hand... vote him out! c'mon, C'MON!!!

[saigon68]

29. Spot on with the cliff notes

Was "weapons of mass destruction" mentioned? If not its the first speech of his in 3 years that didn't have that reference in it.

[teryang]

19. With friends like us....

"The US is the best friend a peaceful, democratic Iraq could have."

I guess we'll persevere means we aint leavin, ever.

[Morning Dew]

20. Bad choice of words

"This has required extended duty for the 1st Armored Division and the 2nd Light Cavalry Regiment - 20,000 men and women who were scheduled to leave Iraq in April. Our nation appreciates their hard work and sacrifice, and they can know that they will
be heading home soon."


Who let that get through?

[mike1963]

21. Did he actually pronounce "cavalry"? Instead of 'calvary'? just wonder

ing....I couldn't bear to watch the insane prick...

[Morning Dew]

24. Oh yeah, he said

calvary instead of cavalry.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

22. THAT WAS IT?!

My God, what an incompetent fool he is! The White House has been talking for a week about how Bush was going to articulate a clear path forward in Iraq, but all he did was say "we're going to keep doing what we've been doing" and toss in a hopeful suggestion that maybe the international community will forgive and forget and help bail our sorry ass out of that unhappy country.

And of course we're going to hand over sovreignty of Iraq to anybody foolish enough to accept it -- why doesn't Bush hand over a live rattlesnake while he's at it? And when he announced that certain military units are having their tours of duty extended indefinitely, I can only assume that the audience at the War College was forced to surrender their sidearms before entering the auditorium.

[Disturbed]

26. I am not a masochist.

I didn't subject myself to listen or watch.

I still feel that the real action in Iraq will take place when al Sistani calls for Jihad. If al Sadr is still alive I fee that he will have a place in the leadership of an actualy sovereign Iraq.

[drfemoe]

27. "Liberty and Life" ... how do we get that "scenario"?

A Speech Meant to Rally Public Support Doesn't Answer Key Questions
By Robin Wright and Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 25, 2004; Page A12
...
But Bush did not provide the midcourse correction that even some Republicans had called for in the face of increasingly macabre violence in recent weeks -- from the assassination of the president of Iraq's Governing Council and controversy over dozens killed by U.S. warplanes at a purported wedding party to the grisly beheading of an American civilian.

Nor did Bush try to answer some of the looming questions that have triggered growing skepticism and anxiety at home and abroad about the final U.S. costs, the final length of stay for U.S. troops, or what the terms will be for a final U.S. exit from Iraq. After promising "concrete steps," the White House basically repackaged stalled U.S. policy as a five-step plan.
...
Throughout his address at the Army War College, Bush tried to generate new support for his Iraq strategy by contrasting two strikingly different scenarios for the future -- "one of tyranny and murder, the other of liberty and life." Tough times in the coming months will be offset by prospect of hopeful change in the years ahead, he said.
...
The alternative, Bush warned, is the descent of Iraq and the region into extremism. "The failure of freedom would only mark the beginning of peril and violence," he said. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were an undercurrent throughout the speech, as the president sought to rekindle the public acclaim associated with the broader war on terrorism that began by toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan.
...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53141-2004May24.html