Bush Defends Reasons for War

[papau]

Bush uses "the American people are safer because of the war against Iraq" — seven times in a 32-minute speech - but who is counting - now who in the 30's taught that saying the big lie often would make you a winner? The United States will continue to confront terrorism even when the dangers had not fully developed - hell of a campaign slogan.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bush13jul13.story

Bush Defends Reasons for War

The president, following a Senate report critical of intelligence agencies, says the U.S. is safer and that perceived threats will keep being targeted.

By Maura Reynolds Times Staff Writer
July 13, 2004

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — President Bush insisted Monday that his decision to wage war against Iraq was justified because it had removed a threat to the nation's security, and said the United States would continue to confront terrorism even when the dangers had not fully developed.

Speaking at a U.S. nuclear weapons laboratory, Bush made his most elaborate comments on Iraq since the release Friday of a scathing bipartisan report by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which said the United States had gone to war on the basis of flawed intelligence.

The report, which quickly became fodder for new criticisms of the administration by Bush's election opponents, said warnings about Iraq's illicit weapons were largely unfounded. It said the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies had made a series of sweeping errors that, among other things, led to incorrect conclusions that Iraq had stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons and was rebuilding its nuclear weapons program.

But Bush continued to raise the prospect that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, had he not been forced from power, would have posed a grave threat.<snip>

[skooooo]

1. Keep repeating it, idiot boy...

...your numbers are slipping because of it.

[physioex]

2. The lie keep going round and round...

Ok so who is the next person we have to take out?

[papau]

3. Reuters report on same topic at this DU link

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&e=2&u=/nm/20040712/pl_nm/campaign_bush_dc

[havocmom]

4. If we are so much safer now, why the talk about postponing election?

If the pointless invasion of Iraq has made America SOOOOOO much safer, why is Tom Ridge running around, flapping his arms and parroting:
Terror! Terror! Terror!

Can't have it both ways, DimSon. Either we are safer or we are in such tremendous danger of devastating attacks that a move (completely unprecedented in our history) to postpone or even cancel national elections needs to be considered. So who is really safer? And who is really in tremendous danger?

[democrat_patriot]

6. That is such an important

post havocmom. I keep seeing both things being repeated, and I can't understand how we could have both.

This is the point we need to drive home. For IF another attack happens - Bush will be questioned - "I thought you said we were safer".

I would like to see Kerry be more outspoken about what he plans to do about 'the war on terror'. This seems to be the sticking point for my friends on the fence. "I don't like Bush, but I don't think Kerry makes us safer". Or my Mom's favorite line: "We shouldn't change presidents in the middle of a war"...Kerry needs to make people think of him as a protector. IMO.

[kayell]

9. Doublethink

"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. The Party intellectual knows in which direction his memories must be altered; he therefore knows that he is playing tricks with reality; but by the exercise of doublethink he also satisfies himself that reality is not violated. The process has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt." ......


Once again, the BFEE seems to have read 1984 as a manual rather than a warning.

[havocmom]

14. Hey there democrat_patriot! Welcome to the DU

:hi:

I agree with you! We need to pound this point home cuz what should be obvious to most people seems to get missed by too many.

This contridiction would make for great LTTE for papers all over the nation. evilDUers, start your printers!

And in response to your mom's favorite line: Unless we got into a war because the president lied! He did and he needs to be removed!

Look forward to seeing more of your posts.

[Bridget Burke]

7. Last night's CBS News

Story #1: Bush says we're all safer now because of the Iraq war (since the first couple of reasons for the war didn't pan out)

Story #2: Elections may be postponed or canceled because of the danger we're all in!

The anchorman didn't comment on the disconnect. For most people with a brain, it was not necessary that he do so.

[Malva Zebrina]

5. I would hope he is getting boring for even his own supporters

"But Bush continued to raise the prospect that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, had he not been forced from power, would have posed a grave threat."

There are some slow thinkers who actually believe we have to kill them before they kill us and they obviously are Bush supporters. (with airheads)

This kind of thinking as quoted above , will not resonate with anyone with normal intelligence. I do not want to believe that the majority of American people advocate pre-emptive killing of innocents on the word of Bush--most can figure out that there are more than a few leaders around the world who could pose a grave threat as Bush refers to it, without of course, defining that . And there are probably MORE of them than before, since Bush taunted and provoked the world and waged a slaughter of a war on lies-deliberately told to the American people- this is mere hubris from a stupid, psychopathic man who calls himself a war president. That is , after all, all that he has left of his stolen presidency.

[KurtNYC]

8. Lying headlines

how can you "defend" what has proven to be based on lies? And has had a counter productive outcome?

If these headlines were about any Democratic endeavor they would say "tries to defend" or something similar. Side by side today were healdines saying "Bush defends Iraq War" and "Film claims Fox biased." Fox is clearly biased - the film explores just HOW biased it is. Meanwhile the Bush headline assumes he is successful (and no doubt either Churchill-ian or Will Rogers-esque in his delivery).

[sidpleasant]

10. I like the Bush Cartel's new meme: "Weapons of Mass Murder"

I guess "Weapons of Mass Destruction" didn't test as scary as "Weapons of Mass Murder" with Rove's focus groups. Destruction doesn't sound as personally threatening as murder, I suppose. Shrub used the new phrase in the Oak Ridge speech at least once. I noted that he also successfully got away with asserting that "Saddam had the capability to make Weapons of Mass Murder"; I didn't see a single news - reading puppethead challenge that outright lie.

[reprobate]

11. I prefer the term "Weapons of Mass Distraction"

[Seabiscuit]

16. WMM??? BWAHAHAHA!

"Saddam had the capability to make Weapons of Mass Murder".

1. Note the fudge-word "capability" (total lack of certainty).

2. Notice "had" - no time frame. Sure, Reagan/Bush/Rumsfeld gave Saddam chemical and biological weapons in the 1980's to fight Iran. Same time distortion Bushco used to make their case for WMD's. They had NO evidence Saddam had *any* WMD's when they were all pronouncing in absolute terms (2002-2003) that he *had* them.

3. Rovian double-think: since it's now been proven Saddam had no WMDs when Bush went to war, and since Bushco's absolutist claims to the contrary during the 8 months leading up to the war have proven to be not only false, but total fabrications (lies), invent a new lie by changing one word, "destruction" to "murder" - as if it's a different claim that no one has yet had time to disprove (giving Bush "plausible deniability"). Yet, similar enough in meaning to scare people all over again, with the same notion.

Dishonesty at its most corrupt at work.

Where are Kerry/Edwards/Kennedy/Gore/Clinton, etc.? Why haven't they spoken out about all the phony revisionism being exercised by Bush and Cheney since the latest scathing report came out about the pre-war intelligence on Iraq?

I'm going over to the Kerry blog right now to raise holy hell.

[damnraddem]

12. I saw a snip from the speech. Dubya claimed that the UN ...

thought Saddam had WMDs. That's funny: I seem to remember Dubya criticizing the UN, Hans Blix and other UN monitors saying they hadn't found anything, and Dubya snubbing the UN when he went to war because he knew he couldn't get a resolution passed that would support it. And, yes, Clinton DID think that Saddam had WMDs -- but Clinton did not invade and occupy Iraq based on that, or any other, claim.

And a majority of the American people finally realize what we've known for a long time: the U.S. is much less secure, and in a much worse international situation, because of the invasion of Iraq.

[yellowcanine]

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[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

15. If I was in charge of the Kerry campaign

I'd knock the snot out of this line of reasoning. He is still trying to sell it and we should be poking holes in the rationale every chance we get............

[Dangerman]

17. "The American people are safer because of the war against Iraq"

That has GOT to be... The most considerable piece of bullsh*t I have ever heard in my entire lifetime coming from a goddamn liar who resides in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.!