Need a source for "I don't know where bin Laden is and don't care" quote.

[Citizen Daryl]

Can someone site exactly when and where this was said? Even better, if someone can point to a transcript online. Many thanks.

[Tim4319]

1. I googled and found a few

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/2002/11/13_Laden.html
http://www.blogsforbush.com/mt/archives/001154.html

[Citizen Daryl]

2. Looking for something on a news or government site, if possible.

Yeah, I found those as well. I'm kind of hoping for a CNN transcript or a White House transcript. If I know where it was said, precisely, I might be able to find it on the Wayback Machine.

I checked on Usenet to see if maybe I could pin it down, but it looks like it wasn't mentioned on the newsgroups until a couple weeks after the date that's associated with it.

I want to use the quotation for a book I'm in writing (Shameless Plug: "America, You Ignorant Slut!: Rabid Rants from a Freedom-Hating Liberal"), but I'd prefer to include an authoritative citation for the quote.

[lectrobyte]

3. This may help...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020313-8.html

[aden_nak]

5. Nothing

On that page that I saw. . . did I miss something? Or was it in the audio only (the wh.gov site is notorious for editing out the stupid things Dubya says in the text, but leaving them in the audio).

[lectrobyte]

6. about halfway through, a reporter asks about Osama

and * responds:

Terror is bigger than one person. And he's just -- he's a person who's now been marginalized... So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you. I'm more worried about making sure that our soldiers are well-supplied; that the strategy is clear; that the coalition is strong; that when we find enemy bunched up like we did in Shahikot Mountains, that the military has all the support it needs to go in and do the job, which they did.

[lectrobyte]

8. I keep turning up refs to these quotes on the web, but no other official

cite for them:

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's
not that important. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02

"I am truly not that concerned about him."
- G.W. Bush, repsonding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts,
3/13/02

as for the whitehouse.gov, I posted the stuff I found in the transcript for that date, but the links to watch it or listen to it didn't work for me.

[VolcanoJen]

10. Well, that's it, really.

Those official quotes, from the press briefing as it appears on the White House website, should be enough for anyone who continues to insist that Bush is "tough on terror."

He's been "marginalized..."

So I don't know where he is...

I just don't spend that much time on him...

[AntiCoup2K4]

4. Not an official source, but...

[BrotherBuzz]

7. No official reference but

I found it so interesting that I wrote both these Bush* quotes in my journal. The dates are most interesting to me (exactly six months to, the day). Coincidence, or is he just sticking to his schedule? I believe the second quote may have been paraphrased by a writer, but the message was crystal clear at the time.

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him!" - Bush* Sept 13, 2001

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and I really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." - Bush* May 13, 2002

[Citizen Daryl]

11. Yeah, but that's the problem.

I'd really hate to find out that the quote is not verbatim, because I've personally used it many, many times.

Anyone with Lexus/Nexus access?

[BrotherBuzz]

14. Well, that's the rub...

I don't think the quote is verbatim. All you have to run with is, "He's been "marginalized..." "So I don't know where he is"..."I just don't spend that much time on him"... and compare it juxtaposed to his his 13 Sept 2001 position.

[ElementaryPenguin]

9. Here it is - from the King of the flip-floppers - the Evil War Chimp!

And the libural press can't even point this out - because Kerry is such a flip-flipper!

:puke:

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:swxcBjO8VrsJ:www.investigate911.com/bushsez.htm+%22George+Bush%22+%2B+%22I+don%27t+know%22+%2B+%22March+13,+2002%22+%2B+Bin+Laden&hl=en

:puke:

[Citizen Daryl]

12. Not really in there, either, BUT ...

...here's an Orwellian quote:

"We are at war to keep the peace" - GW Bush

[sangh0]

13. My link at PBS

www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/voices/200304/0428span.html