Bush facts from the Independent, a British newspaper

[roguevalley]

They're getting ready for him and printed this:

Bush telegraph: selected presidential facts

In May 2001, Bush's government gave $43m to the Taliban.

Bush has never attended a funeral or memorial service for a soldier killed in Iraq.

In August this year, Bush took the second-longest holiday ever by a US president: 28 days.

Bush's 16-member cabinet is the wealthiest in US history, with an average fortune of $10.9m each.

As governor of Texas, Bush executed 152 prisoners.

Sixty-one people who raised $100,000 for Bush's 2000 election campaign have since been given government posts.

Nine members of Bush's Defense Policy Board sit on the board of defence contractors or are advisers.

Bush owns more than 250 autographed baseballs.

Bush has been arrested three times: for stealing a Christmas wreath from a hotel; for ripping down the Princeton goal posts after a Princeton-Yale game; and for drunk driving.

Bush infuriated the Russian media by spitting a wad of chewing gum into his hand before signing 2002's historic Treaty of Moscow with Vladimir Putin.

While appearing on the David Letterman show in 2000, Bush was caught surreptitiously cleaning his glasses on the jacket of the programme's executive producer, Maria Pope.

[RC]

1. The whole article here.

http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=463147&host=3&dir=70

[La_Serpiente]

2. I am sorry

but I have to refute one of the points on there. It is true that Bush sent money in the direction of Afghanistan in 2001 prior to the Sept. 11th attacks, but the money that was sent to Afghanistan went to UN Aid groups for food and water, not to the Taliban governments itself.

http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/sasia/afghan/text2001/17may01.html

Check there for the clarification.

Powell emphasized that the aid is distributed through the UN and non-government organizations, and not to the Taliban or other warring Afghan factions. "It bypasses the Taliban, who have done little to alleviate the suffering of the Afghan people and much to exacerbate it," he said.

[RC]

4. bu$h & the Taliban

http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2001/tst110501.htm

"Incredibly, in May the U.S. announced that we would reward the Taliban with an additional $43 million in aid for its actions in banning the cultivation of poppy used to produce heroin and opium."


http://www.progress.org/archive/terror03.htm
"That's our $43 million that Bush is turning over to the Taliban extremist hoods. If they can pull the wool over Bush's eyes, God knows that the lunkheads in the White House will be easy pickings for our more powerful adversaries."


http://www.bowlingforcolumbine.com/library/wonderful/afghanistan.php
"That’s right! No other country could even come close to our generosity. And no other country was so eager to do business with the Taliban. All this from the United States and its leaders who have spent the last ten years blocking humanitarian aid to Iraq because of fears that Saddam Hussein might be redirecting the aid to feed his family and elite guard. So why did we trust the repressive Taliban not to redirect their humanitarian aid, while we continually tried to keep the Iraqi people from receiving aid? Because we’ve been waiting for years to build a pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and India. That’s why the Taliban visited Texas in 1997 when George Bush was governor, and that’s why US oil companies continued to meet with the Taliban to negotiate this pipeline deal through the late ‘90s."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_01/0284.Schakowsky.Taliban.htm
"That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban's estimation, are most human activities, but it's the ban on drugs that catches this administration's attention."

[La_Serpiente]

5. You cite those sources

but they obviously have a bias. Sure, the White House is corrupt and all, but I seriously do not think that they would lie on this one. I do not distrust them that much.

You cite Michael Moore as a source. However, Michael Moore himself has been factually innaccurate as well. I respect intellecual honesty and Michael Moore lacks that.

You can find a check on his sources for "Stupid White Men" from Spinsanity.

http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20020403.html

You can check his claim on the 43 million to the Taliban here:

http://www.spinsanity.org/post.html?2002_03_24_archive.html#75037397

So it is with the myth that the Bush administration gave $43 million to Afghanistan's Taliban government last year to reward it for banning opium production. That money actually paid for food aid and security programs run by nongovernmental organizations and agencies of the United Nations to help relieve a famine in Afghanistan. While the Taliban reportedly stole some of the aid, none of it was given directly to the oppressive regime. At the time, Secretary of State Colin Powell hinted that the aid was connected to recent moves by the Taliban to crack down on opium production, but made clear no money would be going to the government.

once again, here is the original link to the White House Website:

http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/sasia/afghan/text2001/17may01.html

[Isome]

6. The government would lie.

But in this instance, maybe it was only partly lying. I've read that of the $43 million:

"... some $10 million was for "crop-substitution programs, part of the Taliban-led anti-opium campaign, and ...was to be overseen by NGOs rather than the Taliban."

[Lorien]

3. A good list

to send to the repugs we know.