Bush did NOT know...again...

[SHRED]

Have you heard of this?
Wow.
You would think, before invading a country, you would try to understand what may happen first....like, say, a civil war?

----

Bush did NOT know there was difference between Sunni & Shiite Muslims until Jan '03
by moonboots
Thu Dec 08, 2005 at 06:52:57 PM PDT

In case you missed it like me, here's more proof our president is in over his head, a national security risk. According to Peter Galbraith former U.S. diplomat on a Channel 4 special aired Nov 21, Bush didn't know there was a difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims as late as January 2003. The report (link to video at the Dossier below) has a lot more ...here's the part where Bush shows again how in over his head he really is.

Oborne: I traveled to Boston to meet a former U.S. diplomat who had been a leading authority on Iraq for over a decade. A chance remark made just two months before the war, hinted at how the complexities of Iraq had bewildered Americans at the highest levels.

Peter Galbraith - former U.S. diplomat: January 2003 the President invited three members of the Iraqi opposition to join him to watch the Super Bowl. In the course of the conversation the Iraqis realized that the President was not aware that there was a difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. He looked at them and said, "You mean...they're not, you know, there, there's this difference. What is it about?"

MORE:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/12/8/215257/257

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743294238/002-4432775-4280045?v=glance&n=283155

[Demeter]

1. At Least He Noticed--And Asked For Information

not that it seems he absorbed it, or used it, or even understood it.

[Justice Is Comin]

2. God this retard needs to be strapped on a ICBM

and sent someplace.

[Kagemusha]

3. What of it? Before invading Iraq a lot of people didn't know.

We're not all Juan Cole with a degree in Shiite studies.

Edit: And it's too bad now we're all experts.

[Evergreen Emerald]

5. ummmm...he's the most powerful man in the world

And invaded a country that, since the beginning of time, has radically and fundamentally opposing factions with the simpleton idea of creating a unified state. And did not know? And did not check first? The epitome of ignorant and arrogance.

[SHRED]

6. speak for yourself

With all due respect, many of us dove deeply into the history and background of Iraq when we first got wind of shrub's fantasy.
Some of us did during "Desert Storm". And many of us way before that.
I for one was screaming about the violent differences.

Granted, those with their minds tied to the mainstream media were lost.

[Kagemusha]

14. I dove into it too, and I know I'm the exception not the rule.

That's all I'm saying here.

[SHRED]

15. copy that n/t

[Sanity Claws]

32. Bush had it on his mind to depose Sadam Hussein for years

before he ever became president. You'd think he'd do a little reading on the country. Instead, after war plans are drawn up, he finally hears it.
Also, I doubt that this was the first time it was ever brought up in a discussion or in a memo. He just never bothered to listen before. Arrogant chimp.

[Kagemusha]

34. No argument here.

nt

[Justice Is Comin]

8. He had CIA intelligence analysts

up the kazoo telling him that war would be a disaster for this very reason.

These sectarian groups have been fighting for eons and any fully certified moron that had any knowledge whatsoever of the middle east knew that.

Bush has cabbage for brains and PDB's to him are something to set his coffee on.

[pretzel4gore]

10. bill clinton did nytimes crossword puzzles

with his pen, waiting while meetings were interrupted - he'd toss the completed paper off to the side even as the expert/presenter who'd been called in was finally ready to proceed.....and bush didn't know the difference between the main factions of a major world religion?
btw clinton was impeached by an outraged congress for...being too human, and flawed, i guess

[Gman]

11. Saddam was from the minority Sunni region

and oppressed the Shiite majority. This is what characterized Saddam's regime. This was common knowledge for everyone who even paid the slightest attention to pre-war Iraq.

[Oilwellian]

17. What of it? Are you kidding me?

It's his JOB to know these things before waging war. This thread isn't about the common citizen knowing these issues...it's about our president knowing the intricacies of the "so-called" enemy we're supposed to be attacking. Why on earth would you shrug off such a basic requirement?

[Kagemusha]

18. It was before waging war by about 3 months.

Of course the decisions had been made long before but, largely on the basis of advice from people who knew all these things and didn't care. It's the not caring part that matters. Not the Bush not knowing an intricacy of the religious background when Saddam's regime was fundamentally secular in the first place. Bush wanted Saddam taken down; the religions of his presidential subjects were a side story.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

24. Dear Kagamusha... Why are you apologizing for our Commander In Chimp?

It doesn't matter why Bush didn't know squat about a country he was hell-bent on attacking --
As if he was playing a game of Risk on his PC...(like he could really do that...) :argh:

What matters is, the fact that HE SHOULD HAVE EDUCATED HIMSELF ON EVERY SINGLE ASPECT OF THE SOCIAL INTRICACIES and possible situations arising after trying to force a westernized set of ideals on people who have zero interest in adopting our values. HE IS A MORON WHO BARELY MADE IT THROUGH COLLEGE DUE TO HIS "I don't give a shit" attitude. He has NO business being in charge of his own 7-11 much less the USA...

There is no apology that is acceptable.

[Kagemusha]

26. Frankly, not enough Americans know nearly enough about the world.

Bush is not the only one guilty of this. I point that out because ignorance has consequences, not only regarding the President of the United States, but much, much wider.

Sorry if that offends you. I'm not "apologizing" for him. I'm saying it's not what he knew in Jan 2003 that's a problem. It's what he did in March 2003 that's a problem. Being stupid or uninformed is not something I criticize people for - I'm not that sort of person. Doing stupid things is something I criticize people for.

I won't give conservatives the satisfaction of thinking I don't like what Bush did because of prejudice against normal American standards of cultural knowledge.

That and...

People like you and other readers and posters on this thread don't seem to appreciate that virtually no one was an expert on the Sunni-Shiite relations among Iraqis prior to the invasion. Few people knew who Juan Cole was until after the invasion. Fewer still had a thorough understanding of what would happen. Yeah, there were people who had guesses. I was one of them. My guesswork didn't qualify me to advise the President of the United States. This ignorance about the situation - beyond pessimistic guesswork based on the freaking 1920's revolt against the British occupation - was to be expected.

But having discovered his ignorance and having asked about the issue, nothing Bush heard changed his bleeping mind, and THAT is the real sin.

[stepnw1f]

27. He is not "any" American. He is a LEADER

or supposed to be.

[Kagemusha]

30. Hence my point about bad acts being the real problem

He had a shot to stop being ignorant and improve his actions and failed.

But I think I'll just leave it at this because DU'ers everywhere seem especially on edge today and no attempt to add to a conversation is seen as anything but an attempt to detract from someone else today. I've had my fill.

[MissWaverly]

33. and what expert on the Middle East does he have in his cabinet

none, what outside experts does he consult: none, he goes with his gut, quick feed him some
mid eastern cuisine.

[niallmac]

20. Of course the majority of Americans probably did not know

squat about Sunni vs Shiite. But if the major media news outlets can convince the American people
that Iraq was responsible for 911 why can't they instruct Americans about
the world around them in a non propagandist fashion?

[Kagemusha]

21. It's not that they can't, it's that it doesn't serve ownership interests

either political or simply moving more advertising product. And the political aspect is no small thing. Republicans do take deviance with their worldview by broadcasters very seriously and do a great deal to combat it.

[WinkyDink]

31. Gee, and here I thought Bush actually CAMPAIGNED to be President.

Silly of me to think he might have paid attention when Daddy was in office!!

[Retrograde]

35. anyone conscious during the Carter years should remember

the Iran/Iraq war: the religious differences between the predominantly Sunni Iraqis and the predominantly Shi'ite Iranians were discussed often (those were the days when news programs actually talked a bit about news). That was when Iraq was kinda our friend: I'm sure George's bud Rumsfeld can remind him about that.

Or someone who was paying attention during the first Gulf War, especially, say, someone whose father was president, might be interested in Iraq's history.

[patrice]

4. None of it is any skin off of his nose. n/t

[lonestarnot]

7. I am so comforted having him as theif in chief. He is so knowledgeable

he may be able to establish peace and American democracy in the middle east.

bbbbbbbbbwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...:rofl:

[misternormal]

9. According to a co-worker of mine who is Islamic...

... there are 60 different sects of Islam... Sunni and Shiite are the ones getting all of the press...

bet W doesn't know that either.

[XForce]

12. AWOL

Bush still doesn't know that he was AWOL back during the early '70s!!!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

13. Imagine telling all the churchgoers in the U.S. to go to the

same church. Heh.

[DetroitProle]

16. UM I was in high school at the time

and I knew the difference...I had taken your average, run-of-the-mill, REQUIRED world history class a year prior.
So Bush's...I mean, er, Jethro's education is at about a 9th grade level as he trounces around the globe...like a kid with a paintball gun. G-d save us all.

[tanyev]

19. I'd heard about this before, but I did not realize it happened while

watching the Super Bowl. They squeezed in a few strategic plans during a couple time-outs? Certainly not during the commercials because those are just as much an "event" as the Super Bowl. (This wasn't the infamous Janet Jackson Super Bowl, was it?)

They strutted their way into this war like it was just another big sporting event. Shameful.

[magellan]

22. PRAT

We have a total PRAT running our country, not only sticking his nose into our business but into everyone else's business as well. No wonder the world's such a shiny happy place since the PRAT came along.

[Straight Shooter]

23. In order to seek knowledge, a person first has to care. n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

25. His ignorance no longer surprises me. It merely sickens me.

[stepnw1f]

28. Bullshit... He Knew Exactly What He Was Doing

I don't buy the "Duh... I didn't know line....."

He is a fuck-up border line idiot, bt he knew. He is evil through and through.

[maxsolomon]

29. his dad knew

jesus f'ing christ, can't you pick up a phone, 41?

[kestrel91316]

36. Hmmmmmmm, what's not to understand about this, dumbass?

Northern Ireland: Catholics................Protestants
Iraq: Sunnis....................Shiites

We are so screwed. We have psychopath in the White House.