Here is a speech that prior President Bush where he admits that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and that Sadaam did not have weapons of mass destruction. But trying to follow his speech takes a little bit of skill. His wishy-washy speech is scary. Listen this video below and see what you think..
How about another speech, bush accidentally admits the real Iraq War Plan..
And if those two videos were not entertaining enough, how about this one below where Bush stumbles over his 9/11 lies at a press conference...
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
2001 TimeLine Under President George W.
In George W.'s two terms in office as President of the United States, the United States faced many hardships, and a vast majority of causalities related to these hardships were a result of this President taking his soldiers into harms way. In many cases, the actions of this President were premeditated. Prior to 911 in less than 90 days in office, President George W. along with England carried out bombing raids in Iraq, in an attempt to disable Iraqi's defense network. George W. was the aggressor. Seven months later, Osama bin Laden retaliated against the United States, as the world terrorists took aim at the United States. 911 became reality, and now George W. felt he now had grounds to continue his war. George W. misled the country in a war on March 20th, 2003 as the Iraqi invasion began. Known as Operation Iraqi Freedom, the major battles lasted until May 1, 2003, the government of Iraq was toppled out in just 21 days of major combat operations.
2001
January 20 – George Walker Bush succeeds William Jefferson Clinton as the 43rd President of the United States of America.
February 16 – Iraq disarmament crisis: British and U.S. forces carry out bombing raids, attempting to disable Iraq's air defense network.
August 9 – U.S. President George W. Bush announces his limited support for federal funding of research on embryonic stem cells.
September 11 – Almost 3,000 are killed in the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City; the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia; and in rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania after American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crash into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93 crashes into grassland in Shanksville.
October 7 – War in Afghanistan (2001–present): The United States invades Afghanistan, with participation from other nations.
October 26 – U.S. President George W. Bush signs the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
November 13 – In the first such act since World War II, U.S. President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against any foreigners suspected of having connections to terrorist acts or planned acts against the United States.
December 2 – Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection 5 days after Dynegy cancels a US$8.4 billion buyout bid (to that point, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history).
December 3 – Officials announce that one of the Taliban prisoners captured after the prison uprising at Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan is John Walker Lindh, an American citizen.
December 11 – The United States government indicts Zacarias Moussaoui for involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
December 13 – U.S. President George W. Bush announces the United States' withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
2002
2001
January 20 – George Walker Bush succeeds William Jefferson Clinton as the 43rd President of the United States of America.
February 16 – Iraq disarmament crisis: British and U.S. forces carry out bombing raids, attempting to disable Iraq's air defense network.
August 9 – U.S. President George W. Bush announces his limited support for federal funding of research on embryonic stem cells.
September 11 – Almost 3,000 are killed in the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City; the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia; and in rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania after American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crash into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93 crashes into grassland in Shanksville.
October 7 – War in Afghanistan (2001–present): The United States invades Afghanistan, with participation from other nations.
October 26 – U.S. President George W. Bush signs the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
November 13 – In the first such act since World War II, U.S. President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against any foreigners suspected of having connections to terrorist acts or planned acts against the United States.
December 2 – Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection 5 days after Dynegy cancels a US$8.4 billion buyout bid (to that point, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history).
December 3 – Officials announce that one of the Taliban prisoners captured after the prison uprising at Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan is John Walker Lindh, an American citizen.
December 11 – The United States government indicts Zacarias Moussaoui for involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
December 13 – U.S. President George W. Bush announces the United States' withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
2002
Sunday, February 27, 2011
A New York Times Report Summary of "BUSH DECISION POINTS"
Parts of this report is from the New York Times by Michiko Kakutani publiched on November 3rd, 2010 called 'In Bush Memoir, Policy Interests With Personality' and reflects the views of the author of this blog.
In a serious attempt to criticize the book "Decision Points" in a good light, I have come to the conclusion that it is almost impossible due to the light of history and what is shared in the book by the previous Republican President to be able to give George W. any high marks for the works called his 'memoir'. It is nothing more than a dogged work of reminiscence by an author not naturally given to introspection. The memoir lacks the emotional precision and evocative power of his wife Laura's book, "Spoken From the Heart," that was published in 2007. After reading George Bush's memoirs, there are some touchy private moments with him and his family, but at the end, you will understand that this is not a book about George W's heart. The tone of the book is more casual than any past 'memoir of ANY U.S. President. It starts out with what you might consider an evangelical, 12-step confession, for example "Could I continue to grow closer to the Almighty or was alcohol becoming by god?", not to sidestep away from the off-color jokes. He portrays himself as a regular guy.
Along the way Mr. Bush acknowledges various mistakes. On his administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina he says, “As leader of the federal government, I should have recognized the deficiencies sooner and intervened faster.” On Iraq he says he regrets that “we did not respond more quickly or aggressively when the security situation started to deteriorate after Saddam’s regime fell,” that “cutting troop levels too quickly was the most important failure of execution in the war,” and that he still has “a sickening feeling every time” he thinks about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Still, he insists that “removing Saddam from power was the right decision”: “for all the difficulties that followed, America is safer without a homicidal dictator pursuing WMD and supporting terror at the heart of the Middle East.”
In the course of this book Mr. Bush hops and skips over many serious issues raised by critics, including the cherry-picking of intelligence by administration hawks in the walk up to the invasion of Iraq; the push for aggrandized executive power by the White House in the war on terror; and the ignoring of advice from the military and the State Department on troop levels and postwar planning.
The former president does not address the role that the decision to divert resources to the war in Iraq played in the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, instead arguing that “the multilateral approach to rebuilding, hailed by so many in the international community, was failing.” He tries to play down the problems of Guantánamo Bay, writing that detainees were given “a personal copy of the Koran” and access to a library among whose popular offerings was “an Arabic translation of ‘Harry Potter.’ ” And he asserts that “had I not authorized water-boarding on senior al Qaeda leaders, I would have had to accept a greater risk that the country would be attacked.”
In summation, after reading the book, I was saddened to realize that this man actually was our 43rd President, after knowing what I've learned not by just reading his memoir, but by coming in contact with so many other news articles. What was this man thinking during his two terms in office? What was the country thinking allowing this man to wage wars, and demonstrate his own forms of terrorism to the international community. Wake up people. This man IS responsible for thousands of American deaths, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths.
George W. vowed to topple terrorism. Was he successful? Absolutely not, yet he takes credit for not allowing terrorists to attack the United States since 911. Is he taking the blame for all the American deaths during his watch? But he fails to realize that it was because of his lack of listening to his own intelligence agencies, that this country was attacted on 911 and thousands of people were innocently killed on American soil. And then, why attack Iraq, and spend people lives in a war to topple a dictator named Sadaam Hussein because you have strong proof that he had weapons of mass distruction. Why not go after the man known to be in Afghanistan named Osama bin Laden, who is the number 1 terrorist and responsible for the 911 attacks? What was Bush thinking? We are gridlocked in a war in Iraq, with a U.S. President who vowes to leave Iraq soon and now is taking the heat for George W.'s mistakes.
In a serious attempt to criticize the book "Decision Points" in a good light, I have come to the conclusion that it is almost impossible due to the light of history and what is shared in the book by the previous Republican President to be able to give George W. any high marks for the works called his 'memoir'. It is nothing more than a dogged work of reminiscence by an author not naturally given to introspection. The memoir lacks the emotional precision and evocative power of his wife Laura's book, "Spoken From the Heart," that was published in 2007. After reading George Bush's memoirs, there are some touchy private moments with him and his family, but at the end, you will understand that this is not a book about George W's heart. The tone of the book is more casual than any past 'memoir of ANY U.S. President. It starts out with what you might consider an evangelical, 12-step confession, for example "Could I continue to grow closer to the Almighty or was alcohol becoming by god?", not to sidestep away from the off-color jokes. He portrays himself as a regular guy.
Along the way Mr. Bush acknowledges various mistakes. On his administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina he says, “As leader of the federal government, I should have recognized the deficiencies sooner and intervened faster.” On Iraq he says he regrets that “we did not respond more quickly or aggressively when the security situation started to deteriorate after Saddam’s regime fell,” that “cutting troop levels too quickly was the most important failure of execution in the war,” and that he still has “a sickening feeling every time” he thinks about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Still, he insists that “removing Saddam from power was the right decision”: “for all the difficulties that followed, America is safer without a homicidal dictator pursuing WMD and supporting terror at the heart of the Middle East.”
In the course of this book Mr. Bush hops and skips over many serious issues raised by critics, including the cherry-picking of intelligence by administration hawks in the walk up to the invasion of Iraq; the push for aggrandized executive power by the White House in the war on terror; and the ignoring of advice from the military and the State Department on troop levels and postwar planning.
The former president does not address the role that the decision to divert resources to the war in Iraq played in the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, instead arguing that “the multilateral approach to rebuilding, hailed by so many in the international community, was failing.” He tries to play down the problems of Guantánamo Bay, writing that detainees were given “a personal copy of the Koran” and access to a library among whose popular offerings was “an Arabic translation of ‘Harry Potter.’ ” And he asserts that “had I not authorized water-boarding on senior al Qaeda leaders, I would have had to accept a greater risk that the country would be attacked.”
In summation, after reading the book, I was saddened to realize that this man actually was our 43rd President, after knowing what I've learned not by just reading his memoir, but by coming in contact with so many other news articles. What was this man thinking during his two terms in office? What was the country thinking allowing this man to wage wars, and demonstrate his own forms of terrorism to the international community. Wake up people. This man IS responsible for thousands of American deaths, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths.
George W. vowed to topple terrorism. Was he successful? Absolutely not, yet he takes credit for not allowing terrorists to attack the United States since 911. Is he taking the blame for all the American deaths during his watch? But he fails to realize that it was because of his lack of listening to his own intelligence agencies, that this country was attacted on 911 and thousands of people were innocently killed on American soil. And then, why attack Iraq, and spend people lives in a war to topple a dictator named Sadaam Hussein because you have strong proof that he had weapons of mass distruction. Why not go after the man known to be in Afghanistan named Osama bin Laden, who is the number 1 terrorist and responsible for the 911 attacks? What was Bush thinking? We are gridlocked in a war in Iraq, with a U.S. President who vowes to leave Iraq soon and now is taking the heat for George W.'s mistakes.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Kieth Olbermann - "Shut the Hell Up" to George W. Bush
 |
| Political Commentator Keith Olbermann |
Questions to Bush in BLUE
Olbermann comments in Black
Responses by Bush in RED
Mr. Keith Olbermann.....speaks..
Finally tonight as promised, a special comment, on two topics allot of us had foolishly thought and not have naively hoped we would not again would have to address, and a third topic nobody thought a president would ever seriously mention in public, unless perhaps he was just hit in the head with something, and was not in full possession of his faculties. How he expressed his empathy for the families of the dead in Iraq by giving up golf!! The president has resorted to the sleaziest fear mongering and mass manipulation of an administration of a public life dedicated to realizing the lowest of our expectations. And he has now applied these poisons to the 2008 presidential election, on behalf of the party at whose center where he and Mr. McCain work. Mr. Bush had predicted that the election of a Democratic president could "eventually lead to an another attack on the United States". This ludicrous, infuriating, holly-er than now, and most importantly boneheadedly wrong statement came yesterday during an interview with Politico.com and online users of Yahoo. The question was phrased as follows..
"If we were to pull out of Iraq next year, what's the worst that could happen, what's the doomsday scenario?" And the President replied, "Doomsday scenario of course is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States. The biggest issue we face is -- it's bigger than Iraq -- it's this ideological struggle against cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives."
Mr. Olbermann...
Mr. Bush, at long last has it not dawned on you that the America that you have now created includes cold blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives. There are those in or formally in your employ who yet may be charged some day with war crimes. Through your haze of self congratulation and self pity, do you still have no earthly clue that this nation has laid waste to Iraq to achieve YOUR political objectives. This ideological struggle you speak of Mr. Bush, is taking place within this country. It is a struggle for Americans that cherish freedom, ours and everybody elses, and Americans like you sir, to whom freedom is just a brand name, just like 'Patriot Act' is a brand name or 'Protect America' is a brand name.
Wait, there's more. you also said "Iraq is the place where al Qaeda and other extremists have made their stand -- and they will be defeated." They made no stand in Iraq sir, you allowed them to assemble there. As certainly if that were the plan, the borders were left wide open by your government's pharisaical post-invasion strategy of "They'll greet us as liberators", and as certainly if that were the plan, the inspiration for another generation of terrorists, in another country was provided by your government's pharisaical post-invasion strategy of letting the societal infrastructure of Iraq dissolve, to be replaced by an American vice-royalty. Enforced by merciless mercenaries who shoot unarmed Iraqis and evade prosecution in any country by hiding behind your skirts, sir...
Terrorism inside Iraq is your creation, Mr. Bush. It was a Yahoo user who brought up a second topic upon whose introduction Mr. Bush should have passed or punted or gotten up and left the room claiming that he heard Dick Cheney calling him.
Do you feel, asked an ordinary American that you were misled on Iraq?
Bush's Response: "I feel like -- I felt like, there were weapons of mass destruction. You know, "mislead" is a strong word, it almost connotes some kind of intentional -- I don't think so, I think there was not only our intelligence community, but intelligence communities all across the world shared the same assessment. And so I was disappointed to see how flawed our intelligence was."
Flawed... You Mr. Bush and your tragically know-it-all minions through out every piece of intelligence that suggested there were no such weapons. You Mr. Bush, threw out every person who even suggested that the sober, contradictory, reality based intelligence needed to be listened to and damn fast. You Mr. Bush, are responsible for how intelligence communities all around the world shared the same assessment. you and the sick-a-vance you dredged up put behind the most important steering wheel in the world. Propagated, palpable nonsense and shoved it down the throat of every intelligence community across the world, and punished everybody who didn't agree it was really chicken salad. And you Mr. Bush threw under the bus all of the subsequent critics who bravely stepped forward later just to point out how much a self fulfilling proficy you had embraced and adopted this country's policy, in-lu of say 'common sense'. The fiasco of pre-war intelligence sir is YOUR fiasco. You should build a great statue of yourself, turning a deaf ear to the warnings of the realists, while you were shone embracing the three card monte dealers, like Richard Pearl and Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. That would be a far more fitting to your legacy Mr. Bush, and this presidential library that you are constructing is a giant fable about your presidency, an edifice you might claim was built by weapons of mass destruction, because there will be just as many inside your presidential library as there was inside Sadaam Hussein's Iraq.
Of course if there is one over riding theme to this presidents administration, it is the utter, always failing, inability to know when to quit when it is behind. And so Mr. Bush answered yet another question about this layered, nuanced wheels within wheels garbage heap, that that constituted his excuse for war.
"And so you feel that you didn't have all the information you should have or the right spin on that information?"
"No, no, I was told by people that they had weapons of mass destruction"
People!! What people... The insane informant curve ball. The Iraqi snake oil salesman Ackmed Chalibe, the American snake oil salesman Dick Cheney.
"I was told by people they had weapons of mass destruction, as were members of Congress, who voted for the resolution to get rid of Saddam Hussein and of course, the political heat gets on, and they start to run and try to hide from their votes."
Mr. Bush.... You destroyed the evidence that contradicted the resolution you jammed down the congress's throat, the way you jammed it down the nations throat, when required by law, to verify that your evidence was accurate you simply re-submitted it with phrases mounting to "See, I done proved it" virtually written in the margins in crayon. You defied patriotic Americans to say the emperor has no clothes, only this time with the stakes as you and your mental dwarfs in your employ put it, be a mushroom cloud over an American city. And as a final crash of self indulgent nonsense, when the incontrovertible truth of your panoramic and murderess deceit, has even begun to cost your political party seeming perpetual congressional seats in places like North Carolina and last night Mississippi. You can actually say with a straight face sir, that the members of Congress, the political heat gets on and they start to run and try to hide from their votes? Will you great the political heat and try to run and hide from your presidency? And your legacy... 4000 Americans you were sent to protect are dead in Iraq with your own feeble and pathetic answer being, I was told by people that they had weapons of mass destruction.
Then came Mr. Bush's final blow to our nation's solarplexes, his last re-opening of our wounds, his last remark that makes the rest of us question not merely his leadership, or his judgement, but his very suitability to remain in office.
"Mr. President, you haven't been golfing in recent years. Is that related to Iraq?"
YES, began perhaps the most startling reply of this nightmarish blight on our lives as Americans on our history.
"Yes, it really is. I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the Commander-in-Chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."
Golf sir!! Golf sends the wrong signal to the grieving families of our men and women butchered in Iraq. Do you think these families Mr. Bush, these lives blighted forever care about YOU playing GOLF? Do you think sir that they CARE about you? You Mr. Bush who let their sons and daughters be killed. Sir, to show their solidarity with them, you gave up GOLF? Sir, to show your solidarity with them, you didn't give up your pursuit of this insurance scam, profiteering morally and financially bankrupting war. Sir, to show your solidarity with them, you didn't even give up talking about Iraq, a subject about which you have insensitively proved without pause or backwards glance, that you may literally be the least informed person in the world. Sir, to show your solidarity with them, you didn't give up your presidency. In your own words.. "Solidarity, as best as I can, is to stop a game"? That is the best you can ? Four thousand Americans give up their lives and your sacrifice was to give up GOLF?!?!?
Golf..Golf and still it gets worse. It proves that the presidents unendurable sacrifice, his unbearable pain, the suspension of getting to hit a stick and a ball together was not even his own damned idea.
"Mr. President, was there a particular moment or incident that brought you to that decision, or how did you come to that?
"I Remember when de Mello, who was at the U.N., got killed in Baghdad as a result of these murderers taking this good man's life. And I was playing golf -- I think I was in Central Texas -- and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, it's just not worth it anymore to do."
Your one, tone deaf, arrogant, pathetic, embarrassing gesture, and you didn't think of it yourself. The great Bushian sacrifice. An Army private looses a leg, a marine looses half of his scull, 4000 of their brothers and sisters loose their lives and you loose GOLF!!! And they have to pull you off the golf course to get you to do just that. If it's even true. Apart from your medical files which beautifully record your torn calf muscle and the knee pain which forced you to give up running at the same time, it is a coincidence no doubt the bombing in Baghdad which killed Sergio Veera DeMayo at the U.N.and interrupted your round of golf was on August 19th 2003, and yet there is an Associated Press accounted you and photographs playing golf as late as Columbus day of that year, October 13th, two months later.
Mr. Bush, I hate to break it to you. Six and a half years after you yoked this nation and your place in history through the wrong war, in the wrong place, against the wrong people. But the war in Iraq is NOT ABOUT YOU. It is not Mr. Bush about YOUR GRIEF, when American after American comes home in a box. It is not Mr. Bush what your adult brain has produced in the way of arronoid delusions of risks that do not exist, ready to be activated if some Democrat, and not your twin Mr. McCain succeeds you. The war in Iraq, your war Mr. Bush is about how you accomplished the derangement of two nations and how you helped funnel billions of taxpayer dollars to lascivious and parreneal thirsty corporations like Hallibert and Blackwater, and how you sent 4000 Americans to their deaths, FOR NOTHING!!!
It is not Mr. Bush about your golf game, and sir if you have any hopes that next January 20 will no be celebrated as a day of soul drenching heart felt thanksgiving, because your faithless stewardship of this presidency will have finally come to a merciful end.
This last piece of advise. When somebody asks you sir about Democrats who must now pull this country back together, from the abyss you have placed us at, when somebody asks you sir about the cooked books and faked threats that you have voiced on a sincere and frightened nation, when somebody asks you sir about your gallant, noble, self abnegating sacrifice of your golf game so as to sooth the families of the war dead.
This advise Mr Bush... SHUT THE HELL UP..
Video Part One : By Keith Olbermann
Video Part Two : By Keith Olbermann
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Bush's Book "Decision Points" May Put Him in Prison For Crimes Against Humanity
President George W. in an attempt to have himself re-habilitate his character in time, wrote his memoirs called 'Decision Points', but because of the book, it may seem to be just a matter of time that the book may be responsible for him going into prison for crimes against humanity.
The following is a transcript of the video below, and I suggest that you read this very closely. If you don't believe what you read, just listen the video and then speculate of what may be the future of George W. Bush.
Here is the transcript of the video in its entirety.....
Policies changed significantly, especially during the George Bush era, especially following the 911 attacks. After staying out of the limelight since leaving office almost 2 years ago, America's 43rd President is now having his own say on his time in office. In his memoirs 'Decision Points', he reveals his thoughts on the most historic and contraversial parts of his presidency. Now to discuss those, let's now talk to the former Democrat member of Congress, Tom Andrews.
Thank you very much for joining us... Now Tom in his book, George Bush said that the invasion of Iraq was right, because it was about changing the regime, persuing weapons of mass destruction. What do you think about the strength of that case?
Answer by Tom Andrews: Well, there is no strength, I mean, you know it is rather extraodinary. Former President Bush was on national television last night here in the United States, and he said his lowest moment, the lowest of the low, as he described it, was when a rap artist, Kenya West, accused him about not caring about black people, during the Katrina debocle, and the failure of the U.S. government to respond to that hurricane disaster. When in fact, you have a war against Iraq, a violation of international law, an invasion that killed thousands of American soldiers, over 100,000 Iraqis, all to go after weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. And to make it worse, you had American soldiers, 700 of them lost their lives in Iraq, because in this war of choice, this administration didn't think it was important enough to provide them with the protective armor, that if they had it, they would be alive today. And in this interview, based on this book, the President said his lowest moment was when he was criticized by an American rap artist for his handling of the Katrina disaster. Um, I don't think that anyone buys this. The Iraq war, a vast number of Americans believe that now it was a tragic mistake, and the fact that it was done in a way that it was done, makes it even worse.
Well, he seems that he is trying to highlight this Katrina incident, and he admits to some of the mistakes made during his presidency, and this is appearently something that he has kept in his mind. Do you welcome his honesty on this, and why do you think he is bringing this up as his priority?
Answer by Tom Andrews: Well, I think what he is trying to do is to re-habilitate himself. and as we saw in the last election, members of his own political party, ran away from George W. Bush. He has a very low opinion rating, certainly one of the lowest, in fact THE lowest of opinion ratings from Americans of any president in modern American history, and I think he is trying to spin his administration and his legacy, perhaps to get a better judgement from historians that what the American people are giving him now. But even in those instances in which he admits wrong-doing, let's take Katrina for example, what he admits to doing wrong was not stopping in New Orleans on the flight back from his ranch in Texas from his vacation, on his way to Washington. That's what he thinks is his biggest mistake with respect to Katrina, and then telling the man in charge that he was doing a hell of a job. I mean, this doesn't even begin to recognize the fundamental failure of leadership, of competency, and of ability to set priorities that this administration failed to do in New Orleans, and certainly in Iraq, and to mention only two.
Ok, now let's go on to a very sensitive point on the interrogation of terror suspects. Bush says legal advisors told him that simulated drowning was legal, and he believes that it helped prevent terror attacks. And now do you agree that this method can be justified if it helps save lives?
Answer by Tom Andrews: No. First of all, it is illegal. You can get an attorney to say anything you want, but the fact of the matter is, it is illegal. Secondly, it violates international law, it violates the Geneva Convention, and thirdly, it puts American soldiers at risk. So when they find themselves, God forgive in enemy's hands, then they are faced with the prospect of the same treatment given to them, that George Bush was authorizing, given to those the United States brought into custody. So whether you look at it from the point of view of international law, or the point of view of the.......(The audio disappears at this point in the video. There were 17 seconds left to the video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-iLgsLuFKI
The following is a transcript of the video below, and I suggest that you read this very closely. If you don't believe what you read, just listen the video and then speculate of what may be the future of George W. Bush.
Here is the transcript of the video in its entirety.....
Policies changed significantly, especially during the George Bush era, especially following the 911 attacks. After staying out of the limelight since leaving office almost 2 years ago, America's 43rd President is now having his own say on his time in office. In his memoirs 'Decision Points', he reveals his thoughts on the most historic and contraversial parts of his presidency. Now to discuss those, let's now talk to the former Democrat member of Congress, Tom Andrews.
Thank you very much for joining us... Now Tom in his book, George Bush said that the invasion of Iraq was right, because it was about changing the regime, persuing weapons of mass destruction. What do you think about the strength of that case?
Answer by Tom Andrews: Well, there is no strength, I mean, you know it is rather extraodinary. Former President Bush was on national television last night here in the United States, and he said his lowest moment, the lowest of the low, as he described it, was when a rap artist, Kenya West, accused him about not caring about black people, during the Katrina debocle, and the failure of the U.S. government to respond to that hurricane disaster. When in fact, you have a war against Iraq, a violation of international law, an invasion that killed thousands of American soldiers, over 100,000 Iraqis, all to go after weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. And to make it worse, you had American soldiers, 700 of them lost their lives in Iraq, because in this war of choice, this administration didn't think it was important enough to provide them with the protective armor, that if they had it, they would be alive today. And in this interview, based on this book, the President said his lowest moment was when he was criticized by an American rap artist for his handling of the Katrina disaster. Um, I don't think that anyone buys this. The Iraq war, a vast number of Americans believe that now it was a tragic mistake, and the fact that it was done in a way that it was done, makes it even worse.
Well, he seems that he is trying to highlight this Katrina incident, and he admits to some of the mistakes made during his presidency, and this is appearently something that he has kept in his mind. Do you welcome his honesty on this, and why do you think he is bringing this up as his priority?
Answer by Tom Andrews: Well, I think what he is trying to do is to re-habilitate himself. and as we saw in the last election, members of his own political party, ran away from George W. Bush. He has a very low opinion rating, certainly one of the lowest, in fact THE lowest of opinion ratings from Americans of any president in modern American history, and I think he is trying to spin his administration and his legacy, perhaps to get a better judgement from historians that what the American people are giving him now. But even in those instances in which he admits wrong-doing, let's take Katrina for example, what he admits to doing wrong was not stopping in New Orleans on the flight back from his ranch in Texas from his vacation, on his way to Washington. That's what he thinks is his biggest mistake with respect to Katrina, and then telling the man in charge that he was doing a hell of a job. I mean, this doesn't even begin to recognize the fundamental failure of leadership, of competency, and of ability to set priorities that this administration failed to do in New Orleans, and certainly in Iraq, and to mention only two.
Ok, now let's go on to a very sensitive point on the interrogation of terror suspects. Bush says legal advisors told him that simulated drowning was legal, and he believes that it helped prevent terror attacks. And now do you agree that this method can be justified if it helps save lives?
Answer by Tom Andrews: No. First of all, it is illegal. You can get an attorney to say anything you want, but the fact of the matter is, it is illegal. Secondly, it violates international law, it violates the Geneva Convention, and thirdly, it puts American soldiers at risk. So when they find themselves, God forgive in enemy's hands, then they are faced with the prospect of the same treatment given to them, that George Bush was authorizing, given to those the United States brought into custody. So whether you look at it from the point of view of international law, or the point of view of the.......(The audio disappears at this point in the video. There were 17 seconds left to the video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-iLgsLuFKI
Sunday, February 20, 2011
George W. doesn't mention Scott McClellan in His Book
I guess the President had his reasons. In a story that surfaced on January 28th, 2011, George W. purposly left out his former press secretary Scott McClellan from his memoirs called 'Decision Points'. Why so? According to George W. he claims that "He was not a part of a major decision. This is a book about decisions," in an interview that George W. had with CSPAN. But the fact is that he was his Press Secretary from 2003-2006 and he vigorously defended George W. in his decision to fight in Iraq.
Maybe it's because George W. couldn't take punches himself. Just two years after leaving the Administration, Scott McClellan wrote his own memoir called "What Happened Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception." Now doesn't the title tell all. It is a book which highly criticized how George W. ran his administration. I would imagine that there were not too many kind words in the book.
As proof of this, McClellan just about says that Bush's administration did deceive the American public which led to the invasion of Iraq. He said "his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war."
Of course you may guess that I will critique these statements made by George W, and right from the start, George W. claims that his book was about decisions. Pardon me for mentioning, but I'm at a loss for words by that statement. What decisions? I read the book from cover to cover, more than once just to make sure I didn't miss any decisions. Yes there were some, but what the book demonstrates is that the President failed to make decisions that would keep terrorism from the United States, and it showed his indecision to act prior to the attack. He beat around the 'BUSH' sort of speaking on many points in his book.
In the first several dozen pages, he creates his character prior and then into the marriage with Laura. He highlights his decision to become an owner of 'the Texas Rangers' baseball team. He explains how while dating Laura that he was frequently 'drunk'. All of these were decisions that he made, but which one of them actually explains what he accomplished during his eight years in office as the 43rd President of the United States?! Give me a break.
George!! I would think that Scott McClellan's book would be more down to earth than your own book. I just might get more substance out of his book than yours.
There must be a reason why you left Scott McClellan out of your book, other than just because you believed that the three years he served you as press secretary, that he was irrelevant. Maybe you need to be enlightened as to read what the job of Press Secretary does. Is he supposed to make critical decisions that a President should make? Should he advise you on policy, in the United States and abroad?
That is part of your job George W.
So what truly is the job of a Press Secretary of the President of the United States?
The main job of a Press Secretary is to be a spokesperson for the government administration. The Press Secretary is responsible for collecting information about actions and events within the president's administration and around the world, and interacting with the media, generally in a daily press briefing. The information includes items such as a summary of the President's schedule for the day, whom the president has seen, or had communication and the official position of the administration on the news of the day. He wasn't supposed to make the decisions, but he was to inform the American people of the Presidents actions, issues and policies of the administration. So yes, he didn't make any of the decisions, but he was part of the Bush Administration and you would think that he would have just a little bit of respect for that. Most likely, they parted ways in 2006 because he may have criticized George W. in what he was doing, for example, the way he was handling the war, and how he was promoting terrorism in his own way.
Maybe it's because George W. couldn't take punches himself. Just two years after leaving the Administration, Scott McClellan wrote his own memoir called "What Happened Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception." Now doesn't the title tell all. It is a book which highly criticized how George W. ran his administration. I would imagine that there were not too many kind words in the book.
As proof of this, McClellan just about says that Bush's administration did deceive the American public which led to the invasion of Iraq. He said "his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war."
Of course you may guess that I will critique these statements made by George W, and right from the start, George W. claims that his book was about decisions. Pardon me for mentioning, but I'm at a loss for words by that statement. What decisions? I read the book from cover to cover, more than once just to make sure I didn't miss any decisions. Yes there were some, but what the book demonstrates is that the President failed to make decisions that would keep terrorism from the United States, and it showed his indecision to act prior to the attack. He beat around the 'BUSH' sort of speaking on many points in his book.
In the first several dozen pages, he creates his character prior and then into the marriage with Laura. He highlights his decision to become an owner of 'the Texas Rangers' baseball team. He explains how while dating Laura that he was frequently 'drunk'. All of these were decisions that he made, but which one of them actually explains what he accomplished during his eight years in office as the 43rd President of the United States?! Give me a break.
George!! I would think that Scott McClellan's book would be more down to earth than your own book. I just might get more substance out of his book than yours.
There must be a reason why you left Scott McClellan out of your book, other than just because you believed that the three years he served you as press secretary, that he was irrelevant. Maybe you need to be enlightened as to read what the job of Press Secretary does. Is he supposed to make critical decisions that a President should make? Should he advise you on policy, in the United States and abroad?
That is part of your job George W.
So what truly is the job of a Press Secretary of the President of the United States?
The main job of a Press Secretary is to be a spokesperson for the government administration. The Press Secretary is responsible for collecting information about actions and events within the president's administration and around the world, and interacting with the media, generally in a daily press briefing. The information includes items such as a summary of the President's schedule for the day, whom the president has seen, or had communication and the official position of the administration on the news of the day. He wasn't supposed to make the decisions, but he was to inform the American people of the Presidents actions, issues and policies of the administration. So yes, he didn't make any of the decisions, but he was part of the Bush Administration and you would think that he would have just a little bit of respect for that. Most likely, they parted ways in 2006 because he may have criticized George W. in what he was doing, for example, the way he was handling the war, and how he was promoting terrorism in his own way.
Court papers: 92 interrogation tapes destroyed by CIA (to cover-up torture)
Were there videotapes of terror-suspect interrogations, which could implement George W. Bush for extreme torture to prisoners? The following document claims that there was, as a March 2009 CNN report shows that the CIA must have had something to hide. According to the report below, there were 92 videotapes made in 2002 of terror-suspect interrogations that were destroyed. They were ordered to be destroyed under the order of Jose Rodrigues, then head of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, with approval from lawyers.
March 2, 2009
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The CIA destroyed 92 videotapes of terror-suspect interrogations, according to a court document filed by the government on Monday. The disclosure marks the first time the specific number of tapes has been made public.
A former CIA officer says the destroyed tapes showed harsh interrogations, including the use of waterboarding.
The tapes were made in 2002 and showed the interrogations of two suspected al Qaeda leaders, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. According to former CIA officer John Kiriakou, some of the videos showed harsh interrogations, including the use of waterboarding, which is said to simulate drowning and is considered by most people to be a form of torture.
Government officials have said the tapes were destroyed in November 2005 at the orders of Jose Rodriguez, then head of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, with the approval of NCS lawyers.
The tape destruction is under investigation by John Durham, a federal prosecutor.
The disclosure of the number of tapes involved came as part of a federal court proceeding in New York involving an American Civil Liberties Union motion to hold the CIA in contempt of court for destroying the tapes.
Durham had requested and received a stay on the ACLU motion while his investigation was under way.
Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin wrote in a letter to Judge Alvin Hellerstein that Durham had not requested a continuation of the stay after it expired February 28.
"The CIA can now identify ... 92 videotapes were destroyed," wrote Dassin.
He also told the court the CIA is collecting information describing each of the destroyed tapes, as well as written accounts of the tapes and the identities of the people who viewed or possessed the recordings. "The CIA intends to produce all of the information requested to the court and to produce as much information as possible on the public record to the plaintiffs, Dassin wrote.
But the ACLU, in a written statement, said the government's letter proves the CIA is in contempt. "The large number of videotapes confirms the agency engaged in a systemic attempt to hide evidence of its illegal interrogations and to evade the court's order."
CIA spokesman George Little said the agency has cooperated with the Justice Department investigation.
"If anyone thinks it's agency policy to impede the enforcement of American law, they simply don't know the facts," he said in response to the ACLU.
Then-CIA Director Mike Hayden wrote in a December 2007 memo to staff that the tapes were made as "an internal check" on the CIA's use of harsh interrogation techniques and the decision to destroy them was made "only after it was determined they were no longer of intelligence value and relevant to any internal, legislative or judicial inquires."
Hayden said there were detailed written notes on the interrogations.
The prosecutor's spokesman would not comment on the status of Durham's criminal investigation into the tape destruction.
"That investigation is ongoing so we are not commenting on any specific aspects of it," spokesman Tom Carson said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)