Oh, good grief...you cherry pick the lines from a post in order to twist the entire thing around. You know good and well she was saying Bush could have prevented the SS from holding him at bay until they knew more about the issue. And you're the one who reminds all of us constantly how smart you are...LOL
I agree. Bush said more in 2 minutes' time than what Obama could say in an hour of premeditated, teleprompted boredom time. Bush was a true leader, while Obama would have undoubtedly hid inside the White House preparing a canned speech to be shown on TV that nobody gave a crap about right before an NFL game or something. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7OCgMPX2mE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7OCgMPX2mE[/ame]
Try fact. And BTW your cite supports the fact that Saddam DID want to engage with terrorist groups and was willing to work with them to further theirs and his goals and that included terrorism. No one claimed there were "operational" links, that is not the relationship they had. Yes if you read the cite which is based on the actual intelligence you will learn it was a spider web of relationships. The US didn't support the Taliban we support the Muja's. As valid a source as any you have posted and the article is based on the facts as we know them. So what, read the article and learn the links that did exist and where they were headed. No he did not and the justifications to remove Saddam were established in 1998. Was the same that existed when then President Clinton made it our official policy to remove Saddam and his government and replace it with an elected government. Then why was Blix looking for the WMD they had cataloged previously but could not document their wear abouts or destruction? Whether or not we found the WMD that were never accounted for is of little consequence. We knew then and it has only been confirmed since what he was up to and what he was planning once the sanctions were lifted. As was determined in 1998 he could not be allowed to do that and as long as he remained in power he would seek to do so. Here are the OFFICIAL findings From the final ISG report under Duelfer # 'Beginning in May 2004, ISG recovered a series of chemical weapons from Coalition military units and other sources. A total of 53 munitions have been recovered.' Why haven't you heard that? Possibly because that information was buried on page 97 of Annex F of Volume 3 of the Duelfer Report. Even if the number of WMD found were short of the 'large stockpiles' threshold demanded by invasion critics, what about the ability to produce and use WMD in a short amount of time? Here, the Duelfer Report is explicit. # '[Saddam Hussein] wanted to end sanctions while preserving the capability to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction (WMD) when sanctions were lifted.' # 'we have clear evidence of his intent to resume WMD production as soon as sanctions were lifted' # 'Saddam did express his intent to retain the intellectual capital developed during the Iraqi Nuclear Program.' # 'Iraq took steps to conceal key elements of its program and to preserve what it could of the professional capabilities of its nuclear scientific community.' # 'ISG found a limited number of post—1995 activities that would have aided the reconstitution of the nuclear weapons program once sanctions were lifted.' # 'Saddam never abandoned his intentions to resume a CW effort when sanctions were lifted and conditions were judged favorable.' # 'Iraq's historical ability to implement simple solutions to weaponization challenges allowed Iraq to retain the capability to weaponize CW agent when the need arose.' # 'Iraq Could Maintain CW Competence With Relative Ease' # 'ISG judges that Iraq's actions between 1991 and 1996 demonstrate that the state intended to preserve its BW capability and return to a steady, methodical progress toward a mature BW program when and if the opportunity arose.' # 'Depending on its scale, Iraq could have re—established an elementary BW program within a few weeks to a few months of a decision to do so...' http://www.americanthinker.com/2005/...ds_really.html
Really not much to say, there really wasn't anything new in regards to the events that occured that day that was in the program. A few peccadilos aside (AF1 can send telvevision braodcasts), it was a rehash of that sad day's spoken through Pres W Bush. It was nice to hear it in his words but there wasn't anything that we already knew.
Of course there's a middle ground... Simply lots of screaming without actually running out... He just springs out of his chair and bounces frantically from one foot to the other going, "OMG OMG OMG the terrorists are going to blow us all up!!" then run over to the window and shut the blinds with a few paranoid glances around the room.. "Quick children, under your desks now! This isn't a drill, we're all gonna die!!!!"
Not the same policy at all.. That bill you're referring to was about changing regime by supporting a revolution from within, NOTHING about using US military force. This is why the future president/congress had to come up with something new.
Keeping people safe and protecting is NOT what Bush chose to do. Bush chose instead to "project calm" and preoccupied himself almost completely with addressing the nation, during the MOST critical moments of the attack. I know you agree with him that making people feel better is more important than helping to manage a crisis response, however note that comforting or even addressing the nation is NOT his proscribed duty per the constitution yet being commander in chief of the U.S. military is most certainly his duty. So yes, he did do something wrong that day. They were trained for this? Rehearsed what to do in a situation you say is "unprecedented"? So what the commander in chief should do while his country is being attacked in real time should be based on partisan politics? Actually, you did know other planes were out there. Hopefully Bush made people feel really good and warm if this is more important than saving lives.
Actually it was a plane... And it smacked right into the side of the Pentagon causing many many PREVENTABLE, yet tragically unprevented deaths of mainly non-essential DOD personnel. Are you seriously suggesting that Bush COULDN'T have dismissed himself from the classroom and start seeking information about what was happening because the SS wouldn't allow him out of his seat for security reasons?
Because we all know how much of a security expert you are. Your experience in this regard must be quite extensive.
What was he supposed to do? Dash out of the classroom with an RPG strapped to his shoulder? You armchair security experts really amuse me. Hopefully you feel good and warm pretending to know what you're talking about on the internet.
How could have Bush prevented this from happening? I don't know and neither do you. Either way, it's not terribly relevant. He had to remain static while the Secret Service secured the perimeter, assessed the situation, and established an egress plan.
They knew another hijacked plane was out there and were operating under the assumption that a rogue plane was headed towards D.C. (at least the people who were doing their job and in the loop).. Moving non essential personnel out of harms way is the logical step in that and could have easily saved lives. So then YOU are a security expert then? Funny thing how Bush doesn't seem to mention this in his recounting of events.. In fact all sources including Bush indicate that it was his idea to sit there and "project calm".
Your ridiculous false dichotomy really amuses me. Don't bother quoting points if you're not going to address them, and cut out the personal attacks as well.
How can you move them out of "harm's way" when you don't even know what the target is? I'm not a security expert, no, which is why I'm not Monday quarterbacking what happened that day.
All I know is what the defense companies have said how we HAVE TO HAVE an anti-missile system that we have so far spent a 100 billion on to repel missiles that can be here in 25 minutes! So Bush spent 80% of his potential reaction time sitting in a chair looking at My Pet Goat while airplanes are being driven into our buildings! BTW, I am QUITE sure there is NO ONE ELSE besides the president that could quickly authorize our jet fighters to shoot down commercial airplanes. Good thing Osama Bin Laden didn't think any bigger and set up more suicide flights that morning - the terrorists would have had even longer of an open season on our country while Bush avoided offending grade school kids!
it IS awfully easy to second guess when you have time and distance to reflect. And millions of people aren't depending on you for their very survival...
'A true leader'! Only to be expected from someone who believes his beloved Sarah Palin is competent to be president
*Sigh* I know Alinsky taught you people that if you repeat a lie long enough, and loud enough people will believe you BUT he failed to take into account the steadfast resolve of people of good conscience who will NOT allow that lie to stand unchallenged. Bush did not lie about WMDs, the intelligence said there were WMDs...Congress (including Democrats) authorized military action based on those intelligence reports. IF you want to hold Bush responsible, then you also have to hold Clinton and Waters and Frank responsible. Saddam bluffed the intelligence community and lost big time. He wanted to appear stronger than he was. Unfortunately for him, we remembered his use of WMD in the not so distant past so we took his bluff seriously.
