What a fine ex-President George W. Bush has been!
Here's a link to pre-order the book at Amazon.
November 12, 2016
"Over the past several months, I've painted the portraits of 98 wounded warriors I've gotten to know - remarkable men and women who were injured carrying out my orders."
"I think about them on #VeteransDay and every day. Their paintings and stories will be featured in PORTRAITS OF COURAGE - a book and special exhibit - next spring, and I am donating all my proceeds to the George W. Bush Presidential Center and our Military Service Initiative's work to honor and support them."
What a fine ex-President George W. Bush has been!
Here's a link to pre-order the book at Amazon.
What a fine ex-President George W. Bush has been!
Here's a link to pre-order the book at Amazon.
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166 comments:
Too bad the Dems undermined him. He could have made it work, but elections come first.
"What a fine ex-President George W. Bush has been!"
And yet he remains the object of horrific, vile characterization by the left. Eight years since he left office.
Does anyone think Clinton has been as fine?
Can anyone even imagine Obama approaching that standard?
W is still known as Chimpy McHitlerburton here in San Francisco.
His reputation among the Left is about to soar
He is an excellent example for near future ex presidents.
He has been a fine ex-president. I mean that sincerely. But Bill Clinton has also been a great ex-president. His organization provides 70% of AIDS drugs in Africa among other things
Jimmy Carter has probably been the greatest ex-president ever.
He is an excellent example for near future ex presidents.
He was fine before he was an ex-president, too.
Some countries just don't know when they're well off.
NO ex-President has had a closer relationship to veterans. I'd be willing to wager that most of us would still die for this good, gentle man.
Big Mike, I fully agree. He was a good President. And he basically a Good Man.
His book will be a huge best seller. I only wish he would organize a tour of his paintings. I nominate the Joslyn in Omaha for the first stop.
As opposed to Dylan, Dub paints in his own style. Definitely not a paint by numbers dude. He was unafraid to show his early crude work (that takes some balls because intense ridicule he knew would come), but it did show quite a lot of promise... very plastic as defined by Hans Hofmann. The biggest failure in portraiture is the stiff, blank pose. His head shots really bring out the personality of his subjects with real, palpable energy. Bravo
President Obama should look to George W. Bush for clues as to how to behave as a former president. He became very unpolitical in his statements never publicly criticized any decisions by President Obama, and worked towards specific charitable goals that were unquestionably good, and essentially neither left nor right.
Contrast that with Bill Clinton who seemed very excited to give his opinion on any matter of the day.
Being President is an extraordinarily rare opportunity. For 4 or 8 years you have the most influence in changing the country or the world of any individual. After that happens you need to develop a lot of humility and recognize that it is now someone else's turn. That helps our system continue to function, and is why George Washington was such a great President. Because after 8 years he was willing to just go away.
W is still known as Chimpy McHitlerburton here in San Francisco.
Probably because of his unfashionable regional accent. Some things can't be tolerated.
I'm pre-dreading Obama.
Supposedly the whole Bush clan voted for Hillary because of the mean things Trump said about Jeb and W back during the primaries. Then on Wednesday W and Laura came out and said that's not true, they didn't vote for Hillary or Trump. Which, for a Republican, was the same thing as a vote for Hillary.
George W Bush is a good man but he has only mediocre ability and ultimately failed as President. Old man Bush is a more able man but ultimately he failed too. I'm guessing George W's art is mediocre too though its a good thing.
once bitten, twice...
"Jimmy Carter has probably been the greatest ex-president ever."
Yes and no. I admire his charitable work, a lot. Didn't so much admire the role he took in pushing Bill Clinton toward the 1996 Agreed Framework with North Korea. Should we ever have a regional nuclear war involving North Korea, Carter will deserve a small but significant portion of the blame.
Once bitten ...
Jimmy Carter (whom I foolishly voted for in 1976) was our worst POTUS, until the election of Barack Obama. It seems fitting that he would be the best ex-president.
However, he is likely the worst ex-POTUS ever. Ask Bill Clinton and others about Carter's interference in foreign policy - an area in which he has been singularly ignorant and naive. We have Carter to thank for Iran and more.
"What a fine ex-President George W. Bush has been!"
Carter was a good ex-President when he was building houses but not after he started interfering with the then current presidents.
Bobcat said: "Then on Wednesday W and Laura came out and said that's not true, they didn't vote for Hillary or Trump. Which, for a Republican, was the same thing as a vote for Hillary."
Not true in Texas where the state was going to be in Trump's column no matter what. Same situation ass here in Oregon, but in reverse. I didn't vote for Trump because there was no way that Trump would carry this blue state. Those votes mattered in the battleground states, but most states were going to be reliably red or blue. Give the guy a break. The elections over. Let's unite to help make Trump a success.
Belated shout-out to all veterans, past and present, a day after Veteran's Day. Wishing everyone fair winds and following seas.
Oh to be a fly on the wall when pinhead nihilistic egomaniac, misogynistic sexist bigot Trump first meets the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Indeed!
Trump insults military vets with PTSD, calling them 'not strong'
I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me.
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
We don't really need NATO in its current form. NATO is obsolete… if we have to walk, we walk.
Don’t tell me it doesn’t work — torture works… Waterboarding is fine, but it’s not nearly tough enough, ok?
The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families
Re: war crimes: They won’t refuse. They’re not going to refuse me, If I say do it, they’re going to do it.
I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things...my primary consultant is myself
He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured, ok? I hate to tell you.
I know Russia well. I had a major event in Russia two or three years ago, Miss Universe contest, which was a big, big, incredible event.
Our military is a disaster.
And frankly, the case could be made, that let them protect themselves against North Korea. They’d probably wipe them out pretty quick.
When those restrictions expire, Iran will have an industrial-size military nuclear capability ready to go." (Politifact: False.)
I got to know him (Putin) very well, because we were both on 60 minutes, we were stablemates and we did very well that night. You know that.
It's really rather amazing, maybe Syria should be a free zone for ISIS, let them fight and then you pick up the remnants.
We really have no choice. We have to knock out ISIS. We have to knock the hell out of them… I would listen to the generals but I'm hearing numbers of 20,000 to 30,000. We have to knock them out fast.
I’m never going to rule anything out—I wouldn’t want to say [if I’d use nuclear weapons against ISIS.
Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.
I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So I don't know. I don't know -- did he endorse me, or what's going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about white supremacists.
>
My post re: seeing the light a couple days ago applies to (4) years of Trump, if he lasts that long, being the best case scenario for the Dem party ie if four er two years of Trump isn't enough to motivate Dems to get out and vote, nothing will.
And re: Trump's mandate, less than half of all eligible voters voted and Trump received less than half of these votes. Soooo doing the quick math Trump receive less than 25% of all eligible voters and many of those 25% don't like him from the get-go as they hated Hillary more.
As always, America survives despite itself.
Again trumpkins, tread lightly ...
"Jimmy Carter has probably been the greatest ex-president ever."
Sarcasm, I hope...
Shiloh,
In the words of your hero, Barack Obama, "We Won!"
Vault Dweller says: "Being President is an extraordinarily rare opportunity. For 4 or 8 years you have the most influence in changing the country or the world of any individual. After that happens you need to develop a lot of humility and recognize that it is now someone else's turn."
Obama will be unable and/or unwilling to "develop a lot of humility".
I predict that Obama will have the most enjoyable ex-Presidency and I'll be happy to tune-out his continued existence knowing that his legacy is his failure to fulfill his goal of fundamentally transforming our country and his unintended destruction/deterioration of the Democratic party via his ineptness as President.
Poor Shiloh. We are going to tread lightly just like Obama did. Unlike you people Trump is not an ideologue and his agenda is to make the country work for us. He has an excellent transition team set up and the arteries are going to be unclogged.
The first nail that is sticking it's ugly head up are mayors of sanctuary cities who want to ignore the rule of law. Time to deal with all of the illegal voting in democrat strongholds that gave Hillary the popular vote "victory." Democrats aren't going to win a national election until they learn to deal honestly and fairly with actual American citizens. That is going to be tough for you all.
"Jimmy Carter has probably been the greatest ex-president ever."
As soon as he became "ex" the title was his.
LBJ '64 landslide ~ Rep's recovered ie Nixon receiving 43.4% in '68 and becoming president.
Nixon '72 landslide ~ Dem's recovered quite nicely ie Carter elected president in '76.
And Trump was slightly shy of a landslide in 2016.
>
The yin/yang of American politics ...
Obama became President so he could be an ex-President.
W!
I hope Obama goes back to Chicago and destroys the backwards thug culture that is thriving there.
John Berg -
The NeverTrump types need to first come on their knees, confessing their stupidity and disloyalty, begging for forgiveness, and making Madonna-like offers of contrition to set it right. Then we'll let bygones be bygones.
Jimmy Carter has probably been the greatest ex-president ever.
If he'd stuck to Habitat for Humanity he'd have had a shot. But he's interfered in international politics to the determent of US positions and repeatedly shown himself to be no friend of Israel.
So, no.
George W. Bush seems like a genuinely good person somewhere deep down. But as president he failed veterans.
When we would get new privates in battalion we made it necessarily hard on them. We had to weed out the weaklings. If we didn't weed out the ones who would fail before we deployed they would fail overseas when it counted. After they were weeded out they went to the mail room or some other Eco position and we were nice to them again if they were good people.
W was a nice guy but he should have been weeded out. He sent us into 2 wars which we won. We did our jobs. Then he didn't do his job. He let the media and the shitheads like Shiloh trash us and our mission. It was going to take decades to turn the Middle East around and the American people had to at least reluctantly support that. The war started out popular and it could have stayed that way but W did not do his job.
Now W is painting and we have friends dead and maimed. The left has another war trophy on its wall of a mission they purposely sabotaged. We hate douchebags like Shiloh. But there is no respect for people that don't do their job when people are counting on them and they don't even try. Why did Bush never fight back against the no WMD LIE? I still see leftists saying there were no WMDs.
I hope Obama goes back to Chicago
riiight.
The only time Obama will spend in Chicago the next twenty years will be the grand opening of his presidential library, and he will fly out that same day.
btw, I lied when I said if Trump won I would be pissed for a couple days and move on. Alas, I was over it before Trump was declared the winner as didn't have much, if any, investment in Hillary.
Which is basically why she lost as her past due date was many years ago. And many "rust belt" yahoos wanted a chameleon/charlatan to lead them to the promised land!
And so it goes ...
And yet he remains the object of horrific, vile characterization by the left. Eight years since he left office.
For good reason. He started a war based on lies and committed war crimes.
Achilles said... Why did Bush never fight back against the no WMD LIE? I still see leftists saying there were no WMDs.
What were the WMD's? The shells from the Iran-Iraq war time that had mustard gas?
I don't think George Bush lied to anyone about the reasons for going to war. I think our intelligence and a lot of other country's intelligence services thought that Iraq had or was trying to further develop it's WMD capability. And Iraq certainly did stand in the way to full unfettered inspections. But the only WMD I heard were found were the mustard gas shells.
I do agree that George and the Republicans did a poor job keeping the American people's heart in that war. But perhaps Americans just can't tolerate a war that has an extensive occupation for a long period of time after the main of the fighting is done. And in any war where existing government is toppled, especially in such a fractured society like Iraq, there is going to have to be a long occupation afterwards.
"Alas, I was over it before Trump was declared the winner as didn't have much, if any, investment in Hillary."
Shiloh abides, as did all of us Republicans these last few years, such are the vicissitudes of life.
Why did Bush never fight back against the no WMD LIE? I still see leftists saying there were no WMDs.
It is not just leftists, that was the conclusion of the Bush administration. You are lying
Man. Every time I hear more news about W., I realize he's probably going to be the best ex-president of my life time.
NYT admits we found WMD's.
Just one story. There are dozens on google. I know classified information in now a passé term but the ISR feeds of the truck columns leaving Iraq for Syria are out there. It is widely known where Assad got the weapons he used to violate Obama's red line.
Vault Dweller, Shiloh, and Freder are living in a fantasy world they create for themselves. Even a shred of honesty in them would force them to give up the no WMD Lie.
Is he painting them (all) from photographs or do they sit for their portraits? Has he met all of them? And do you see that GWB is becoming a better painter with practice?
Blogger Freder Frederson said...
Can you please explain what you mean by this commemorate. Exactly what do you think we have coming to us?
It is the inverse golden rule. We think you should be treated like you have been and are treating us.
Probably, they would not have been wounded if not for George Bush
Blogger Biotrekker said...
Probably, they would not have been wounded if not for George Bush
And it wouldn't have been in vain if it wasn't for Obama.
We hate the vain part infinitely more than the wounded part.
Yes, Bush is a fine ex-president in many ways. But he failed one big test: he didn't vote for a presidential candidate. The reason I think we all know: wounded pride.
Bush needs to correct this by saying something public and loud about how he supports Donald Trump. His mommy and daddy should do so as well.
"Here's a link to pre-order the book at Amazon."
And Bush will probably auction/sell them w/proceeds going to military charities/causes.
Althouse, what have you ever done to help/benefit/support the military?
@Shiloh: "And re: Trump's mandate, less than half of all eligible voters voted and Trump received less than half of these votes. Soooo doing the quick math Trump receive less than 25% of all eligible voters and many of those 25% don't like him from the get-go as they hated Hillary more"
Uh, NOPE. At this point based on the count so far (4-6 million votes still not counted) about 57.6% of the eligible voting population voted. This from 538:
"The raw number of votes rose: About 1.4 million more Americans voted in this year’s election than in 2012, a total which itself was down from 2008. But the electorate was growing in the meantime: About 57 percent of eligible voters cast ballots this year, down from 58.6 percent in 2012 and 61.6 percent in 2008, which was the highest mark in 40 years. Turnout still remained well above levels for most presidential election years from 1972 to 2000."
If you're going to rant, get the facts first.
Also note, Mr. Shiloh: Donald Trump will, win all the votes are counted, have received the most votes for a Republican presidential candidate ever.
Ever.
More than McCain. More than Romney.
Most ever.
Deal with is, son.
If you're going to rant, get the facts first.
Why would she start now?
besides...it's about the feelz, not the facts.
shiloh said...
Althouse, what have you ever done to help/benefit/support the military?
At this point she doesn't lie about us or trash our mission for political gain. That is really all we want. We just don't want Americans to become enemies of freedom.
She is starting to notice that the left are actually more like islamist radicals than like what she believes a liberal should be. A lot of people are now seeing you for what you really are.
M Jordan said...
Ever.
More than McCain. More than Romney.
Most ever.
Deal with is, son.
Chuck and GOPe hardest hit.
Nobody ever said W is not the nicest guy who ever screwed everything up to please Daddy.
Bush ended a war that was fought in self-defense, sustained under Clinton, and brought the antagonist to a trial by the people. Now, he acknowledges responsibility for the decisions he made.
Contrast that to the progressive, illegal wars (i.e. social "justice" adventurism) saved and created by Obama and Clinton, and bringing long-reformed antagonists to trial by sodomy and abortion, then running amuck through Africa, Arabia, and Eurasia, while rejecting responsibility and exploiting immigration "reform" (e.g. refugee crises) and dead babies for democratic leverage and redistributive change (i.e. trickle-up poverty).
Portraits, along with figures, are the most challenging types of images to make. I have some talent, am an art school veteran, and grew up in a very arty family - that is how I know. To take on portraits takes some BALLS when one could have chosen a much easier path.
MJ
Recalculating, Trump has got 60.5 million of 127.6 million votes so far = .474 x 57% = 27%
Congrats! Trump's mandate has increased from 25% to (((27%))).
Quoting Bush...
...and I am donating all my proceeds to the George W. Bush Presidential Center and our Military Service Initiative's work to honor and support them.
Professor Althouse said...
Here's a link to pre-order the book at Amazon.
You should donate your cut of any of those book orders to Bush's Military Service Initiative. ( Or some other military-supporting charitable organization )
@shiloh
Presidency: Republican
House: Republican
Senate: Republican
Supreme Court: will be constitutional majority for 20 years
31 republican governors.
23 republican controlled states to 11 democrat controlled states.
Voter ID laws are going to win in more states and we could see a national voter ID law passed. Voter ID laws like they passed in NC will cement control of each branch of the federal government for republicans. It doesn't matter how many illegals you stuff in the voting booth in New York and California. As soon a Florida gets a voter ID law passed you are finished nationally as well as at the state level. Enough rust belt states will have voter ID laws put in to end the hopes of democrats nationally for a generation.
2018 is going to be glorious. 50/50 odds that republicans will have 60 seats in the senate and regardless a senate majority for decades.
The best part is this is the new republican party. The WASPs and Neocons are being rooted out of the party and the GOP will now put America First. That is our mandate.
@shiloh, Trump has a mandate. However if you want to leave the country then I can take up a collection. Our sole stipulation will be that you have to take up residence in some country that is diverse. No Scandinavia, no Australia, no New Zealand, and absolutely no Canada. Mexico is okay, as are most of the African nations. China, if they'll take you.
Bush did not lie. He acted on reports from domestic and foreign intelligence. Saddam inferred he had nuclear bombs, which a lot of people consider weapons of mass destruction. Being an average guy, and reading the mainstream info at the time, I expected they would find nukes.
Bush did not need or attempt to deceive America in order to attack Iraq. Most of us were eager for revenge for 911 and Iraq was the the perfect target, always badmouthing and challenging America.
"According to this memorandum--the existence of which just came to light a few days ago-- the Administration acknowledged that "Iraq is actively engaged in developing chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missile systems, and may be seeking to develop nuclear weapons as well.
...
The UN Special Commission, once it finally got inside Iraq, is reported to have found equipment from eleven American companies in Iraqi missile and chemical weapons plants." -- Owl Gore, 1992
@Achilles, note that Manchin, over in West Virginia, is looking at an electorate which went 70% for Trump and he's openly mulling a party change.
Bush acknowledges responsibility for the decisions he made, and honors the success of of Americans and allies to pursue revitalization, rehabilitation, and reconciliation with former enemies.
That said, Trump overcame the Democratic margin of fraud, class diversity-mongering, and promises of redistributive change in order to pursue Americans' goal of revitalization, rehabilitation, and reconciliation.
Oh, and Shiloh??? If the war in Iraq was unjustified, then what about the war with Libya started by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama?
FullMoon wrote:
"Most of us were eager for revenge for 911 and Iraq was the the perfect target, always badmouthing and challenging America."
I don't know of a single person who was eager for revenge after 9/11. I'm pretty sure that if you looked for evidence that the US invaded Iraq out of a lust for revenge for 9/11 you would come up empty.
Poor Shiloh. He doesn't understand numbers. He continues to treat the election results as if there are not 6 million more votes to come in. Any good election counting site will show you that: the NYT, 538, ElectionProject.org ... and so on.
133,331,500 is the present prediction for total votes. Trump will get 47.4 or 47.5 of that for 63,332,462 votes.
That's a lotta rednecks, Shiloh. A lotta rednecks.
Shilo, by your math, NO president has EVER had a mandate.
Did you shout, "No mandate!" four years ago? Or eight?
Yeah, I didn't think so.
Try to make it a bit less obvious.
Recalculating, Trump has got 60.5 million of 127.6 million votes so far = .474 x 57% = 27%
In 2012, Obama had 51.1% of 54.9% = 28%, and we now know both figures were tilted towards the Democrats by their concerted acts of voter fraud and voter suppression.
W's problem was that he didn't know how to argue his points, so the right argument never got legs. The soap opera arguments prevailed, as a result, since the MSM gives those legs.
He should have used the bully pulpit to keep the right arguments equally in the foreground.
Trump knows how to throw sand in the gears of soap opera arguments; I don't know that he knows how to argue positively for his points.
I can argue for them easily enough, assuming they are what I think they are.
Manchin says he won't jump parties but I'm thinking that's just talk. He jumped to Trump's defense after the execrable Harry Reid comments on the election/Trump. My mind is wondering ... anyone else? Are there some Dem senators who, like Manchin, see their party collapsing beneath them?
I'm betting there are. Bill Nelson of Florida? Joe Donelly of Indiana? Claire - gulp! -- McCaskill of Missouri?
The Democratic Party is not just in the wilderness right now: it is shattered. My what a difference a few thousand votes for president means.
You get a mandate if you have a good argument for whatever you want the mandate for.
Blogger Big Mike said...
@Achilles, note that Manchin, over in West Virginia, is looking at an electorate which went 70% for Trump and he's openly mulling a party change.
25 democrats are up in 2018. Many in states trump carried. West Virginia will have a republican senator in 2018. I don't think we should let him switch. We can do better.
Or we let Manchin switch under one condition: we pass term limits on congress.
A fine man, and a bad President. Just like his Dad.
Obama will probably go the corrupt family-enriching foundation route.
I am asked again to help lend a hand for Haiti. Isn't it odd that the corrupt democrat Clinton Foundation will not send any of their vast corrupt fortune to help Haiti? Racists.
A fine man, and a bad President. Just like his Dad.
"What a fine ex-President George W. Bush has been!"
Kept his mouth shut in public, unlike his predecessor. We will see how his successor does at this. Any bets?
GWB is classy. The Warren-Pelosi-Podesta-Clinton left? not so much.
"Supreme Court: will be constitutional majority for 20 years."
There are a lot of unhatched chickens in that count. Trump has one vacancy to fill. There is no guaranty there will be another. They is no guaranty how Trump's appointee will vote. Etc. Etc.
Dubya is a gentleman in the best sense of the term, as is his father.
shiloh complained: If they/you don't engage me, Althouse is just a 24/7 ad nauseam con circle jerk!
Perhaps we are just more discerning than you would prefer.
Why are you here, under the circumstances? You like 'circle jerks'?
Shiloh: "btw, I lied when I said if Trump won I would be pissed for a couple days and move on. Alas, I was over it before Trump was declared the winner as didn't have much, if any, investment in Hillary."
KEEP HOPE ALIVE!!
KEEP HOPE ALIVE!!
KEEP HOPE ALIVE!!
KEEP HOPE ALIVE!!
KEEP HOPE ALIVE!!
KEEP HOPE ALIVE!!
KEEP HOPE ALIVE!!
KEEP HOPE ALIVE!!
KEEP HOPE ALIVE!!
KEEP HOPE ALIVE!!
KEEP HOPE ALIVE!!
KEEP HOPE ALIVE!!
They love W. in Africa for his largely unsung assistance in dealing with AIDS. He is highly esteemed in the Sub Saharan.
Bush did what pretty much all ex-presidents have done- stayed out of the spotlight and refused to publicly criticize the new president. The only real outlier in this regard was Jimmy Carter, but even he didn't criticize later presidents too much.
It will be interesting to see what Obama does. There have been claims he intends to remain in D.C., though I haven't tried to confirm that claim.
Awesome.
Thanks Althouse!
George W and Laura did not vote for Hillary or Trump. They sent a message to Rush to correct him.
If you have the energy to read Shiloh's list of links you will find in most cases that what Trump said was true or made sense. I will just pick two to illustrate.
The Joint Chiefs has been horribly politicized during Obama's administration. I have very little faith in their war fighting ability. They seem to be more concerned with appeasing the politically correct than building a capable military. I add to this that we are not ready to fight a war. David Petreus said in a WSJ op-ed that our readiness was fair to good - and that was supposed to be a positive. The last time Marine Corps air was evaluated it was at 50% efficiency. There were not enough planes or parts to meet their operational requirements. It's fair to say, as Trump did, "Our military is a disaster". Trump should clean house at the Pentagon.
I have lately read many suggestions by foreign policy "experts" that we encourage the Turks and Kurds to push both ISIS and the Syrian government into a small area in the southwest of Syria and let them fight it out in that restricted space. Isn't that what Trump was suggesting?
Oh, here's a third; If Shiloh thinks the Iranians are not going to be nuclear capable well before any restrictions run out he is delusional. Politifact. Seriously?
Shoulda sent the Air Force.
Mary Anastasia O'Grady just "I don't know quite the right word for it " herself on the WSJ Editorial Report. First she was again all excited about Trump threatening to reopen NAFTA and put a 35% tariff on Mexican imports if he can't get some adjustments to the existing practices, and "you just can't do that!," but at the end of the program she pointed out how Mexico, when the U.S. was slow to amend our trucking regulations to suit them, raised the tariffs on agriculture produce until the U.S. processors were screaming at Congress and got some action on the issue.
As Al Capone is reported to have said, "You get more with a gun and a kind word than with a kind word alone!"
Who did they vote for?
NYT admits we found WMD's.
"Just one story. There are dozens on google. I know classified information in now a passé term but the ISR feeds of the truck columns leaving Iraq for Syria are out there. It is widely known where Assad got the weapons he used to violate Obama's red line."
Those were simply old, decaying remnants of his Hussein's largely destroyed weapons stockpiles. They were NOT the WMD that the Bush Administration insisted were being reconstituted in preparation for destroying America, or giving to terrorists to destroy America, or whatever the lie was. And they were lying. These weren't "mistakes in judgment" by American and global intelligence agencies. These were intentional misrepresentation of the actual data collected by the intelligence agencies.
I can't say with certainty that George W. Bush lied about WMD, as he may have simply been parroting to the public lies fed to him by Cheney and the people Cheney had working on the matter. But the administration's assertions about Iraqi WMD were lies.
"Bush ended a war that was fought in self-defense, sustained under Clinton, and brought the antagonist to a trial by the people. Now, he acknowledges responsibility for the decisions he made."
Bush "ended a war that was fought in self-defense..."? Bush started a war against a nation that had never attacked us--he initiated an illegal war of aggression, a war crime. He, or his administration, also made torture an official part of American practice, enshrining criminal behavior into policy.
"Contrast that to the progressive, illegal wars (i.e. social "justice" adventurism) saved and created by Obama and Clinton, and bringing long-reformed antagonists to trial by sodomy and abortion, then running amuck through Africa, Arabia, and Eurasia, while rejecting responsibility and exploiting immigration "reform" (e.g. refugee crises) and dead babies for democratic leverage and redistributive change (i.e. trickle-up poverty)."
You kind of go off the boards here at the end and you're just gibbering, but Obama certainly continued and expanded upon the illegal wars and war crimes of the Bush and Clinton administrations.
As for the topic of this post, I see that, just as with Dylan, Bush has been working on developing his proficiency as a painter, and, while still amateurish, it shows great improvement.
The Eternally Virtue Signaling Cook wrote You kind of go off the boards here at the end and you're just gibbering, but Obama certainly continued and expanded upon the illegal wars and war crimes of the Bush and Clinton administrations.
So.... Obama's a war criminal, eh? Good to know. That would make Hillary an accomplice, sort of a Ribbentrop to Obama's Hitler, does it not?
I trust you cast your vote for Trump. Can't have any hint of hypocrisy, can we?
I wonder if it's racist to speculate that a person of color or a woman might be a war criminal? I should ask Cook for the proper virtue signal...
"If I got a $192 an hour pension for the rest of my life, I'd be in the back room painting too.
He even gets a no-fly zone over his house.
Eat your heart out :-)"
Yeah, but Obama will be playing golf while also reaping big bucks from speaking fees.
Robert Cook said...
"Those were simply old, decaying remnants of his Hussein's largely destroyed weapons stockpiles. They were NOT the WMD that the Bush Administration insisted were being reconstituted in preparation for destroying America, or giving to terrorists to destroy America, or whatever the lie was. And they were lying..."
Could you point me in the direction of some quotes where GWB talked about WMD being reconstituted in preparation for destroying America, or anything that you would consider an outright lie? He certainly *did* say that Saddam Hussein was supporting terrorists -- which was true. And that he had chemical weapons -- which was true. And that the combination was a danger -- which was true (though reasonable people could certainly disagree about how much of a danger). And lots of other things that were true enough.
For starters here -- ( http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/06/bush.speech.transcript/index.html ) -- is CNN's transcript of GWB's press conference just before the war started. Could you point out the lie for me??
"Jimmy Carter has probably been the greatest ex-president ever."
Greater than Washington? The fact that Washington voluntarily became an ex president makes him the greatest ever.
Carter may be the greatest ex, if the standard of greatness is a comparison to his actual presidency.
Yes, he is a fine ex-president and a shining example of how an ex-president should comport himself. I hope you-know-who will follow his lead.
I wouldn't waste a moment playing the popular vote x percentage voting game with the pitiful lefty losers. Trump easily won the electoral vote majority -- nothing else matters in that contest. Add the complete dominance at every non-local office and it's beyond a mandate for the Republican Party. For at least a decade.
Yeah, but Obama will be playing golf while also reaping big bucks from speaking fees.
The fees may not be so large when he no longer has any influence with the bureaucracies.
There have been claims he intends to remain in D.C., though I haven't tried to confirm that claim.
The Obamas have leased a home in DC and will remain there at least until Sasha finishes high school which is very nice for Sasha.
I have the idea that Obama will behave like a shadow president or a president in exile. I hope I'm wrong.
"Robert Cook said...
"Bush started a war against a nation that had never attacked us--he initiated an illegal war of aggression, a war crime."
The question is how you think about the inter-Gulf-War period when we were flying warplanes over Iraq and taking fire and technically not at peace with Saddam Hussein. You can call that peace, or you can call it a cease fire -- certainly, a big part of GWB's justification for Gulf War II was that Iraq was violating the terms of that cease fire.
"Had never attacked 'us'" depends on your definition -- they'd certainly shot at our planes enforcing the no-fly-zone (of course, that was over their country), and they'd definitely sponsored anti-American terrorism. But it's certainly true that the Iraqi army had *zero* capability to invade the U.S. and never tried.
"He, or his administration, also made torture an official part of American practice, enshrining criminal behavior into policy."
On this, I totally agree. That was shameful.
I'm betting there are. Bill Nelson of Florida? Joe Donelly of Indiana? Claire - gulp! -- McCaskill of Missouri?
Claire's last hope for escaping the Senate and getting a cabinet post is now gone. Perhaps she would like to end her Senate career in the majority. Or not.
Jimmy Carter has probably been the greatest ex-president ever.
Bullshit.
More than that, delusional bullshit.
It still warms my heart to the see the fifth-column leftists continue to fondly remember the Butcher of Baghdad.
There are two sides to a war. And you chose the other.
Never forget that. I certainly won't.
Hillary Clinton blames FBI Director James Comey for getting trounced.
A few days ago I urged clemency for Miz Hillary.
I've changed my mind. The Witch is trying to build a mythos for her minions to make sacrifice to. This needs to be remedied before another stupid conspiracy subculture is born. The Snowflake Movement has shown that we have raised a generation of anti-democratic neofascist who are ill-prepared for citizenship in a free republic. The last thing they need is an excuse to engage in insurrection (although the dark part of me is anxious to teach a few 5.56mm lessons to would-be urban guerrillas).
History must record that Hillary would never had gotten as far election night if Director Comey had not allowed her to skate back in July. The best way, perhaps the only way, is demonstrate this is to indict and prosecute everyone involved in the server, the cover-up, the destruction of documents and evidence, and the fraudulent foundation — including Hillary. I realize it sets a bad prescient, a successful candidate arresting and jailing his rival, but the Clintons have it coming in spades!
He was a fine President, too.
read his speeches. so reasoned, reasonable, courageous and clear. He had to make Terrible Choices, the worst kind of choices, and he was transparent in making the case for those difficult solutions.
i believe history will look back on him as an extraordinary president at the right place at the right time.
godspeed, america
SukieTawdry: You wrote "I have the idea that Obama will behave like a shadow president or a president in exile. I hope I'm wrong."
I think - because of the initial press conference on the Obama/Trump meeting the other day - that Trump plans to recruit Obama as far as he can to back some of Trump's programs. Most specifically, outreach and development for inner cities.
Obama loves the limelight and is a great speaker, and Trump is very good at understanding individual strengths and vulnerabilities.
It would not be a bad thing at all if Trump could work that out. It wouldn't be bad for Obama, it would probably be good for the country, and it could be the beginning toward rebuilding some sort of shared goals in politics. Politics since GWB has become a blood sport, and it is terrible for the country. Problems are not addressed and progress isn't made, because the political players NEVER STOP SPINNING.
Obama does have a better side and higher aspirations. We'll see if Trump can pull this off. Trump is very definitely trying to get it done.
But Bill Clinton has also been a great ex-president. His organization provides 70% of AIDS drugs in Africa among other things.
Not exactly. The Clinton Health Access Initiative, according to the Clinton Foundation (or the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Foundation or whatever they call themselves these days), "has helped negotiate HIV/AIDS therapy price cuts as high as 90%, ensuring access to these treatments for more than 11.5 million people across more than 70 countries."
One of the main pharmaceutical companies with whom CHAI negotiates is an Indian drug manufacturer named Ranbaxy which pled guilty in 2013 to "seven criminal counts with intent to defraud and the introduction of adulterated drugs into interstate commerce" here in the US. It's not known at this time how many diluted drugs may have been distributed to AIDS patients internationally. Ranbaxy is barred from distributing drugs in the US but CHAI continues to enable its distribution of AIDS/HIV drugs abroad.
The deal with Ranbaxy put CHAI in the position to administer an airline-ticket levy program run by UNITAID, a global health initiative hosted by the World Health Organization. There's chatter that the flow of funds from UNITAID through CHAI enabled the Clintons to skim.
The Clinton financial world is very convoluted. Nothing about it is as it seems. The Clinton foundations may be responsible for some good works, but their primary function is to enrich Bill and Hill, a pair of grifters par excellence. A great ex-president? No, not in my book.
Mass torture and indiscriminate (i.e. elective) abortion became official American policy following the State-establishment of the Pro-Choice Church. Class diversity including institutional racism, sexism, exclusion, etc. were also reconstituted at the Church's behest. Today, we have immigration "reform" that normalized mass exodus from second and third-world nations, and offers sanction to refugee crises.
The wars of aggression (i.e. not defensive) were carried out in Serbia, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, South Africa, Sudan, Somalia, etc.
Well, MaxedOutMama, we soon shall see if Mr. President-Elect is actually the master of the art of the deal that he claims to be. As another ex-president said, it's amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit. Neither Trump nor Obama strike me as someone who doesn't care who gets the credit. And the body language in the two pictures I've seen of their meeting suggests these two men have little desire to work in tandem. But, who knows, certainly stranger things have happened.
Then on Wednesday W and Laura came out and said that's not true, they didn't vote for Hillary or Trump. Which, for a Republican, was the same thing as a vote for Hillary.
They vote in Texas which allows them great latitude with their votes just as voting in California allows me great latitude with mine. I really did not expect anyone in the Bush family to vote for Donald Trump.
Yes, to me George Bush, #43, has been one of the best.
He was handed a horrible mass murder by our enemies that demanded war.
He fought the war and drove them into a corner.
Then came Obama who threw it all away.
Yet Bush kept in touch with so many of the ones he sent in harms way. Met them at the airport, met them at the hospital, met them at rallies.
He has kept the faith. Pity his brother turned out to be so shallow.
I like how the large windows are covered so this doesn't seem like W is hobby-ing the way rich folks do (which is what he's doing).
Anywho, it's nice that he does what he wants to do and racks up the credit he's seeking.
Good thing he's not, like the Clintons, hitting the phones to shakedown really big money for charity (for W, that discomfort was only required for more important things, i.e. getting him to the political office where he could order Americans to die and be hurt for......., and then he'd paint them to make everything at least square, but really, he ends up net greater than if he (staying in Texas) had no chance to send these folks to death and injury for..........., because now we are supposed to be grateful for his hobby).
P.S. He also mountain bikes to help.
P.P.S His brush clearing photo ops are also signs of his goodness.
Carry on.
Blogger Once written, twice... said...
But Bill Clinton has also been a great ex-president. His organization provides 70% of AIDS drugs in Africa among other things
That is true, it does provide abut 70% of the AIDS drugs.
But the AIDS drugs do not have any active ingredient in many cases. The drugs Clinton's foundation is providing are worthless. Unless you are the one receiving the money for selling them.
But it sure does sound good that people can unknowing say things like "His organization provides 70% of AIDS drugs in Africa among other things"
Bill Clinton REALLY, REALLY, pises me off. I don't mean this as a criticism of you, Once Bitten. I am assuming that you don't know.
OTOH, if you can read this 2013 Fortune article about the Indian pharma company, Ranbaxy, that the Clintons are in bed with and still say that, I will blame you. It has not gotten any better since Katherine Eban wrote the article 3 years ago.
http://fortune.com/2013/05/15/dirty-medicine/?iid=sr-link1
Of course with the AIDS drugs they are only killing Africans and, as on Ranbaxy exec said:
Ranbaxy executives didn’t care, says Kathy Spreen, and made little effort to conceal it. In a conference call with a dozen company executives, one brushed aside her fears about the quality of the AIDS medicine Ranbaxy was supplying for Africa. “Who cares?” he said, according to Spreen. “It’s just blacks dying.”
With their generic Lipitor and other drugs, they are killing Americans.
On May 13, Ranbaxy pleaded guilty to seven federal criminal counts of selling adulterated drugs with intent to defraud, failing to report that its drugs didn’t meet specifications, and making intentionally false statements to the government. Ranbaxy agreed to pay $500 million in fines, forfeitures, and penalties — the most ever levied against a generic-drug company. (No current or former Ranbaxy executives were charged with crimes.)
Yeah, that's the kind of ex-president Bill Clinton is. That whole damned family should burn in Hell.
John Henry
Btw, my doc hacked off my legs because he had a hunch that cancer was about to take over, even though no inspections had shown this. Anywho, it turned out the hunch was wrong.
But, he gave me a nice painting of myself from the waste up, so it's cool.
Also, my CPA lost everything I owned on a hunch. But, you should see the painting he did of me, I'm so grateful.
BTW,
both me CPA and doc have really beautiful painting studios, especially when the windows are open so the tranquility of the view can be appreciated.
Anywho, w/ no legs and no dough, I need to get out on the streets w/ my tin can. But, you should see the paintings!
After the war, Iraqi generals in charge of the different divisions were asked about WMDs. Remember, Saddam ruled by fear, even amongst his officer corps. All of them gave pretty much the same answer. Their division wasn't equipped with WMDs. They weren't trusted enough political generals. But the divisions to either side of them (1 side for the flanking divisions) did have, and they didn't understand why they weren't used to impede the American advance.
So, if Iraqi generals thought Iraq had them....
"Are you a veteran?"
I'm not.
Presumably that doesn't mean that I'm required to praise W's painting hobby which takes inspiration from his errors which casued the deaths and injuries of Americans (not to mention innocent foreign collateral damage), and trillions of dollars of red ink. Presumably you can know that I don't need to be a veteran to disapprove of W's selfpromotion hobby/book. If he really wanted to raise big dough, he'd put down the brushes and pickup the phone to dial for dollars from the rich folks he's previously called on to help himself.
Can folks here imagine how much ass kissing W has received throughout the process of all these paintings?
Put yourself in his shoes, in his circle of contacts. His blathering about his painting inspirations, and then all around being so deferential and complimentary. And, now the circle is enlarged, look how Althouse responded.
We're so grateful to W for making poor decisions that hurt and killed Americans (and manny more innocents as collateral damage), and costing trillions, and F-ed the ME, but look how this cluster-F inspired him to paint in his rich person's hobby room, w/ an amazing view. Can you hear what W hears? "We're so grateful to your greatness, W."
a good deal of the narrative, about the iraq war, is bollocks, pardon the language, there were chemical weapons caches, as cj chivers has uncovered, and probably there are biological and radiological ones, some are being employed by islamic state, which is run by former top and middle level baathists, who were no great bulwarks against islamism
BTW, I'm quite familiar w/ Henri Rousseau, one of the names I've used here was related to Henri Rousseau, and W is no toll collector.
Just sayin'
and clinton's meddling in bosnia, a saudi regime project, provided the experience that a generation of al queda operatives required, same with kosovo,
Narc,
There's got to be times when it's tricky for a Reagan worshipping con. Could y'all go w/ saying that the Mujahideen beating the Commies was a good thing thanks to Ronnie, but it's Jimmie's fault for where that eventually led.
Carry on.
Likewise, after Iran backed folks kill hundreds of Americans, POTUS says we will never give in, then months later he runs up the white flag of defeat and evacuates.
But, now a good con is supposed to praise and excuse-make W's adventurism.
No thanks, I'll stick w/ Ronnie.
PBandJ_Ombudsman said...
BTW, I'm quite familiar w/ Henri Rousseau, one of the names I've used here was related to Henri Rousseau, and W is no toll collector.
Just sayin'
11/12/16, 7:31 PM
OMG you're that guy? Feh.
Listen, you are so full of poison, you really need to go out and get laid or something. Just go away from here for a while, it's no good for you.
so you would have have stayed in beirut, for how long, it took a number of subsequent strikes to force the retreat from there, and then they started taking hostages with the civilians in the area,
we should have supported massoud, over hekmatyar and company, but as with the reliance on riyadh doha and istanbul now, re syrian rebels, we keep listening to the wrong advice,
and we incurred more casualties in afghanistan, from iranian made ieds, in the last six years, so do you have a point, or do you just (redacted) for food,
BadL,
Among other issues, it'd be a bit of a logistical challenge, but I'll consider commenting while F-ing.
Maybe for computer nerds that's kinky.
I dunno.
narc,
I clearly wrote that I was pro-Ronnie.
no, you're just a jackass, most of the times, your options are bad and worse in the runup to the afghan invasion, carter had cut off the junta in a fit of pique, james fallows wrote that terrible speech calling the shah, an island of stability, the khomeinists re andrew cooper could have been crushed at any time upto the summer of 1978, after that, it was 'abandon all hope,
Right Narc, the times we didn't F w/ the ME, would have been the cake ways to get what we want, like Cheney saying we'd be greeted as liberators. And, if that hadn't been tried, it could have been added to your talking points of what so easily coulda/shoulda.
Carry on.
among the shia, those who had forgotten how powell and co, let them be slaughtered in the marshes, that was probably true, among the baathist, who had been lording over the country for 80 years not so much,
Btw BadL,
there've probably been a bunch of my other names that have earned your strong disapproval.
Clicking on your name, I see that you're fairly new around here, so you've missed out on some of them.
Anywho, do carry on w/ your assessment of what passes for worthiness in these threads. You're a role model. If only the folks who used to occupy these threads could have matched your greatness.
Hitler was also a terrible amateur painter. Just sayin' before shiloh.
shiloh - I'm a very proud Trumpkin!
Art therapy for depression.
Been lurking here near daily since the early Althouse. Thoughtful informed comments for the most part although less diverse than it used to be. PJ you are an asshole.
Blogger PBandJ_Ombudsman said...
Btw, my doc hacked off my legs because he had a hunch that cancer was about to take over, even though no inspections had shown this. Anywho, it turned out the hunch was wrong.
You are trying to pretend there were no WMDs. You are lying and dishonest. WMDs were found.
If you continue to push the lie there were no WMDs then you will just prove to everyone you are a dishonest piece of shit.
Could you point me in the direction of some quotes where GWB talked about WMD being reconstituted in preparation for destroying America, or anything that you would consider an outright lie?
If you are asking if GWB ever made such public statements, you probably have us. He left those accusations to his subordinates, especially Powell (how later admitted he was bamboozled), Rumsfeld and Cheney. Powell's testimony at the UN was nothing but lies (the "mobile bio weapons labs" turned out to be weather balloon trucks), Rumsfeld and Cheney perpetrated the lies that "there was no doubt" that Saddam's biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs were active and that he had huge stockpiles of chemical weapons and "we know exactly where they are".
seething-liberals-vow-revolution-in-democratic-party
yes, that account came from curveball who was a bnd asset, recruited by one of their weapons inspectors, who was not allowed to be interviewed by us agents, stephen grey's the new spymasters tells the tale, he also points out how the late mr. drumheller lied to drogin, regarding what they knew about him, one of his other conduits was syd blumenthal,
I'll say it again:
Trump should pardon Hillary, on one condition: she accepts the post of Ambassador to Lybia.
I mean, think of the awesomeness of her requesting additional security:
"Ambassador Clinton, one of the reasons we held the Benghazi hearings was to find out why security failed, and how to prevent anything like that from ever happening again. Your response to those hearings was, "what difference at this point does it make?" You were very influential at that time, and the hearings never achieved those purposes as a result of your obstruction. We are therefore no better suited to providing security in Lybia now as we were when Ambassador Stevens was there. Our apologies, but your request for additional security is denied. Good luck."
I can think of no achievable higher justice than that.
@Freder:
I grok you my man.
I bet those guys don't believe that FDR knew about Pearl Harbor ahead of time or that Wilson told the Germans that there were weapons on the Lusitania either.........
Hell I bet those suckers don't even realize that the moon landings were faked!
Keep up the fight brother!
Taft. Greatest ex prez.
Lincoln did more as a corpse than any living president that came after him did while alive.
"He was handed a horrible mass murder by our enemies that demanded war."
Holy shit I missed our war with the House of Saud, the cause of 9/11 was actually payed back?
WTF? How could I have missed that?
Is Islam religion of peace or is that a lie? Is Islam a religion or is that a lie?
Iraq was no threat but could have become useful given its location had we decided to kill the people who triumphed on 9/11, the House of Saud. Nobody gives a fuck about that though, more fun to cheerlead Ted Kennedy's buddy and amnesty whore George W. Bush.
He Is Our Guy, and the lil fella just couldn't get his words out right, that's all. The media was too rough and mean for our peaceful gentleman to do anything but amnesty pimp. He cared for each soul he sent to their death though, believe you me. Hell, like Mary Joe Kopechne those dead probably love Bush for giving them the chance to die for Iraq's population and Saud money ending up in hands all over the world.
George should paint the victims of the war he would have waged against Venezuela after Japan bombed us in WWII were he president then instead of recently. Or maybe he would have preferred to fight Kenyans?
Anybody but the noble Japanese, Germans, or Italians. Who would want to put THOSE guys in history's ash heap? Crazy.
Sometimes you have to abandone all reason when choosing where to go to war, in order to save reason itself.
See?
Get it yet?
Oh and the debt was ENTIRELY Democratics of course, George had no control over that as mere president. He was Our Patriot and debt is Patriotic.
I heard Haiti has whole rape villages, not just rape rooms.
Let's go to war, for the children.
Not Americans' children without a dad, dummy, Haiti's kids.
Or do you like rape villages?
ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION NUMBNUTS!
I will never forgive myself for supporting Bush and his wars with my votes and vocal support online and in person and hope he never forgives himself either.
Blogger Guildofcannonballs said...
I heard Haiti has whole rape villages, not just rape rooms.
Let's go to war, for the children.
Not Americans' children without a dad, dummy, Haiti's kids.
Or do you like rape villages?
ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION NUMBNUTS!
Sure notquite, glad to:
ask the clintons.
I don't think George Bush lied to anyone about the reasons for going to war.
Yep. Being wrong is not the same thing as lying.
He was right about the WMD. He was right about ending the war and graft sustained under the Clinton administration with United Nations oversight. Perhaps he was wrong to bring Hussein to trial. With foresight, he could have followed Obama and Clinton's example, sodomized Hussein, aborted others, redistributed survivors, and imprisoned Americans to misdirect from their illegal wars including the Libya-ISIS Affair. Then again, probably not without the cover of JournoLists, who are notoriously partisan, ideological actors.
"I trust you cast your vote for Trump. Can't have any hint of hypocrisy, can we?"
Of course not. I voted for Jill Stein. Don't be so binary in your thinking.
Poor President and former President. What, if any, positive effect did he have on US?
"What a fine ex-President George W. Bush has been!"
I didn't know you were allowed to say that.
But, he gave me a nice painting of myself from the waste up, so it's cool.
A fitting typo, since so much of PB&J's posts are waste.
"Could you point me in the direction of some quotes where GWB talked about WMD being reconstituted in preparation for destroying America, or anything that you would consider an outright lie?"
From a speech in Cincinnati, Ohio on October 07, 2002:
"Saddam Hussein has chosen to build and keep these weapons despite international sanctions, U.N. demands, and isolation from the civilized world…. Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists. Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints.
"Satellite photographs reveal that Iraq is rebuilding facilities at sites that have been part of its nuclear program in the past. Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. If the Iraqi regime is able to produce, buy, or steal an amount of highly enriched uranium a little larger than a single softball, it could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year."
There were many other speeches where Bush and others in his administration made similar comments, and in many cases referred to WMD Hussein had had years previously but which we knew he had destroyed: not only did the UN Inspectors certify that they had accounted for most of Saddam's known weapons, but Hussein's son-in-law defected to the West and told us that Saddam had ordered his WMD destroyed subsequent to the Gulf War. However, in their various speeches, Bush and his co-conspirators spoke in vagaries that were meant to lead the dumb, the fearful, or the inattentive to assume that the old, mostly-destroyed WMD were the "present-day" WMD that Hussein intended to use to kill us all.
In the months just before 9/11, disputing all the above, Colin Powell and Condi Rice each made speeches, independently of one another, in which they asserted that Hussein had been disarmed and posed no threat to his neighbors.
From an article by John Pilger:
"Both Colin Powell, US Secretary of State, and Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's closest adviser, made clear before September 11 2001 that Saddam Hussein was no threat - to America, Europe or the Middle East.
"In Cairo, on February 24 2001, Powell said: 'He (Saddam Hussein) has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours.'
"This is the very opposite of what Bush and Blair said in public.
"Powell even boasted that it was the US policy of 'containment' that had effectively disarmed the Iraqi dictator - again the very opposite of what Blair said time and again. On May 15 2001, Powell went further and said that Saddam Hussein had not been able to 'build his military back up or to develop weapons of mass destruction' for 'the last 10 years'. America, he said, had been successful in keeping him 'in a box'.
"Two months later, Condoleezza Rice also described a weak, divided and militarily defenceless Iraq. 'Saddam does not control the northern part of the country,' she said. 'We are able to keep his arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.'"
For the record, I have seen the videos of Powell and Rice making these statements.
AA it is telling that you laud feckless men.
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