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How Bush Misleads Himself
    #1762647 -

Link

George W. Bush ducked the first question he was asked during a joint press conference with Tony Blair after the British Prime Minister's brilliant speech to Congress last Thursday. The question had two parts. Did he take responsibility for the false claim in his State of the Union message that Iraq had recently sought to buy uranium in Africa? And why were the allies having so much trouble finding other countries to help us in Iraq? The President ? who seemed a mite tetchy, as he often does when things aren't going well ? glowered: "I take the responsibility for making the decision...to put together a coalition to remove Saddam Hussein, because the intelligence...made a clear and compelling case [that Saddam] was a threat to security and peace."

Right, but that wasn't the question, and one wonders why Bush didn't simply say, "Yep. My fault. Some hard-working guy at the National Security Council got a little overenthusiastic and stuck in that sentence. I didn't take it out. Won't do that again." End of story. Instead, we have the two-week spectacle of Bushies on the run and the President undermining his reputation as a straight shooter by forcing his CIA director, George Tenet, to take the fall. Clint Eastwood would never do that.

Why has the uranium story puffed up so huge? It wouldn't have been a very big deal without the deepening crisis in Iraq. But it also has ballast because it clarifies an aspect of George W. Bush's essential character ? specifically, the problem he has with telling the truth. I am not saying Bush is a liar. Lying is witting: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." This is weirder than that. The President seems to believe that wishing will make it so ? and he is so stupendously incurious that he rarely makes an effort to find the truth of the matter. He misleads not only the nation but himself. Every worst-case Saddam scenario just had to be true, as did every best-case post-Saddam scenario. Bush's talent for self-deception extends to domestic and economic policy. He probably believes that he's a compassionate conservative, even though he has allowed every antipoverty program he favors to be eviscerated by Congress. This week's outrage is the crippling of AmeriCorps, which he had pledged to increase in size. He probably believes that his tax cuts for the wealthy will help reduce the mammoth $455 billion budget deficit (which doesn't include the cost of Iraq), even though Ronald Reagan found that the exact opposite was true and had to raise taxes twice to repair the damage done by his 1981 cuts. And Bush probably believed, as the sign said, that the "mission" had been "accomplished" in Iraq when he landed on the aircraft carrier costumed as a flyboy. He may even have believed that he was a flyboy.

But the country can no longer afford the President's self-delusions. He is entering the most crucial six months of his presidency. As a team of experts hired by the Pentagon reported last week: "The window for cooperation may close rapidly if they [the Iraqis] do not see progress." Which brings us back to the second part of the question the President didn't answer last week: Why is no one helping us in Iraq? A simple answer: Why on earth should they? The situation is a mess, in large part because of American arrogance. We insisted on doing the reconstruction on our own (only 13,000 of the 148,000 troops on the ground are British). It seems plain now that going it alone isn't working. Even Donald Rumsfeld came very close to admitting that on Meet the Press a few weeks ago. Asked if we should turn Iraq over to the United Nations, he said, "At some point, I think that--" and then he caught himself and said, "They're already playing an important role."

In fact, the current military situation is extremely dangerous, not just to the troops on the ground but to our national security in general. We are pinned down in Iraq and will be for years. We don't have the forces to meet another challenge ? in North Korea, or Afghanistan, or anyplace else. We don't even have the forces necessary to relieve our tired troops in Iraq. Last week India made clear ? as France and Germany have ? that it won't help us without the U.N.'s imprimatur. And now there is serious talk within the White House about going back to the U.N. and asking for help.

Help will not come easily. "You can't have burden sharing without power sharing," a diplomat told me. The U.N. was humiliated, and its weapons inspectors denigrated, by the Bush Administration before the war. Some public groveling from the President may now be in order. Indeed, Bush also owes the American people a speech explaining just how difficult the situation is, how long it's likely to remain that way and how much it will cost. Last week he took "responsibility" for the war. Now he must take responsibility for the peace.


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"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire

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Re: How Bush Misleads Himself [Re: silversoul7]
    #1762666 -

I'd be very suprised if Bush dug into that first question, considering that he was sharing the press conference with Blair, who still stands behind the intelligence assessment based on different evidence.


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Re: How Bush Misleads Himself [Re: wingnutx]
    #1762821 -

wingnutx said:
I'd be very suprised if Bush dug into that first question, considering that he was sharing the press conference with Blair, who still stands behind the intelligence assessment based on different evidence.

 


Bingo. I don't get why they ever said it should not have been in the speach to begin with. What he said was true. They are worrying to much about trying to appease the Dems which seems to give the Dems more ammunition to through at him. :confused:

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Re: How Bush Misleads Himself [Re: silversoul7]
    #1764173 -

He's a fucking drunk whose reasoning powers are clouded with delusions of granduer.America had better get off this assholes train before we derail.


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Once the mighty oak,was a nut who held his ground.

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Re: How Bush Misleads Himself [Re: wingnutx]
    #1765003 -

Quote:
I'd be very suprised if Bush dug into that first question, considering that he was sharing the press conference with Blair, who still stands behind the intelligence assessment based on different evidence.




Yeah he would have really got stuck in to it if Blair wasnt there wouldnt he? Yeah right!

Though surely with Blair there it would have been a perfect time to answer the second part of the question? A point you seem to have conveniently missed!


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Always Smi2le

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Re: How Bush Misleads Himself [Re: GazzBut]
    #1765522 -

I simply didn't address that second, really unrelated, question. I can if you like:

There are about 6 countries with forces in Iraq right now. Many more will sit it out for a variety of reasons, mostly domestic politics.

29 countries signed on in support of war against Iraq, and some more of those may lend more than moral support as the situation is shored up.

Nations that were emphatically opposed to war on Iraq can't really be expected to join in now, although some have made noises indicating that they might (france).

IIRC the countries lending material support are: US, Australia, UK, Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Japan. Oops, that's 7, but Japan hasn't sent their engineers yet, merely pledged to do so.

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Re: How Bush Misleads Himself [Re: wingnutx]
    #1765629 -

29 countries signed on in support of war against Iraq

Emma Brockes phones the embassies of the 'coalition of the willing'

Thursday March 20, 2003
The Guardian

In times of strife, it is good to know who your friends are. So, in the absence of support from traditional allies such as France and Germany, it will come as welcome news to our troops in the Gulf this week that when the going gets tough, Azerbaijan is right behind them. The "coalition of the willing", as Colin Powell has called it, is the list of 30 countries that responded positively to a phone call from Washington, seeking their support against Iraq. Starting with Afghanistan, ending with Uzbekistan and with 15 countries in between preferring to remain anonymous, it is an imaginative list, eschewing the usual suspects to give those nations not used to playing a role on the world stage a chance to shine. Albania, for example. And Georgia.
At the London embassy of the former Soviet Republic, I ask a representative what being in the coalition of the willing entails. "I don't know," he says. "We don't have an official line yet. I'll have to get someone to call you."

Will Georgia be offering practical support, in the war with Iraq, or purely moral? A suspicious pause ensues. "I know what you're talking about," says the spokesman.

For those citizens of Uzbekistan who might be worried that their government is involving them in a conflict of little local relevance, there was reassurance on Uzbek TV this week. Qobilbek Karimbekov, a well known pundit and political commentator, reassured viewers that "at present the fight against international terrorism continues to be a topical issue," going on to urge viewers that aggression in the Gulf should not be construed as a war of Christianity against Islam. Elsewhere in the Uzbek media, George Bush's letter of thanks to President Islam Karimov was quoted in the newspapers at length, knocking news of the imminent extinction of the male Saiga antelope off the front pages. "The contribution of Uzbekistan in these efforts is significant," Bush is quoted as saying, "and I am extremely grateful for this." Nevertheless, before the US president starts counting his chickens, he should register the ambivalence of tone at the Uzbekistan embassy in London, where a spokesman allows that his country's membership of the coalition is "a controversial issue. From one side, war is not good. Absolutely not good." Ominously, he says, "In Uzbekistan, so many people have their own opinions."

Eritrea is one of the poorest, most war-torn countries in the world. I call the embassy to ask how it intends to show its support of the US and coalition of the willing, of which it is a member? There is a long, stunned pause before the spokeswoman says: "Can you call back tomorrow morning?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,917741,00.html



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Don't worry, B. Caapi

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Re: How Bush Misleads Himself [Re: Xlea321]
    #1765632 -

ACCHHHH, The Guardian... Almost as bad as the tabloids


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The punishment which the wise suffer, who refuse to take part in government, is to live under the government of worse men.

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Re: How Bush Misleads Himself [Re: st0nedphucker]
    #1765641 -

Not sure if buying off the Federated islands of micronesia and the Soloman Islands to join the "coalition of the willing" is much to be proud of tho  :lol:

The UN rejected the invasion, that's really all that matters. 


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Don't worry, B. Caapi

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Re: How Bush Misleads Himself [Re: Xlea321]
    #1765658 -

It wasn't directed at what was reported, I simply dislike The Guardian. There reporters write very informative articles but I have difficulty reading them because of their willingness to "jump on the bandwagon" so to speak.


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The punishment which the wise suffer, who refuse to take part in government, is to live under the government of worse men.

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