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Banned
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Originally Posted by Mojo_PeiPei
What point does that soundbyte serve? Talk about nitpicking. Not to say he isn't, or shouldn't be concerned about him, I can see what he means. With everything the President is charged with doing, it would seem to be missplaced to be overly pre-occupied with one man, when all Bush can really do is put the military on him, which is the way it should, Bush should in no way micro-manage the OBL case, we have people better qualified for that.
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Well....then, please explain what these contradictions are about, Mojo. When was the last time in our history when intelligence was either utterly wrong, on every level, when it came to justification for invading another country, Iraq, and then the POTUS gave the Director of Intelligence gathering and analysis, the highest civilian award, when did a POTUS ever "flip-flop" over the importance of apprehending a man who he earlier ordered the invasion of an entire country, Afghanistan, for that sole purpose, only to say the following, just months later? When.....in what other presidential administration, after all of the blunders and contradictions, in challenges of the pre and post 9/11 magnitude, were only officials who objected to the mistakes, and the coverups, the ones fired....and the "fuck ups", kept in their jobs, or promoted, or given very public praise by the POTUS, and "merit awards".
What will it take to "turn", the last 37 percent, Mojo? Is there anything that will?
Quote:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0020313-8.html
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 13, 2002
President Bush Holds Press Conference
Press Conference by the President
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
.... Q Mr. President, in your speeches now you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that? Also, can you tell the American people if you have any more information, if you know if he is dead or alive? Final part -- deep in your heart, don't you truly believe that until you find out if he is dead or alive, you won't really eliminate the threat of --
THE PRESIDENT: Deep in my heart I know the man is on the run, if he's alive at all. Who knows if he's hiding in some cave or not; we haven't heard from him in a long time. And the idea of focusing on one person is -- really indicates to me people don't understand the scope of the mission.
Terror is bigger than one person. And he's just -- he's a person who's now been marginalized. His network, his host government has been destroyed. He's the ultimate parasite who found weakness, exploited it, and met his match. He is -- as I mentioned in my speech, I do mention the fact that this is a fellow who is willing to commit youngsters to their death and he, himself, tries to hide -- if, in fact, he's hiding at all.
So I don't know where he is. <b>You know, I just don't spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you.</b> I'm more worried about making sure that our soldiers are well-supplied; that the strategy is clear; that the coalition is strong; that when we find enemy bunched up like we did in Shahikot Mountains, that the military has all the support it needs to go in and do the job, which they did.
And there will be other battles in Afghanistan. There's going to be other struggles like Shahikot, and I'm just as confident about the outcome of those future battles as I was about Shahikot, where our soldiers are performing brilliantly. We're tough, we're strong, they're well-equipped. We have a good strategy. We are showing the world we know how to fight a guerrilla war with conventional means.
Q But don't you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.
But once we set out the policy and started executing the plan, he became -- we shoved him out more and more on the margins. He has no place to train his al Qaeda killers anymore. And if we -- excuse me for a minute -- and if we find a training camp, we'll take care of it. Either we will or our friends will. That's one of the things -- part of the new phase that's becoming apparent to the American people is that we're working closely with other governments to deny sanctuary, or training, or a place to hide, or a place to raise money.
And we've got more work to do. See, that's the thing the American people have got to understand, that we've only been at this six months. This is going to be a long struggle. I keep saying that; I don't know whether you all believe me or not. But time will show you that it's going to take a long time to achieve this objective. And I can assure you, I am not going to blink. And I'm not going to get tired. Because I know what is at stake. And history has called us to action, and I am going to seize this moment for the good of the world, for peace in the world and for freedom.
Mike Allen. I'm working my way back, slowly but surely. Michael. .....
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Quote:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0060911-3.html
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 11, 2006
President's Address to the Nation
The Oval Office
.....For America, 9/11 was more than a tragedy -- it changed the way we look at the world. On September the 11th, we resolved that we would go on the offense against our enemies, and we would not distinguish between the terrorists and those who harbor or support them. So we helped drive the Taliban from power in Afghanistan. We put al Qaeda on the run, and killed or captured most of those who planned the 9/11 attacks, including the man believed to be the mastermind, Khalid Sheik Mohammed. He and other suspected terrorists have been questioned by the Central Intelligence Agency, and they provided valuable information that has helped stop attacks in America and across the world. Now these men have been transferred to Guantanamo Bay, so they can be held to account for their actions. <b>Osama bin Laden and other terrorists are still in hiding. Our message to them is clear: No matter how long it takes, America will find you, and we will bring you to justice.</b>
On September the 11th, we learned that America must confront threats before they reach our shores, whether those threats come from terrorist networks or terrorist states. I'm often asked why we're in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The answer is that the regime of Saddam Hussein was a clear threat.........
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Quote:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/conten...2/696wnfcp.asp
Inside the Oval Office
President Bush gives journalists a "heads up" about the mid-term elections, among other things.
by Fred Barnes
09/13/2006 1:54:00 PM
WE NOW KNOW WHY the Bush administration hasn't made the capture of Osama bin Laden a paramount goal of the war on terror. Emphasis on bin Laden doesn't fit with the administration's strategy for combating terrorism. Here's how President Bush explained this Tuesday: "This thing about . . . let's put 100,000 of our special forces stomping through Pakistan in order to find bin Laden is just simply not the strategy that will work."
Rather, Bush says there's a better way to stay on offense against terrorists. "The way you win the war on terror," Bush said, "is to find people [who are terrorists] and get them to give you information about what their buddies are fixing to do." In a speech last week, the president explained how this had worked--starting with the arrest and interrogation of 9/11 planner Khalid Sheik Muhammad--to break up a terrorist operation that was planning post-9/11 attacks on America.
"It's really important at this stage . . . to be thinking about how to institutionalize courses of action that will enable future presidents to gain the information necessary to prevent attack," he said. This, presumably, would include the use of secret prisons, tough but legal interrogation techniques, a ban on lawsuits against interrogators, electronic eavesdropping, and monitoring of bank transfers, among other measures.
Bush talked about his strategy in the fight against Islamic jihadists in a 95-minute session in the Oval Office with seven journalists. At the outset of the interview, which occurred the morning after his speech to
the nation on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, Bush declared: "I've never been more convinced that the decisions I made are the right decisions."
An unusual aspect of the session was the president's request for some of his remarks to be considered off the record. Nevertheless, several of these comments were reported anyway, including his observation that he senses a new spiritual awakening in the country. That view, he indicated, is at least partly based on the many times average citizens tell him they are praying for him.....
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....and video of Fred Barnes on the preceding "topic".
Quote:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/14/barnes-osama/
Bush Tells Barnes Capturing Bin Laden Is ‘Not A Top Priority Use of American Resources’
Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes appeared on Fox this morning to discuss his recent meeting with President Bush in the Oval Office. The key takeaway for Barnes was that “bin Laden doesn’t fit with the administration’s strategy for combating terrorism.” Barnes said that Bush told him capturing bin Laden is “not a top priority use of American resources.” Watch it.
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IMO, the only possible explanation is that Bush is an incoherent incompetent.
Last edited by host; 09-25-2006 at 10:30 AM..
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