“History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided: that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder. No one, including me, can know with absolute certainty how the war will be viewed decades from now when we can more fully understand its impact. What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.”
Answer to come later. Trust me...it's good.
UPDATE: Guess the cat's out of the bag (what does that mean, by the way?)
Posted by Will Bunch @ 9:10 PM
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31 comments
Former presser Scott McClellan. This ought to rile up the wing nuts, as an insider finally names names.
They're already circling the wagons, proclaiming McClellan is some self-serving lib. Anybody notice how all the ex-bush insiders writing books never say that bush was right all along? That they all are playing pass the buck. Not one person has taken responsibility for anything, including bush. Truman said "the buck stops here." bushco says the buck stops anywhere but here.
Turbo from American Gladiators?
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Funny, no one took Scott M seriously beforehand, now he is the second coming. Now, if you would excuse me, I have some Jews at Auschwitz I have to free.
Just another maggot that infested our government over the past eight years. At least they're all consistent...It was nobody's fault, everybody was misled. What a piece of garbage........The book, too.
I refuse to buy any of these books which are all attempts to justify the unjustifiable and defend the indefensible. The war in Iraq was not a "blunder" or a "mistake." It was a deliberate act of naked aggression to establish a base for controlling a region that is essential for the exploitation and sale of oil. There were indeed mistakes made in the execution of the war, but the plan was there for years. McClellan, like others before him are just trying to take themselves off the hook by putting others on. Won't work. They are all scum.
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Bush has NEVER taken responsibility for the decision to go into Iraq. After spewing a variety of "reasons" why we went into Iraq, he's consistently claimed he decided because of the "intelligence that EVERYONE had". He's a disgrace...
Magi (as if) we already HAD bases all over the Arabian peninsula. It's the hysterical people like you that embolden the advocates of the war, because baloney like that discredits the legitimate case against the war. If a bunch of execs dream up such a plan, they can't launch the operation all by themselves. They may want to capitalize on the President's folly, Lord knows it wouldn't be hard work. But to push a nation to war takes so much more than just the "wicked" oil companies. What you hve to savor for now is the likes of batboy and XJ flailing because they have nothing to stand on. All they can do is make up stuff about anybody they don't like and scream that everybody else just hates them and America. They don't know that we won't exit Iraq on our terms. Eventually the Iranians will get Maliki or whoever they have running the country to ask us to leave. What are we going to do then, execute another regime change and start all over? If we want to leave Iraq on our terms, we had better start planning soon. When John McCain says that we will never surrender in Iraq, he doesn't know what he is talking about. The most profound lesson from Vietnam was that we would never commit our forces overseas without an achievable and specific mission, but there is no mission in Iraq that can be achieved with our armed forces. All they can do now is buy time that the President, and wannabe President McCain, will waste. That's the lives of our soldiers that they are wasting, building a proxy Iranian government that will kick us out when they are done with us, and what will these guys do then? They want to talk about the debt we owe the soldiers who have perished, but we also owe a lot to those that are alive. But crying bout a war for oil is just so Michael Moore.
Answer to come later. Trust me...it's good..........SCOTT McCLELLAN. This is "really good" Will?
Hmmm. Let me see, the evil Karl Rove (a special assistant to the President) meets with Scooter Libby (Chief of Staff to the VP). McClellan doesn't know what's discussed but suspects the worst. Yep, sounds suspicious to me.
Can somebody point out anything Scottie's written in his new book that we weren't saying four years ago?
Hospitals will be packed today as they treat all the shoulder strains from people patting themselves on the back, saying "see, I was right". The tin foil hat brigade will wallow in this for days. Nobody believed him then, why would anyone believe him now? This ain't news.
Scott already knows the result of Bush's "failed" policies and strategic "blunders": No Islamic terror attacks on American soil since 9/11/01. I'm sure he neglected to put that in his important historical memoir.
"Nobody believed him then, why would anyone believe him now?" . . . . . . . . . Well, for one, he was a WH press secretary then, paid to spin. Two, he's not now. Three, the book is labeled non-fiction. Four, it explains why we were right to not believe him then.
Your turn. Why would you believe him then, but not now?
"No Islamic terror attacks on American soil since 9/11/01." . . . . . But yet you're still terrorized. There's an old saying that describes why we haven't been attacked since 9/11.....Mission Accomplished.
"No Islamic terror attacks on American soil since 9/11/01.".....Uh, yeah, but the 9/11 attack DID HAPPEN on BushCo's watch.....after being repeatedly briefed the summer before ("AQ ready to attack america"), and after numerous heated warnings from FBI field agents about islamists taking flying lessons. SO the old argument that "ehy they only kicked our a** ONCE is pretty specious at best, completely moronic at worst.
The MSM always seemed to treat this guy with contempt. Now they love and respect him. I wonder what changed.
"The MSM always seemed to treat this guy with contempt. Now they love and respect him. I wonder what changed.
Posted by ocjones" . . . . . His job.
yobill is absolutely correct. Any time one of the hawks gets caught having to answer about the Iraq bungling, they claim "everyone" thought Saddam had WMD and "everyone" thought Saddam was dangerous. However, as we all know, it was not a collective worldwide mistake. There were both domestic and foreign opposition to the war in general; domestic and foreign questions about the validity of the intelligence; and, domestic and foreign questions about what would happen after Saddam's regime fell.
I like the Inquirer's sly endorsement of Hillary today. McBama?
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Msl, while I tend to agree with your post of 7:59 (more or less), it is clear that you too are spinning, so please allow me to play devil's advocate. You said, "Well, for one, he was a WH press secretary then, paid to spin." Actually, the press secretary's job is to collect information from within the Administration and to act as a liason with the media in disseminating that info in a timely and ~accurate~ manner. While he will certainly present the President's policies in the best possible light, you seem to imply that "spin" is a synonym for lying. "Two, he's not now." Well, for one, he was a WH press secretary then, paid to spin. Two, he's not now. Three, the book is labeled non-fiction. Four, it explains why we were right to not believe him then. Your turn. Why would you believe him then, but not now?
inning" for himself, in trying to sell a book that is damning toward a very unpopular administration. Do you really think these revelations would be considered as important a year from now, when no one really cares about Bush anymore? "Three, the book is labeled non-fiction." As were his press briefings. "Four, it explains why we were right to not believe him then." It seems that this attitude of "as long as he agrees with my viewpoint, then he is credible" is the crux of the matter. If a person would lie (as you imply) because it is his "job" to do so (as you imply), then he would lie also in his new career path as an author. "Your turn. Why would you believe him then, but not now?" Because we expect some credibility from appointed officials who are accepting taxpayer dollars. The press sec in particular needs to project a certain trustworthiness to the media in order to do his job efectively. Conversely, we wouldn't necessarily believe someone who has his own self-interest (book sales) at heart.
It would be useful to "make clear the tie-in between Iraq and the broader war on terrorism" in the following terms:
Useful for who, for what? For apologists trying to rationalize a disaster of a policy? Yup. For people who are actually focused on reducing the threat of Islamic fundamentalism? Nope. Undoubtedly, as predicted by many, invading Iraq has only provided a training ground for jihadists and given fundamentalists a platform for garnering more widespread support in the wider Muslim community. But keep holding on to the sycophantic notion that the rationale for invading Iraq wasn't completely bogus: it will only serve to marginalize the already marginalized minority by making it abundantly clear that they're completely divorced from any form of reality.
Scotty's looking to sell some books so he must through out a few tidbits. "The Iraq War was not necessary" Really? "Q: And finally, what is the President's assessment of the damage to American credibility that might have been done by his very forceful case that there were weapons and his launching of a war on that basis?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, nothing has changed in terms of the President's view. ... And remember, September 11th changed the equation about how we confront the threats that we face, and the President recognizes what his most important responsibility is, and that is to do everything in his power to protect the American people. And nothing has changed in terms of his views when it comes to Iraq, what he has previously stated and what you have previously heard. The President knows that by advancing freedom in a dangerous region, we are making the world a safer place." Crawl back in your hole scotty, you little weasel.
pal you're ignoring a very basic fact.. In the response you paste, Mr. McClellan was speaking for the President (note: "the President's view".. "his power".. "his views".. "what he has stated".. "The President knows"). In his book, he is speaking for himself.
Politburo, I understand what you are saying but lets be real - if you didn't agree with what your boss was saying, why take that job as his spokesperson. He is still a little, weasaly bushie loyal trying to sell some books. And meant throw, not through - where's that grammar check when I needed it.
batkinson, sorry some of us have to work, so I couldn't respond to your inanities. Not a left-wing crackpot, I am actually pretty middle of the road. Of course, anybody to the left of Ghengis Khan is considered a lib crackpot to your ilk. bush has always backed the war, even while continually throwing bs about everyone knowing about saddam's wmds. Also, he never let the inspectors complete their job, which would have proved there were none. Of course he can also joke with a slide show about looking for wmds in the WH while our troops were dying for his joke. Now that is being resolute.
Same ol crackpot right argument: no attacks on American soil since 9/11. Why bother? 4,000 dead Americans (1,000 more than 9/11) in Iraq, thousands more maimed for life, physically and mentally. Our economy in shambles. Oil sky-high. Vets getting crap care. I think obl's somewhere saying "mission accomplished, and we didn't have to worry about slipping our guys into the US."
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About Will Bunch
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Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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