Truthfully now, can anyone believe George Bush?

[almaty 19]

So finally we have a glimpse of President Bush's new plan for Iraq. And who can be surprised that the new plan is basically to do what he did under the old plan, except more.

Twenty thousand more, to be exact. That's the amount by which Bush wants to bump American troop strength. The reinforcements, he explained in his televised speech Wednesday night, would largely be used to secure Baghdad. Baghdad is, of course, one of the less secure cities on Earth, epicenter of an insurgency that has killed thousands of Iraqis and Americans.

The decision to increase troop strength is remarkable coming, as it does, from a president who has consistently defended existing troop levels as adequate to get the job done. But then, he's also a president who has consistently said he could not think of any mistakes he made in prosecuting the so-called War on Terror.

Yet, there he was, belatedly admitting that he has pursued a flawed strategy based on false assumptions. "Where mistakes have been made," he said, "the responsibility rests with me." Contrary to a prediction his critics have often made, this admission of error and acceptance of responsibility did not cause Bush's lips to fall off.

I'll be honest: I have no earthly idea whether an influx of 20,000 troops will be sufficient to cure what ails Iraq and its capital city. Your humble correspondent is not an expert on military force levels. Nor, for that matter, are the vast majority of the other pundits who will happily opine on this question in days to come. I'd love to be able to say whether bringing in more troops will pacify Baghdad long enough to get the electricity turned back on. And, for that matter, whether turning on the electricity will, at this late date, make a difference.

But the fact is, I don't know. Tell you what I do know, however.

I know that we've been misled to an awful intersection of history where there are no good options, only options in varying shades of bad.

I know how tempting it is to say we ought to wash our hands of this mess and bring our men and women home.

I know that it still strikes me as wrong, for reasons both moral and pragmatic, to come in, blow up these people's country, then walk away and leave them in the rubble.

Most of all, though, I know this: I do not trust my leaders. And politics is not the only, or even the primary, reason. No, at the end of the day, this is a question of character.

From the beginning, the architects of this war have shown a frightening nonchalance toward truth, a troubling willingness to treat fact as optional. Where reality has collided with political expedience, political expedience has invariably won. Where it has been inconvenient, it has simply been ignored.

It happened when the administration linked Iraq to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks even though one had nothing to do with the other. It happened when the White House used discredited intelligence to make the case for war. It happened when the president airily dismissed gloomy intelligence reports that did not jibe with his preferred view. It happened when he kept insisting we "stay the course" even after it became apparent to everyone with eyes that the course led straight off a cliff.

So now, here comes Bush with sober mien and chastened air asking for one more chance to get it right. And if you sense in this corner a reluctance to comply, well it has less to do with the merits of his proposed strategy than with the fact that it is his proposed strategy. Bush is a man who has heretofore shown only arrogance in the face of monumental and fatal misjudgments. Now he comes before the country asking us, in effect, to trust him.

And for the life of me, I can't think of a single reason I should.

Leonard Pitts Jr. is a columnist for the Miami Herald.

[pedroh 21]

but man! you are supporting the terrorists with your statements! do you want osama to be happy or sad? we can't lose and be a joke to the world (err.. i think the US is already a joke to the world because of the military actions)

I say, it's better to bring back 20,000 'losers' than a couple of brave americans..

[almaty 19]

but man! you are supporting the terrorists with your statements! do you want osama to be happy or sad? we can't lose and be a joke to the world (err.. i think the US is already a joke to the world because of the military actions)

I say, it's better to bring back 20,000 'losers' than a couple of brave americans..

well put hermano pedroh..

[Jasman0717 9]

Must be the eyes

[Sinergy 3]

*sigh*

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

[Sinergy 3]

Hes just an idiot. theres nothing more to say.

[yogib37 3]

Well he is just staying the course of casos. The GOP wanted to create a empire and this IRAQ invadsion was planed since 1992.

They wanted to attack iraq. They are building many militry bases now in Iraq.

They planed the invasion and did not have a exit plan. That was planed along with the invasion. They want to create a impearl Militry and a empire. That is facts.

They admit Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11.

If the preseident lies to the people, who will we be able to trust in the goverment.

and the I love to shot lawyer's in the a$$ Cheney, he is just a Goverment contracto lobbist.

Yogi

[Robor007 0]

Bush is not only a stubborn and arrogant fool but easily one of the worst presidents in history. Not only him but his entire administration. When was the last time an Administration had so many scandals? I still can't believe he got re-elected in 2004. I know Kerry wasn't exactly a candidate that blew me away but I voted for him anyway. I would have voted for a box of rocks over the shrub. The good news? The Dem's control the House & Senate making the shrub a mistrusted and disrespected Lame Duck. Plus, there's only 23.5 more months 'till the 'W' is no longer able to mislead and misguide this country. Looking forward to the Nov 2008 elections and Jan 2009 inauguration...

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Bush is a man who has heretofore shown only arrogance in the face of monumental and fatal misjudgments. Now he comes before the country asking us, in effect, to trust him.

And for the life of me, I can't think of a single reason I should.

My sentiments, precisely.

Edited January 19, 2007 by ET-US2004

[rclouse 0]

I thought that was going to be a special commentary by Keith Olbermann.

No disagreement here.

[The_dip_sticks 0]

~~sigh sigh and sigh again

.

[Hornet 2]

Robor007 wrote

"Bush is not only a stubborn and arrogant fool but easily one of the worst presidents in history. Not only him but his entire administration. When was the last time an Administration had so many scandals?"

Give me a break. You may hate him as our President and disagree with him but I'm sick of all these personal attacks on politicians. These blanket statements that says the "worst" or it's a "disaster" are ridiculous!

What scandals has his administration had???

I didn't like Pres. Clinton at all. I was a active Marine when he took office and his leadership in Somalia and onward sucked I thought.

Even with that said, I don't think he was the worst president EVER? I actually think he's a nice guy doing an incredibly tough job. Although his administration had so many scandals it was ridiculous!!

Remember???

Whitewater:

Most of Clinton's involvement in the Whitewater scandal took place while Clinton was governor of Arkansas. Whitewater is the name given to the alleged banking and real estate scandals of Clinton and his friends. After money loss and a failed real estate venture, an illegal method to recover the losses was conceived. The scandal involves Clinton allegedly pressuring Arkansas Small Business Administration (SBA) worker David Hale into making an SBA loan to Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan. The money from the loan was then funneled out with cashier checks and personal accounts (many under false names) to pay for Clinton's debts from the failed Whitewater land project. In other words, tax dollars bailed Bill and Hillary out of a financial crisis after illegal means were used to acquire them.

Cattlegate:

This scandal involves Hillary's investment of approximately $1,000 in cattle futures. Not much later $100,000 had been "earned." In other words, Hillary invested a small amount of money and made a several thousand percent profit from it under very questionable circumstances.

Nannygate:

An early scandal about Zoe Baird's business relations with illegal immigrants effectively stopped Clinton's first Attorney General nominee.

Helicoptergate:

David Watkins, at the time a Clinton aide, used the presidential helicopter to make golf trips. Each use of the Helicopter cost taxpayers thousands.

Travelgate:

The Clintons fired seven white house travel office employees in favor of hire cousins and friends. The employees were lifelong employees in good standing. After stating no other reason for the firings than the employees were viewed as disloyal to the administration, officials began to question the White House. Soon after the firings were questioned, the White House allegedly used the FBI to investigate the employees then attempted to ruin the worker's reputation by making the fact of an FBI investigation public. Travel employees ended up spending their life savings defending themselves in court against the false charges. Further investigation revealed that former travel office chief Billy Dale's FBI file was among the nine hundred plus requested files of Filegate.

Gennifer Flowersgate:

In 1992 Clinton denied a 12 year affair with Gennifer Flowers. She taped phone calls with him but he claimed they were false. After appearing on television branding Flowers a liar and strongly denying the relation, Clinton has again changed his story. Now he has admitted to at least some of the affair. It ironically turns out Clinton is the liar (big suprise). How can we trust this guy?

Filegate:

This Clinton scandal involves the discovery of over 900 Republican FBI files in the White House. Files of former Secretary of State James Baker, former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, and Newt Gingrich's spokesman Tony Blankley were found to be on this list. Upon the discovery of these files, the White House issued an excuse claiming that the files were mistakenly requested by a White House employee working with an outdated list. They were called a simple "snafu." Investigations into Filegate revealed that not a common White House worker but the President's friend and close advisor, Anthony Marceca, had requested the files. When the presidency starts illegally compiling an enemies list it is a sure sign he is not fit to serve office and that, just maybe, a crime has been committed

Vince Fostergate:

Soon after Clinton lawyer Vince Foster committed suicide under mysterious circumstances, his office was cleared out. Along with his office went the Whitewater billing records and several key pieces of evidence. Evidence suggests that Clinton associate Bernard Nussbaum purposely delayed access to the office to investigators. Not to mention the mysterious suicide in which there is some hint that evidence was tampered with. Witnesses have testified they saw Clinton aides clearing the supposedly sealed office.

I wonder where those whitewater billing records came fromgate:

Years after they had disappeared from Vince fosters office, subpoenaed Whitewater billing records appeared in the White House. In January of 1996 an aide stumbled across them sitting on a table in the White House. They couldn't have been sitting their all these years unnoticed. Hillary's finger prints were on them.

Paula Jonesgate:

Paula Jones sued Bill Clinton after alleging he exposed himself to her in an Arkansas hotel room. After inviting her to what was supposed to be a promotion. Jones claims she was pressured by Clinton as he made advances on her. Though the administration has fought the entire way, refusing to cooperate with investigation while constantly attacking Jones's credibility, the case has been successful in revealing many more scandals of the Clinton presidency. Although the case was thrown out recently, it was successful in uncovering several other of Clinton's affairs as well as declaring that the president is not above the law (supreme court). More may come of this one with an appeal. Now that the Supreme Court has specifically defined sexual harassment, the Jones case has a good chance of coming back! Clinton has also become the first US president cited for contempt of court. His testimony under oath was ruled as both false and designed to be evasive and obstruct the course of the Paula Jones case. Clinton faces being disbarred and a potential of over a million dollars in fines due to this contempt charge.

Federal Building Campaign Phone Callgate:

Algore made over 75 illegal phone calls to solicit contributions to the DNC from federal property yet Janet Reno refuses to investigate it further. Janet Reno launched another investigation of these phone calls. Note: soliciting campaign donations from federal property is illegal in America. Why does Algore get away with breaking the law?

Lincoln Bedroomgate:

DNC donors were allowed to spend the night in the Lincoln bedroom for a contribution of $150,000. Make your reservations now by contacting the Gore 2000 campaign. I'm sure Bill will help out his friend on the campaign. This just proves that the White House is for sale. See the names here

White House Coffeegate:

Another donations prize for the $50,000 range. Over 100 coffee visits have been confirmed. These visits gave the DNC over $25 million.

Donations from convicted drug and weapons dealersgate:

The Clintons and Algore were photographed on numerous occasions meeting with drug ring leader Jorge Cabrera at fundraiser events. Other Clinton donations came from a convicted illegal arms dealer, Chinese government agents, and many other drug smugglers. Many photographs only reconfirm this data

Algore with a drug dealerHillary with a drug dealer

Buddhist Templegate:

Algore attended a money funneling event/fundraiser for the DNC at a buddhist temple then claimed he never knew about it being a fundraiser. Buddhist monks were used in a money funneling scam to the DNC. This could be big

Web Hubbell hush moneygate:

This scandal involves what seems to be extra income from a mysterious source. Web Hubbell supposedly received certain payments after he had been convicted for crimes in other Clinton scandals. Though much of this remains to be investigated, some theories tie the Lippo Group into this scandal. Though this one is in early stages of investigation, knowing the Clinton administrations past history, anything could come of this. Keep on the lookout for more on this one.

Lippogate:

The term given to the illegal foreign donations to Clinton from the Indonesian Lippo group. A total of $452,000 in illegal donations was given to the DNC. Other evidence suggests that the Lippo group has ties to Clinton friend and convict Web Hubbell. John Huang, a Clinton cronie and former Commerce department official with top level FBI clearance - even for several months after his dismissal from his post - pled guilty to funneling Lippo group and Chinese donations. Unfortunately for Bill, foreign campaign contributions are illegal.

Chinagate:

Attempts were made by Communist China to funnel money to the Clinton campaign and influence elections in 1996. Charlie Trie, one of Bills trusted DNC fundraisers, attempted to funnel this money. When faced with indictment he fled to China for refuge. Another money funneler for the communists and Clinton campaign, Johnny Chung, is now in jail. The funds came from divisions of the Chinese army, one of which had been caught only months earlier while attempting to smuggle AK-47's to LA street gangs. This is the government of RED CHINA - definitely a serious matter. If any scandals do catch up with him, which probably will happen, this is by far the worst. Amidst the sex scandals another DNC fundraiser scandal, Johnny Chung, openly admitted to knowingly taking funds from the Chinese government. Chung also testified that the DNC knew the source of this money was communist China. They accepted it anyway. The money is said to have been funneled through Chinese government official Liu Chao-ying then Chung and then to the DNC. Even more revealing was that Liu Chao-ying, daughter of Liu Hauqing (recent head of the Chinese military and top official of the Chinese communist party) and a Peoples Liberation Army and Chinese space agency official, attended a DNC fundraiser. Here she was photographed with Clinton. Chung also visited the White House over 45 times. Chung took several thousand dollars from commies and contributed them to a partisan candidate for President of the United States and leader of the free world. Chung was only a powerful campaign contributer/supporter with ties to the DNC and White House. Johnny Chung testified under oath to Congress on his admitted relations with the Chinese Commies and the ties to the President. Ironically Chung is one of a very small number of people who had greater White House access than Monica Lewinsky! Chung is said to have made over 50 visits compared to Monica's 39! Even better, only a week later Charlie Trie entered a guilty plea for his fundraising crimes and agreed to talk with investigators! Who next? Well it happened to be John Huang! Huang, another Clinton cronie, pled guilty to funneling Chinese funds less than a week after Trie! Well, at least we know the commies endorse Bill Clinton for president.

IRS Tax auditgate:

Though the IRS has long been a political tool, major abuses for political reason have a link to the Clinton presidency. Remember that this is a presidency that at one time was compiling an enemy list with 900 illegally requested FBI files - all of which were of Republicans. Several conservative groups have been subjected to IRS probes in recent years. The strange part arises, however, when comparison is made to groups of the left. These "random" investigations, almost all of which produced no results, included many conservative groups and no liberal groups. Some organizations targeted by the probes were the NRA, a political foundation of Oliver North's, and The Heritage Foundation. Many other groups and businesses have alleged that they were monitored through devices such as phone taps. Though it may seem skeptical, I would not put anything past this administration. Oddly enough, the democrats get away with millions in illegal foreign campaign donations. It would seem the IRS would find at least an opportunity in this area!

Zippergate/interngate - the Lewinsky affair itself:

Monica Lewinsky made 37 visits to the White House AFTER she left to another job. She admitted in taped phone calls to a long affair with Bill Clinton in the oval office. Her account has only been reinforced by an immunity agreement in which she gave testimony of the affair. Also suggested was that Bill Clinton gave her instructions to hide the matter. A Secret service agent testified of escorting her to Clinton. Lewinsky turned over a stained dress from which DNA has positively traced the stain to Bill Clinton. Also turned over were answering machine tapes and a photograph. Bill Clinton admitted to a relationship, one he long denied, on August 17, 1998. In doing so he destroyed his credibility and let down all who had spent the previous seven months defending him. It takes a great arrogance to think of oneself as above the law. Bill Clinton has been impeached for lying in grand jury deposition and for obstruction of justice in attempt to coverup as a direct result of this scandal.

Perjury and jobs for Lewinskygate - the aftermath:

Along with the Lewinsky scandal comes evidence that she was instructed how to hide the affair by Clinton and offered a job by Vernon Jordan - as an "incentive" to remain quiet. It's kind of stretching it to think of this as all a mere coincidence. Clinton was impeached for obstruction of justice surrounding the job offering.

Willeygate:

Lifelong Democrat Kathleen Willey has directly accused President Clinton of fondling her in the White House then attempting to hide it. Why would a Clinton supporter attack Clinton? She did appear on national TV and accuse the leader of the free world of fondling her and then pressuring her to lie about it. It's the word Bill Clinton, a president who has a reputation for lying, verses the word of Kathleen Willey, a Democrat and enthusiastic Clinton supporter who would have little reason to attack him (not to mention the word of several others with whom the president has been accused by).

Web Hubbell prison phone callgate:

This scandal surrounds Web Hubbell, former bureaucrat, ,Clinton friend and partner, and convicted criminal. While in prison, Hubbell was taped making phone calls in which methods to achieve pardon and evidence on other Clinton scandals was discussed.

Selling Military Technology to the Chinese Commiesgate:

Essentially, Bill Clinton has given military technology to Communist China. This information included satellite guidance technology and enough information for communist China to modernize their nuclear arsenal. Reports suggest that China has missiles positioned to where they could attack us. Chinese missile weapon technology has greatly improved due to Clintons "gift." Keep in mind that a guidance chip was also found missing from an American satellite that crashed on take off over China. The military is investigating who removed it since the crash site was blockaded for several hours following the crash - restricted to Chinese officials. Launching our satellites on Chinese rockets from communist China? Another Clinton policy. Remember also that this all came out just as Clinton and the Chinese dismissed investigations into the "China Scandals" as groundless. I think Johnny Chung proves otherwise. Many investigations are underway with the most recent being the Cox report which revealed that China was actively spying on the United States and had been stealing top secret nuclear weapons plans for two decades. Worse, Clinton was informed of the espionage problem months and years in advance of it breaking to the public yet did absolutely nothing about it and even continued to transfer other technology and pursue close relations with China! Maybe the commies finally received something in return for all the campaigning and donations they made to Bill's reelection. This is yet another to keep your eye on.

Illegal Funds for Advertisementsgate:

On Janet Reno decided investigate evidence that Bill Clinton wrongly used DNC funds to bypass spending limits on 1996 campaign advertisement. Again Reno faultered to pressure from Democrats by refusing to appoint an investigator. This matter needs to be investigated but it is up to Congress now. Similar measures involving Al Gore are also under investigation.

Coverup for our Russian Comrades as Wellgate:

This recently revealed "snafu" involves a CIA memo that was sent to Algore's office. The memo included evidence of major corruption in Russian leadership. It was returned with little more than a post it note telling the CIA that Gore didn't want to here about it right now. The reports included charges that former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin used many illegal means for personal gain. Chernomyrdin is said to have charged $1 million for a meeting with a German businessman. The CIA set aside the evidence that this event occurred because of Gore's dismissal of the earlier reports. So power is being sold by the same guys we give massive aide checks to? Then again selling power is not a crime according to the Clinton administration. I don't see any difference between this incident and the '96 coffee breaks.

Wag-the-Dog-gate:

This applies to the repeated use of the United States military to draw attention away from the presidential impeachment and expulsion proceedings. Please make no mistake. All of the listed actions are fully justified. Their timing, however, has been manipulated to suit Bill Clinton's desire to use them as a political bailout tool. Three incidents where Clinton has used military action to divert press attention have occurred. The second was simply a use of timing as given. The first and third actions were manuevered to occur when they fit Clinton best politically.

* Three days following a disastrous attempt at apology on August 17, 1998 Bill Clinton launched a missile attack on several facilities in an attempt to halt terrorist Osama Bin Laden. Though this attack was neccessary, Clinton seems to have purposely delayed it for political reasons. The attack on Bin Laden had in fact been proposed over a week in advance but was delayed by Clinton. Clinton then acted when he felt it was politically appropriate.

* The day following a settlement with Paula Jones, Clinton made an aborted strike on Iraq. Though the timing of this event was probably the least manueverable of three incidents worthy of pointing out, Clinton did act at an excellent time for press coverage. He successfully kept the Jones settlement off the news for an entire weekend.

* The third incident is the most blatantly obvious manipulation of power. One day before he was to be impeached, Clinton called an uncharacteristic suprise air attack on Iraq. Though the stated reason was refusal to allow UN weapons inspections, one must note that Saddam Hussein acted no differently than he had in the preceding six months. Though Hussein's actions have long warranted a military strike, Clinton prevented any action until the time suited him. To delay his inevitable impeachment, Clinton put American lives in the line of fire by striking Iraq. This action alone constitutes among the lowest forms of manipulation and abuse of power that America has ever seen.

Jaunita Broaddrick Gate:

Yet another female indescretion from Clinton's Arakansas history! Jaunita Broaddrick, a former Clinton campaigner in Arkansas, appeared on national television and accused Clinton of raping her in the late seventies. Again we have the word of an ordinary citizen with past allegiance to Clinton as a campaign worker faced against a proven perjurer and chronic liar with a long history of adultery and womanizing. Congratulations to the Democrats in the Senate! You just acquited an apparant rapist!

PBS-gate:

The most recent in a series of scandals involving PBS soliciting donor lists to liberal activist groups directly involves the Clinton administration. In at least three cases it has been discovered that PBS recieved donor lists to solicit directly from the Clinton-Gore 1996 campaign, a violation of federal law. This issue alone has greatly damaged PBS's credability while placing the question of federal funding for PBS under severe scrutiny. As of now, the administration has refused to answer any questions about the matter

Email-gate:

The Whitehouse email system apparantly contained a glitch that allowed thousands of emails to escape record, many of which were evidence to other Clinton scandals. The nature of this glitch was allegedly undisclosed so as to hide email evidence from investigators

Vandalgate:

Before leaving the White House, members of the Clinton administration, particularly the Vice Presidents office, are reported to have vandalized the Whitehouse as a "prank" on the incoming Republican administration. Democrats have tried to downplay this scandal and dismiss it as false, but the fact remains that several pranks did occur including the removal of "W" keys off computer keyboards. This prompted office supply companies to donate replacement keyboards and keys. Elsewhere the Clinton staffers wrote lewd messages on door nameplates and left their trash including pizza boxes (perfectly fitting for the Clinton administration) in the offices.

Looter-gate:

Bill and Hillary Clinton left the Whitehouse with their pockets full - full of silverware, furniture, and pretty much everything else they could grab that wasn't theirs. Included was a multi thousand dollar furniture set belonging to the interior department, which the Clintons had tried to claim as a gift before being forced to return it under pressure and outrage.

Pardongate:

On the night before and morning of his departure from office, Bill Clinton made several controversial "midnight" pardons. Aside from pardoning political allies and scandal co-conspirators such as Susan McDougal, Henry Cisneros, and his brother Roger, Bill pardoned fugitive criminal millionaire Marc Rich. Rich was charged in the early eighties with several felony offenses but fled to Switzerland to avoid facing trial. Among Rich's crimes were oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis and ties to arms smuggling. Amazingly, Clinton completely disregarded pardon protocol in the Rich case and failed to properly inform many authorities in the justice department of Rich's fugitive status. The story becomes more interesting considering that Marc Rich's ex wife Denise, who fought for his pardon, is a close Clinton friend and DNC donor. Denise Rich gave $1 million in contributions to the DNC, $450,000 to Bill Clinton's library fund, and $70,000 to Hillary Clinton's senate campaign according to the Washington Times (2/22/00). The Rich pardon appears to be a political pay off and, though the president may constitutionally pardon anyone, it appears he abused his authority in a quid pro quo pardon in exchange for political donations. Clinton's pardon of Rich has prompted criticism from even the most liberal Clinton defenders and several prominent Democrats. Former President Carter called the pardon "disgraceful" while Senator Tom Harkin and even Rep. Barney Frank criticized it!

But that is by no means all. Hillary Clinton's brother Hugh Rodham was paid over $400,000 dollars for successfully fighting for pardons and commutations for criminals Carlos Vignali and Almon Glenn Braswell, two included in Clinton's last minute pardons and commutations list. Upon the eve of this story breaking, Hillary and Bill denied any knowledge of Hugh's involvement and, under pressure, called on him to return the money. Translation: they got caught.

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

you da man hornet, most of those i remember but it seems some have forgotten them

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

What's the point of trying to relativise the performance of a sitting president by comparing him with the previous one?

Clearly no-one learns from the mistakes of the past and continues to elect these (corrupt/incompetant) idiots into high office