Pres Bush: Iraq Intelligence failure "biggest regret"

[calfoxwc]

Which, btw, it should be noted that during the Clinton years, Jamie Gorlick -created- the no-communication decree

that outlawed any coorperative communications between the FBI and CIA.

 

Anybody have a good (documented) reason for her having done that?

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Bush: Iraq intelligence failure 'biggest regret'

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Featured Topics: Barack Obama Presidential Transition AFP – US President George W. Bush speaks at the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health at the Newseum in Washington, …

Slideshow: President Bush Play Video Video: Bombs kill more than 30 in Baghdad, Mosul AP Play Video Video: The case of the disappearing lake AFP WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President George W. Bush said in an interview set for broadcast Monday that he came to office "unprepared for war" and that his "biggest regret" was the US intelligence failure on Iraq.

 

But Bush, speaking to ABC television, refused to say whether he would have ordered the March 2003 invasion if he had known that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction.

 

"That's an interesting question. That is a do-over that I can't do. It's hard for me to speculate," said the US president, who took office in January 2001 and hands the keys to the White House to Barack Obama on January 20.

 

"The biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq," Bush said. "I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess."

 

Bush launched the war in Iraq after a months-long public campaign centered on the charge that Saddam possessed vast stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, but no such arsenal was ever found.

 

"A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam Hussein. It wasn't just people in my administration; a lot of members in Congress, prior to my arrival in Washington DC, during the debate on Iraq, a lot of leaders of nations around the world were all looking at the same intelligence," Bush told ABC.

 

Asked what his greatest accomplishment was, the US president replied: "I keep recognizing we're in a war against ideological thugs and keeping America safe."

 

Asked what he was most unprepared for when he took office in January 2001, Bush replied: "I think I was unprepared for war. In other words, I didn't campaign and say, 'Please vote for me, I'll be able to handle an attack.'"

 

"In other words, I didn't anticipate war. Presidents -- one of the things about the modern presidency is that the unexpected will happen," he said.

 

Bush, whose administration recently accepted a formal timeline for withdrawing from Iraq, also stood fast behind his refusal for years to set a pull-out timetable.

 

"It would have compromised the principle that when you put kids into harm's way, you go in to win," he said.

 

"It was a tough call," he said, because "a lot of people" were advising him to bring US forces home. "But ultimately, I listened to this voice: I'm not going to let your son die in vain; I believe we can win; I'm going to do what it takes to win in Iraq."

 

 

[rich4eagle]

Keep feeding the crap to us Cal.......my intelligence on Iraq was exactly 100% correct and Bush's was exactly 100% wrong..........

 

when you know the answer and have an agenda like Bush and you ........you indeed make the intelligence suit your small brain and then blame all failures on failure in intelligence

 

That is so hilarious

 

YOU AND BUSH two ......intelligence failures

[PB&J]

One thing always left out of the rhetoric is what actually constitutes "winning" in Iraq. How can we win when the entity we are fighting is created by us and our presence? Anybody could tell you that there weren't any links between Iraq and Al Qaeda (Scratch that, I mean any credible source). It seems to be a no win situation.

[calfoxwc]

BALONEY. We did NOT create Al Quaida. Where on earth do you get... oh, never mind:

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Wright writes that Al-Qaeda was formed at a August 11, 1988 meeting of "with several senior leaders" of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, (Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, and others), Abdullah Azzam, and Osama bin Laden, where it was agreed to join bin Laden's money with the expertise of the Islamic Jihad organization and continue jihad elsewhere after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan.[40]

 

In April 2002, the group assumed the name Qa'idat al-Jihad, which means "the base of Jihad". According to Diaa Rashwan, this was "...apparently as a result of the merger of the overseas branch of Egypt's al-Jihad (EIJ) group, led by Ayman El-Zawahiri, with the groups Bin Laden brought under his control after his return to Afghanistan in the mid-1990s."[41]

 

that is from Wikipedia.

 

George Bush Senior was not president until 1989.

 

[Mr. T]

We should all remember the ClintonAdministrations Defense Cuts Early retirement for those serving. and the state of the military when Bush came into office.

 

MILITARY READINESS

 

September 27, 2000

 

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress/ju...iness_9-72.html

 

KWAME HOLMAN: Admiral Vernon Clark, chief of naval operations, talked about the Navy's aging fleet.

 

GEN. MICHAEL RYAN, Air Force Chief of Staff: Combat unit readiness has dropped well over 20%, and our mission capability rates on our aircraft are down by 10% over the last decade. These decreases in readiness can be attributed to past under funding of spares, high operations tempo, loss of experienced airmen, and an aging aircraft fleet.

 

COLONEL JOHN GARDNER(January 1999): The last four or five years, the resources generally have not been available to do battalion and brigade level exercises. So your first opportunity to really pull the whole brigade conduct team together and try to synchronize all the operating systems is generally when you get here.

 

The Clintons were to concerned about ..

JANUARY

January 6, 2000

Gays and the Military

Correspondent Tom Bearden updates the story of gays in the military and the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Michelle Benecke, co-executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and former Army Captain; Lt. Colonel Robert Maginnis, senior director of national security and foreign affairs at the Family Research Council; Lt. General Paul Cerjan, president of Regent University; Major General Vance Coleman, director of a community education foundation, and Senior Correspondent Margaret Warner explore the effectiveness of the homosexual policy in the armed forces.

 

The Biggest Question is, are we headed back to the days of cutting the military budget in favor of spending more on social programs?

 

How long did it take us to rebuild our military after the Clintons and dems ran everything into the ground?

[calfoxwc]

How can we win when the entity we are fighting is created by us and our presence?

**********************

 

He SAID the "entity" (the enemy - Al Quaida) was CREATED by us and our presense in Iraq?)

 

Or, the fact that we exist? created the enemy which ADOPTED the org and name in the year I said...

 

but said movement has existed for centuries.

 

Wow. splitting hairs as a denial-based defense mechanism...

[Westside Steve]

One thing always left out of the rhetoric is what actually constitutes "winning" in Iraq. How can we win when the entity we are fighting is created by us and our presence?

No they were not.

 

Anybody could tell you that there weren't any links between Iraq and Al Qaeda

Sure there were.

But Saddam did not plan 9/11.

Nor did anyone say he did.

 

(Scratch that, I mean any credible source). It seems to be a no win situation.

 

Certainly a no win if the perception is we bailed due to AQ threats.

Obama's best bet to repair his dangerous campaign rhetoric is to follow the exact same plan as Bush which is exactly what he's doing not that there's no need to pander to the Dennis Kucinich wing of his party.

WSS

[PB&J]

What was the reason for war though? WMDs. Oh wait, there weren't any. Uh, connection between Iraq and Al Qeada? There wasn't one.

 

Who are we fighting over there? Resistance fighters. Think the french resistance except we are the occupiers. The giant void we opened up when we attacked, unprovoked, a sovereign nation allowed for foreign terrorist groups to enter Iraq to fight Americans. We create terrorists with every person we piss off by killing people in their country. The war has completely destabilized the region, which is the perfect breeding ground for terrorists.

 

To clarify: yes, I do sympathize with the insurgents in Iraq. It doesn't mean I don't support our troops. If another country invaded the united states, would you not take up arms against them? It is a travesty how we have misused our military in Iraq and have gone against every other policy towards war in American history.

[Westside Steve]

What was the reason for war though?

My opinion is to keep the second largest oil reserve on earth traded in US dollars.

Among other things.

WMDs. Oh wait, there weren't any.

Actually we don't know for sure.

Blix let them pass into Syria for all we or he know.

But the same Duelfer report that said there "were no large stockpiles" as we thought also sait that Saddam would restart his nuclear plans as soon as the French (who want oil traded in Euros) got the sanctions lifted.

Today he and Iran would be on the brink of having nukes.

Uh, connection between Iraq and Al Qeada? There wasn't one.

Nobody ever said Iraq planned 9/11. That's your fantasy.

 

Who are we fighting over there?

Iranian terrorists and Al Queda brought in for the fight.

 

Resistance fighters. Think the french resistance except we are the occupiers.

 

Heh. Actually think Somali warlords and Taliban.

The giant void we opened up when we attacked, unprovoked, Ridiculous. He coulkd have stopped it at any time.

a sovereign nation allowed for foreign terrorist groups to enter Iraq to fight Americans. We create terrorists with every person we piss off by killing people in their country. The war has completely destabilized the region, which is the perfect breeding ground for terrorists.

 

To clarify: yes, I do sympathize with the insurgents in Iraq. It doesn't mean I don't support our troops.

Actually yes it really does. You can choose to support any side you want BUT for instance supporting Hitler did mean you didn't support the allied powers.

If another country invaded the united states, would you not take up arms against them? It is a travesty how we have misused our military in Iraq and have gone against every other policy towards war in American history.

Really?

Name one.

WSS

[PB&J]

Your a dickhead PB&J. You sympathize with our enemy. I served for over twenty years in the Armed Forces and don't appreciate some dickwad like you. If you don't like it, tough shit.

 

I'm sorry that my sympathizing with people fighting to rid their country of foreign occupiers pisses you off so much. Guess you were a loyalist too.

[calfoxwc]

Comparing al quaida to the French resistance?

 

They are SO close to the worst of the Nazis. Brutal, murderous, and devoid of humanity.