Bush admits Iraq regrets

Bush: Iraq intelligence failure 'biggest regret'
17 hours ago

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.

In a wide-ranging exchange with ABC television's "World News Tonight," Bush also said he was "sorry" that the global economic meltdown was taking place and predicted that he would leave office January 20th with his "head held high."

The US president has been mired in record-low approval ratings after the botched government response to killer Hurricane Katrina (2005) and amid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the world financial crisis.

"The biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq," Bush said 50 days before president-elect Barack Obama's inauguration. "I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess."

But Bush refused to say whether he would have ordered the March 2003 invasion if he had known that late dictator Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, calling it "an interesting question."

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Illuminated one said:

Wow, what a lying fascist, he's nose just keeps on getting bigger, the most sophisticated intelligence network on EARTH, and they intelligence from a third world country wrong?

Wow this guys so full of BS.

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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.

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2020hindsight said:

lol- what a master of understatement you are, illuminated one, lol

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http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmfaff/196/196ap16.htm

. An advanced team arrives in Baghdad on 25 November under Hans Blitz, with 800 to 1000 inspectors starting work on 23 December with visits to "100 priority sites in a test of Iraqi cooperation". All weapons of mass destruction have to be destroyed by February 2003. Any refusal to cooperate will result in "serious consequences". (In the House of Lords the Bishop of Oxford said that the resolution was so strong that it could hardly be accepted by any country's leader.)

Both the US (President Bush) and Britain (Defence Secretary Geoffrey Hoon) have taken the resolution to mean that war may begin immediately any obstacles are reported, and both countries have stated that they "would not be bound by a new UN discussion". Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Party, has called for a vote at the UN before an invasion is started, which is in line with the way the French, and possibly the Russians interpret the resolution.

This resolution is due to be voted on in the House of Commons shortly. Meanwhile "the strategy was for a land, sea and air force of 200,000 to 250,000 troops" senior US officials told the Associated Press Agency. "President Bush had approved tentative plans for invading Iraq in the event of a breach of the UN resolutions".[138] This would be in order to be able to invade before the blazing Middle East summer begins at the end of February, when troop movements are made impossible.

The Iraqi parliament, following a recent 100 per cent vote giving Saddam Hussein another 8 years of premiership, and in a bizarre example of Arab politics, rejected the UN resolution, but Saddam Hussein is expected to agree to it never-the-less (BBC Radio 4 News).

Overall, as has been said: "Truth is the first casualty in war"[139] (even if undeclared).

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2020hindsight said:

Been said before, but I'll say it again ...
We know they had weapons of mass destruction PRIOR to this - (and prior to Hans Blitz etc) ..

we still have the receipts !

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Illuminated one said:

Wow, what a lying fascist, he's nose just keeps on getting bigger, the most sophisticated intelligence network on EARTH, and they intelligence from a third world country wrong?

Wow this guys so full of BS.

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It's Snake Pliskin said:

Do you really know what this word means?

Bush is hardly a fascist. Unlike the elements destablilising Iraq with their religiofascist bent. (and that is probably a new word)

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2020hindsight said:

well snake - it sure is a big word from a bloke who uses mascara

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It's Snake Pliskin said:

Do you really know what this word means?

Bush is hardly a fascist. Unlike the elements destablilising Iraq with their religiofascist bent. (and that is probably a new word)

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Illuminated one said:

Tell me how he is NOT a fascists dictator? Have you read or seen some laws he signed over with the patriot act was introduced? I have lots of family living in America and 'Fascist' is the word they use when describing this bloke, he has destroyed a whole nation and now Obama is going to do the same, house foreclosures are rampant over there now, he is basically regarded to as the Lenin or Mussolini.

'Fascism': Definition:


Fascism is an authoritarian or totalitarian nationalist ideology that seeks to form a highly-centralized autocratic, single-party state led by a dictator. Fascists typically seek to form a mass movement of militants who are willing to engage in violence against their perceived enemies(FBI, CIA, NSA,IRS). Fascism opposes communism, conservatism, democracy, individualism, liberalism, materialism, pacifism and political pluralism.Some fascists see themselves as advocating a third position alternative to both capitalism and communism.

Various scholars attribute different characteristics to fascism, but the following elements are usually seen as its integral parts: nationalism (including collectivism and populism based on nationalist values); third positionism (including class collaboration, corporatism, economic planning, mixed economy, national socialism, national syndicalism, protectionism,); authoritarianism and totalitarianism (including dictatorship, indoctrination, major social interventionism, and statism); and militarism.

Some authors reject broad usage of the term or exclude certain parties and regimes. Following the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II, there have been few self-proclaimed fascist groups and individuals. In contemporary political discourse, the term fascist is often used by adherents of some ideologies as a pejorative description of their opponents.
Contents


Sound familiar?

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Some fascists see themselves as advocating a third position alternative to both capitalism and communism.

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It's Snake Pliskin said:

... According to your wiki interpretation of fascism Iran is fascist.

Some fascists see themselves as advocating a third position alternative to both capitalism and communism.

Provide credible arguments rather than engaging in slurs.

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I'm Really Gonna Miss Systematically Destroying This Place

By George W. Bush
December 1, 2008 | Issue 44•49

Oh, America. Eight years went by so fast, didn't they? I feel like I hardly got to know you and methodically undermine everything you once stood for. But I guess all good things must come to an end, and even though you know I would love to stick around for another year or four””maybe privatize Social Security or get us into Iran””I'm afraid it's time to go. But before I leave, let me say, from the bottom of my heart: I can't think of another country I would've rather led to the brink of collapse.

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From NineMSN, 21 Feb. 09

US ASK SYRIA TO EXPLAIN NUCLEAR MATERIAL

US officials have summoned Damascus' ambassador in Washington after the UN nuclear watchdog found unexplained uranium particles at a desert site in Syria, a State Department spokesman says.
Spokesman Gordon Duguid said on Friday US officials had asked to meet with Syria's ambassador to Washington, Imad Moustapha.

On Thursday, Washington urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to discuss what it said was mounting evidence of a clandestine nuclear program in Syria at a meeting next month in Vienna.
In a report obtained by AFP, the IAEA rejected assertions by Damascus that particles of uranium found at the remote desert Al-Kibar site came from Israeli missiles used to bomb it in September 2007.

"It's nuclear material that hasn't been declared and Syria has to explain" how it got there, said a senior IAEA official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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From ABC, 21 Feb. 09
US ALARMED OVER REPORT ON IRAN'S NUCLEAR FUEL
By Washington correspondent Mark Simkin

The White House has expressed alarm over new evidence that Iran has understated how much uranium it has enriched.
A new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Iran has built up a stockpile of nuclear fuel.

The IAEA says Iran is continuing to enrich uranium, a key component of a nuclear bomb.
Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, called the report another lost opportunity for Iran.
"This is an urgent problem that has to be addressed, and can't delay addressing," he said.
Tehran insists its simply trying to generate electricity but the White House says it can not be confident Iran is enriching uranium for a peaceful purpose.

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Happy said:

Let me use my conspiracy jacket, could they go halves with one from post above?

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