Another bullshit 'win' like Dubya

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

Need I say more?

— (@suzvz.bsky.social) 2025-06-22T04:02:32.061Z

If you were too young in 2003 here is what Bush told the American people:

1) The Iraq War won’t cost a lot of money
3) We won’t need a lot of troops
4) We’ll bring peace and freedom to Iraq
5) We’ll find WMDs
6) We’ll be welcomed as liberators
7) It will be easy
8) It won’t take long

All lies.

— Molly Knight (@mollyknight.bsky.social) 2025-06-22T02:47:52.236Z

[Walleye]

1. "We will create a thriving democracy in the Middle East"

[dalton99a]

4. +1. "I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations"

- Benjamin Netanyahu, urging the U.S. to attack Iraq in speech to Congress, September 12, 2002

[dalton99a]

2. "We know they had nuclear weapons .... Because we destroyed them"

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Did he actually tweet "God bless the Middle East"?

This bombing was Sat night in time for Sunday talk shows. It was a response to the failed parade and No Kings Day. Trump needed to change the narrative fast.

God's not too relevant to much of the Middle East.

[Shipwack]

12. The Christian God, no.

But God/Allah is relevant. Maybe not to the ruling elites, in private (just like here), but definitely still officially relevant.

I do agree that “God bless the Middle East” was definitely weird.

[Skittles]

50. it's just their version of the same delusion

[MadameButterfly]

13. Trump criticized Obama for military actions, accusing him

of doing it to win an election. Since everything Trump says is projection, you could count on him starting a war at some point to boost his ratings.

I just hoped he wouldn't do it in the first 6 months. Man, it will be a long 4 years.

[calimary]

41. Yeah, that's how I've been feeling for months.

“Man, it will be a long 4 years.”

Hard to anticipate what he might do next. But then again, I don’t think like him. So I guess the response would be along the lines of “expect the worst.”

[MadameButterfly]

42. Yeah but the worst

is always worse than anything we could have imagined

[calimary]

48. Well, there is that.

Most definitely. With a big side of dread.

[sop]

5. Most Americans believed him, his poll numbers increased, he was re-elected and the Iraq war lasted eight years.

[Xavier Breath]

6. Exactly, and that's the main takeaway.

We can rightfully hate Shrub's methodology, but the bottom line was that it worked. A gullible and distracted American public, as guided by the press, largely went along with it, and he bought himself another term.

[Ocelot II]

8. The difference, though, was that we were attacked first. Granted, it wasn't by Iraq.

But after a few months W and his minions were effectively able to tie 9/11 to Iraq and get people to believe - at least for awhile - that somehow Saddam Hussein was behind the attack or supported it. Saddam really was a pretty terrible character, along with his two terrible sons Don Jr. and Eric (oh, wait, were those their names? I forget), an easy guy to hate and a convenient enemy. Throw in some sketchy claims that he had weapons of mass destruction (I recall a lot of frantic insistence that he was building an atomic bomb; remember the yellowcake hoax?), et voilà! All the justification Cheney and Rumsfeld needed for a big fat helping of Shock-N-Awe™! And it wasn't until American soldiers started coming home in body bags that our lazy, gullible, cheerleading media (and especially fuck you, Judith Miller and NYT) started to wonder WTF was really going on over there.

I think participating in Bibi's war of choice will be a tougher sell. W was popular right after 9/11, as the leader of a country whose innocent civilians were attacked, which made it much easier for him to convince people that going to war with Iraq was necessary. But trump's ratings are under water, and we are still stuck with his tariffs and ICE raids and other destructive fuckery. We still have people in the media like Van Jones (and forget about Fox) who are as happy to fellate him as Tweety ever was, but all that other shit won't go away and is likely to get worse. Expect gas prices to go up, for starters. People notice that sort of thing, and might object to pay more for gas just to make Bibi happy and Trump hard.

[Xavier Breath]

17. I'm well aware that the situation was different.

I merely added to the post of the person above me about the specific situation with Shrub, which angers me, and I imagine many, to this day. I was not asserting or implying that I believe Trump would getaway with the same thing. He just may, given his talent for playing the press like a Stradivarius, but here's hoping.

[Ocelot II]

18. Oh, quite. The situation is different but the craven media are as eager as ever

to suck up to authority. Could be even worse now that major media owners like Bezos are openly doing Dear Leader's bidding.

[Xavier Breath]

20. Agreed, they've only worsened in subsequent years.

[Martin Eden]

22. The Bush neocons were intent on invading Iraq before 9/11

Before GW was elected, as a matter of fact.

9/11 gave them the "Pearl Harbor" they needed to implement the PNAC agenda written in the 1998 document "Rebuilding America's Defenses" which became a blueprint for the Bush administration (like Project 2025 became the current blueprint).

[Ocelot II]

28. Iraq was a problem long before that.

It was a Soviet ally during the Cold War and a supporter of Palestinian militant groups at that time. Iraq invaded Iran in the early '80s following years of conflict over ideology, religion (Sunni v. Shi'a) and borders, and to prevent Iran from destabilizing the area the US provided support to Iraq and began selling them arms. The idea that Iraq still had WMDs 20 years later came from the fact that they had used them against Iranian soldiers and civilians. Complicating matters was that during the same time period Reagan administration officials were clandestinely selling arms to Iran, which was under an embargo, in order to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. Then Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 to get out from under the huge debt it owed Kuwait on account of the war with Iran, and because Kuwait was slant-drilling into an Iraqi oil field. That led to Gulf War I, and the rest is history, as they say. But the US has been tangled up in that area's messes since WWII.

[Martin Eden]

45. That "area's messes" grew from the colonial period

Who knows how the peoples of that area would have organized themselves if not dominated by other powers competing for resources and strategic advantage.

Grievances and humiliation are not easily forgotten or forgiven by proud people with a long cultural history, but such is humanity. Those with superior numbers and technology dominate wherever they can, and victors write the story.

Centuries of slavery in the "Land of the Free" were followed by "Manifest Destiny" westward expansion that entailed genocide against the Native peoples residing here for millenia.

WAR marches on, both sides certain that God is on their side.

[PatSeg]

15. An awful lot of people

did not accept Bush's invasion of Iraq, but the MSM kept supporting him for fear of being called unpatriotic. If we wanted a differing viewpoint, we had to go online, which is how many of us found DU.

[FalloutShelter]

7. When does Krasnov land on an aircraft carrier

Crammed into a flight suit?
Asking for a friend.

[murielm99]

9. No! No!

Hand me the eye bleach.

[Ocelot II]

19. I'd pay to watch that!

I don't think the Air Force makes flight suits that would fit him, though (or fighter aircraft cockpits, for that matter). He'd look like a sausage and he'd pop all the zippers. But we can be sure he'll come up with something even more cringe than that stunt.

[Martin Eden]

23. It also has the potential end the daily post by Orrex

One can hope.

[Bayard]

26. It will have to be specially crafted anyway

Must be gold, with medals and epaulets pre-installed.

[BOSSHOG]

51. I got the opportunity in the summer of 74

To ride in the backseat of a TA-4 at Naval Weapons Center China Lake California. Mojave Desert. The (Young Lieutenant) Pilot said you puke you clean it all up. He zigged and zagged and did his best but I didn’t puke. In the Jet.

[louis-t]

10. Wasn't it Rumsfeld who said we only needed 30,000 troops?

[twodogsbarking]

11. I remember "we know they are hiding WMD because we can't find them".

[PatSeg]

16. I remember Bush doing a really obscene

skit where he was looking everywhere in the White House for those Weapons of Mass Destruction. It might have been for the Washington Correspondents' Dinner.

It couldn't have been more tasteless. Bush and his administration were totally tone deaf. After getting a lot of criticism when no weapons were found, they tried to make a sick joke out of it.

[Martin Eden]

24. Every time I see a commercial pleading for donations to help grievously wounded soldiers

From GW's stupid wars of choice, I remember the anger I felt during his disastrous reign as president.

I thought for sure we would never again elect someone so awful.

[bif]

30. I hate to say it but ...

The Rapist makes W look like Einstein.

[Martin Eden]

31. Dim Son was dumb, and did evil things.

The Felon is a mentally deranged ignoramus who is vindictive, impulsive, treasonous, and is doing evil things.

[PatSeg]

37. And he appears to do evil things

because he actually likes it.

[Wednesdays]

52. "The Rapist makes W look like Einstein."

The Rapist makes W look like a choir boy.

[PatSeg]

36. Or that we could end up with someone much worse

At least Bush loved his dogs. He was incompetent as a president and not terribly bright, but he did appear to have a soul.

Men with daddy issues rarely make good leaders.

[John1956PA]

29. Yes, it was at a Washington correspondents dinner.

That routine by W was despicable.

[PatSeg]

38. I can't believe his advisers let him do it

Surely someone must have realized that was going to backfire big time.

Edit to add video:

[John1956PA]

43. W's routine at the 2004 dinner mocked the outcry of us Progressives that the 2003 Iraq invasion was based on a lie.

It reminded me of Lily Tomlin's prerecorded bit on NBC's Saturday Night Live on September 18, 1976, about "The Phone Company."

[PatSeg]

44. "We don't have to"

They often behaved like they would be in power forever.

[LisaM]

35. It had something to do with his dog Barney.

Looking in drawers, etc. Awful.

[PatSeg]

39. Yes, "No weapons in here...."

I can still hear his voice to this day.

[JHB]

47. It was also around that time he made a Soviet-grade historical rewrite...

...and the media briefly went "umm" then fell in line.

What did he do? He started claiming Saddam had not allowed inspectors in (and that was why we couldn't find his WMDs).

I had to go around: "Do you remember Hans Blix? Do you remember why you remember Hans Blix (aside from his name)? Why he was in the news in the first place? Because he was leading the WMD inspector teams IN IRAQ! Don't you remember the cartoons painting him as Inspector Clouseau leading the Keystone Kops? Because they were IN IRAQ and not finding WMDs!"

[PatSeg]

49. That brings back memories

Trump and today's republicans are so incompetent and deceitful, that it is easy to forget how unethical and duplicitous the Bush administration was. Clearly, they were bad enough to keep most of us on edge for eight long years. Sites like Democratic Underground were born out of that administration.

Varying versions of the same old monsters I guess.

[IronLionZion]

14. Mexico will pay for the wall. ICE will only target dangerous criminals. Tax cuts trickle down.

all lies.

[wiggs]

21. I WISH pundits, analysts, and politicians would stop pretending that the Tr*mp WH carefully

considers options, confers with experts and allies, thinks about consequences, uses deep intelligence to inform decisions, etc..

Are there experts left? Are allies willing to provide intelligence? Is Tr$mp capable of any thought other than 'I want it give it to me?'. What cartoon did aides produce to present to Tr*mp on complex international matters?

There is no reason to think this and other major WH actions are carefully considered and the public should hear that.

[Hornedfrog2000]

34. Exactly

Hes an impulsive, bully of a teenager, and he does whatever impulse comes in his brain, and his aides/handlers walk behind him like theyre sweeping up walking behind an elephant in a parade. The guy shits wherever he wants and they just eat that shit up. They agree with any and every crazy thing he says. He probably legitimately says stuff thats crazy af not on purpose and we have no idea at this point.

[3Hotdogs]

25. Yeah? Says you and fuck me. If it wasn't for Dubya,

we would’a been facing a mushroom gun and a smoking cloud.

[Beatlelvr]

27. I'm no historian

But isn't that the big bullshit line on getting into any war we've been involved in? If they ever spoke the truth, the country would never get behind it. Truth being: it will cost billions, we will lose thousands of our soldiers, we'll kick their butts in 6 months. I remember Rumsfeld saying "I doubt it will take even six months".

[lonely bird]

32. Iirc

It was Gen. Shinseki who got kicked to the curb for saying they would need 400,000 troops to do the after invasion work.

[Dan]

33. My only thoughts after reading the posts

Are, Iraq isn't Iran.
Iraq's population was around 30 million plus whereas Iran's population is around 92 million.

Remember back then there was a saying that boys went into Iraq and real men would go into Iran.

During Iraq we had allies, now not so much.

I read where the sec of state is asking others to request China to intervene with Iran 🇮🇷 to ask them not to close the Strait of H.

We have potentially created a shit storm without consideration of the consequences.

[flashman13]

40. It'll be over in six days or six weeks, I doubt six months, so sayeth Donny Rumfeld.

[calimary]

46. Just tell 'em what you want them to hear.

That seems to be THE Single-Most-Cherished advice Republicans EVER are advised to offer.