Bush Dismisses Criticism on Iraq as 'Pure Politics'

[sujan]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 — President Bush asserted today that there had been significant progress in pacifying Iraq, and he dismissed as "pure politics" charges that he took the United States to war under false pretenses.

"This is our 100th day since the major military operations have ended," Mr. Bush said at his ranch in Crawford, Tex. "And since then, we've made good progress. Iraq is more secure. The economy of Iraq is beginning to improve."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/08/international/worldspecial/08CND-PREXY.html?ex=1061006400&

[ewagner]

1. ooookkkkaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy...

..more secure? for whom and from whom?

..the economy is growing?.....what economy? They don't even have an established currency.....

funnier yet...is he saying that they're creating JOBS in Iraq?

LOL....what about JOBS here, Mr. pResident?

[ramapo]

2. Sound like....

he made a purely political statement

[msanger]

3. and only 141 dead Americans in those 100 days

<http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx>

[ozymandius]

14. Just politics?! You bring up an important point.

I suppose soldiers in Iraq complaining about being there are just indulging in politics!

I suppose criticism over dead soldiers is just politics!

He is a freak!

[tomp]

25. one day he's gonna wave that dismissive hand...

...and somebody's gonna chop it off.

[alcuno]

32. FYI - It's 119 according to the site you listed.

It looks like you may have listed the number in the days column. Here are the names, states, ages, and cause of death for each one.

http://www.pigstye.net/iraq/

[htuttle]

4. It's that old Republican projection reflex kicking in again...

Or in other words, "I know you are, but what am I?"

[Mandate My Ass]

5. The only job openings for Iraqis

is to join up with the American security forces, which of course means painting a big fat target on your back.

Dead GIs, dead Iraqis, equally dismissed by Bush as unimportant.

[Mz Pip]

6. Of course it's true to a point.

His politics on Iraq suck. Call it what you like, it's a mess over there and does not look to be getting much better.

MzPip
:dem:

[bushisanidiot]

7. AWOL's Whining Is Becoming Tiresome

I predict that AWOL will cry during the debates. He has to go for the sympathy vote, because everyone knows by now he's a dimwit loser.

[msanger]

10. a new "misery index"

I remember that under Carter the republicans came out with a "misery index" - something to do with inflations times the price of gas.

Could some smart DUer (and we all are pretty smart, aren't us?) come up with something similar. Maybe cost of iraq occupation per american citizen, multiplied by the number of soldiers from your state killed, and the average number of jobs lost per extended family.

OR
a comparision of what the war in iraq is costing the average citizen versus what VP chenney's halburton associates are making off of it?

[treepig]

24. current misery index = 404,920,000,000

based on number of jobs lost (2,566,000) x the number of troops killed (252?) x the unemployment rate (6.2) x the temperature in crawford (101).

there's plenty more to add on, but number already seemed pretty big.

[qanda]

8. Today he kept saying 911, 911, 911

I guess the 7-11 stores are sorry the attacks didn't take place on July 11 or they would have a never ending commercial coming from the * administration. This man is sickening!

[NewYorkerfromMass]

9. and what was landing that jet on the carrier?

:eyes:

[JaneQPublic]

16. You mean when he borrowed a flightsuit and...

tried to pass himself off as...



TOP GOON?

(Credit to Bartcop, for that line.)

[tsipple]

18. Bush's Carrier Landing...

...Coming to a campaign TV commercial near you as ridicule.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

26. can't wait for that to get mentioned in a debate

politics indeed.

[0007]

11. There goes junior again

talking out of his ass! Who listens?

[tom_paine]

12. Spoken like a Lying Emperor with nothing to fear

He lied. Demonstrably. Repeatedly. And not just about "16 words" either.

But one facet of the very successful Bushevik strategy for destroying the Old American Republic and replacing it with a Bushevik-dominated Empire is "when confronted with a lie, reply with six more lies."

[Skittles]

13. man, that PICTURE

he really DOES look like a monkey

[diamond14]

31. why is shrub's neck all red, and his nose...and red splotches on

his face...IMO, shrub has been hitting the bottle again....

shrub sounded and acted so bad that they stopped playing it on all the major channels....MSNBC just kept a nice rancho-busho photo in the background while the newscaster said a few great words summerizing the great leader, during the dinnertime news...

[LoneStarLiberal]

15. Squinty

At least the sun wouldn't bother Rumsfeld's eyes. He's been locked in a permanent squint since that last bad facelift.

[Giverney]

17. sure it is

HE IS NOT LYING:

1. Haliburton is doing really well, with what... 900million in contracts already? dam close to a billion from what I hear.. (dont know for sure)

2. Sadam's kids are dead, and Sadam hiding. OH, he also has taken care to make sure pro-US people are in the temporary governemnt, and stopped any/all oil contracts from getting to Russia and France, and stopped the Europeans from controlling Iraq.. so we are instead.

all in all that's progress in Iraq...

ahahahahahahah

[janx]

19. These guys were scrambling in reaction to Gore's speech--

And to the press that Dean has been getting lately. It's fairly obvious.

[concord]

22. My thoughts exactly

The puppet had to make some response to Gore's speech. Typical he would stoop to the simplistic dismissal. Only simpletons are listening now.

[TEXASYANKEE]

20. Funny.

On the Jim Lehrer Newhour last night, that is not what the reporter from Newsweek (reporting live from Baghdad) was saying ...

[bif]

21. You have to remember

Whatever that asshole says, the opposite is the truth. Doesn't matter what the issue is, politics, the economy, the environment, global warming. He keeps hammering away with his stupid buzzwords and sound bites and eventually, all the dopes in this country including the media believe it!

[robbedvoter]

23. he almost ended the press conference on that one.

His face was ferocious during the question, then he spit out "pure politics' and then "good bye" Someone must have coached him about the wrong note to end so he kinda came back, informed everyyone that he had darn good intelligence (he actually said solid) and then he said that Gore is running, therefore not credible.
GOP consultant on crossfire reading from same memo: "the ultimate politician" Wouldn't touch the content with a 10 ft pole!

[pinniped]

27. Call it whatever you want butcher.

What kind of soap does he use to wash all that blood off his hands?

[CO Liberal]

28. CO Liberal Dismisses Bush's Arguements as "Pure Bulls**t"

:-)

[teryang]

29. Pure politics v. murderous lies

It's getting better in Iraq, suuuurrrrrrrrrrre it is.

[indypaul]

30. Couldn't we just give them a tax cut

to grow their economy rather than kill them? It's not
"the economy stupid," rather it's the stupid economy.

[nolabels]

33. That's what I like about AWOLs, they always think they know something

http://www.whodies.com/lies_threat.html
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/groups.php

http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=310
(snip)
Iraq Isn't Working

There is a veneer of normality about life in the new Iraq. But America's failure to deliver on its promises has triggered a spiral of murderous anarchy that threatens to become an epic tragedy
by Robert Fisk, The Independent
July 31st, 2003


Paul Bremer's taste in clothes symbolises "the new Iraq" very well. He wears a business suit and combat boots. As the proconsul of Iraq, you might have thought he'd have more taste. But he is a famous "antiterrorism" expert who is supposed to be rebuilding the country with a vast army of international companies - most of them American, of course - and creating the first democracy in the Arab world. Since he seems to be a total failure at the "antiterrorist" game - 50 American soldiers killed in Iraq since President George Bush declared the war over is not exactly a blazing success - it is only fair to record that he is making a mess of the "reconstruction" bit as well.

In theory, the news is all great. Oil production is up to one million barrels a day; Baghdad airport is preparing to re-open; every university in Iraq is functioning again; the health services are recovering rapidly; and mobile phones have made their first appearance in Baghdad. There's an Iraqi Interim Council up and hobbling.

But there's a kind of looking-glass fantasy to all these announcements from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the weasel-worded title with which the American-led occupation powers cloak their decidedly undemocratic and right-wing credentials. Take the oil production figures. Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez, the US commander in Iraq, even chose to use these statistics in his "great day for Iraq" press conference last week, the one in which he triumphantly announced that 200 soldiers in Mosul had killed the sons of Saddam rather than take them prisoner. But Lt-Gen Sanchez was talking rubbish. Although oil production was indeed standing at 900,000 barrels per day in June (albeit 100,000bpd less than the Sanchez version), it fell this month to 750,000. The drop was caused by power cuts - which are going to continue for much of the year - and export smuggling. The result? Iraq, with the world's second-highest reserves of oil, is now importing fuel from other oil-producing countries to meet domestic demands.
(snip)