"Dozens of camouflage-wearing troops sat quietly at their lunch tables..."

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT/Reuters: Bush Acknowledges Americans Weary of Iraq War
By REUTERS
Published: April 4, 2007

FORT IRWIN, California (Reuters) - President George W. Bush admitted on Wednesday that Americans are weary of the Iraq war and defended his decision to send more troops to Iraq before a number of soldiers about to deploy there.

Dozens of camouflage-wearing troops sat quietly at their lunch tables, some joined by family members, as Bush spoke during a visit to this remote base in the high desert of California, where Iraqi-American actors train soldiers to understand Iraq's cultural differences.

"It's a tough war,'' Bush said in a subdued tone. ``The American people are weary of this war.''

Bush's comments reflected recognition of the unpopularity of the war, in which more than 3,200 U.S. troops have been killed, as he tries to persuade the Democratic-led U.S. Congress to approve about $100 billion to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without attaching a withdrawal timetable.

Defending his decision to add about 30,000 extra troops to Iraq, Bush said he wants to bring stability to Baghdad and avoid a spread of the conflict into the region that could endanger U.S. ally Israel.

"I had a choice to make,'' Bush said.

A number of the troops who listened quietly are from units about to rotate into service in Iraq....

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-iraq-bush.html

[Straight Shooter]

1. Your choice. Their lives, their limbs, their minds.

F*ck you, george.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Somehow the tragic weariness that came through this article --

the determined insanity of it all -- really struck me.

[Supersedeas]

15. Yes, I felt it too.

[genie_weenie]

5. Hey, WE are all in this together!

That's what I hear from leading members of the Regime, Bill Kristol, Mitt Rommney, Rush, Coulter, et al.

It's just that some of the WE have to suffer 100 days of 100+ degree heat, tainted shower water, IEDs, snipers, broken marriages and crappy health care, whilst others have to suffer expensive dinners and tough media questions (which feel like mortars)...

[Erika]

2. He lost the hurrahs and applause of the early years in Iraq

All of America is tired of this endless war.

[lyonn]

7. Did you see any part of his performance there?

A clip was shown on tv and when george came to one of his punch lines that has been repeated a jillion times and always gets an applause the place stayed silent. Did not see any of the soldiers there looking happy about this disjointed speech.

[NI4NI]

9. He was waiting for applause and didn't get it.

After all of the retundant bullshit speeches and quotes I've heard him make the last four years,(the worst being "this will not happen on my watch") today was the first time I ever saw this happen. NO APPLAUSE AT ALL from the military.

[LynnTheDem]

3. "I had a choice to make,''

Invade a nation that hadn't been doing a damned thing to anyone.


Or


Invade a nation that hadn't been doing a damned thing to anyone.

"Fuck Saddam, we're taking him out"
-March 2002, a year before his illegal invasion.
http://citypages.com/databank/25/1247/article12600.asp

‘If I have a chance to invade….if I had that much capital, I’m not going to waste it."
-1999; 5 years before his illegal invasion.
http://houstonpress.com/issues/2004-11-18/news/news_print.html

Bush planned Iraq 'regime change' before becoming President
http://www.sundayherald.com/27735

O'Neill: Bush planned Iraq invasion before 9/11
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/10/oneill.bush

Bush 'wanted war in 2002'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1154473,00.html

I know some Americans don't think that is a threat. I view it as a threat because — and the reason it's a threat is I can conceivably see a world in which radicals and extremists control oil. And they would say to the West: You either abandon Israel, for example, or we're going to run the price of oil up."
http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/story?id=2594541&page=2

"American forces are indispensable. They are in Iraq not as a favour to its government or as a reward for its conduct. They are there as an expression of the American national interest to prevent the Iranian combination of imperialism and fundamentalist ideology from dominating a region on which the energy supplies of the industrial democracies depend."
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?section=opinion&xfile=data/opinion/2007/january/opinion_january62.xml

[Poiuyt]

11. Great quotes, Lynn

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. Does he EVER make any sense?

I know some Americans don't think that is a threat. I view is as a threat because - and the reason it's a threat is I can conceivably see a world in which radical and extremists control oil. And they will say to the West: You either abandon Israel, for example, or we're going to run the price of oil up.

Yep! radicals and extremists DO control oil and THEY (bu$hco and friends)HAVE run the price up. And georgie is HAPPY about that!

Does he think we're all as STUPID AS HE IS?

[global1]

6. Another Photo Op At The Expense of The Troops.......nt

[AlCzervik]

8. Like the troops want him there, why ust he punish them because he can't go to

a non military venue? Man up Dimson and face the public, the non hand picked public.

[saigon68]

10. He's still a retarded chimpanzee

[AnneD]

13. The silence

speaks volumes.

[Gen. Jack D. Ripper]

14. A couple points

One, I don't know that Israel is at any less security risk now than before the invasion. In fact, Iraq had been a suitable buffer between Iran and Israel. Hell, that's a major reason why Reagon gave Saddam so many weapons all those years ago. Now, there is a great deal less stability.

Two, I believe the US now gets more oil from the African continent than the Middle East (or, at least Saudi Arabia, traditionally a large supplier). So, his theory of mid-east baddies holding oil hostage in exchange for Israel doesn't hold much water.