Elonka wrote:
] (re-memed at a new URL)
]
] This is the transcript of a wide-ranging interview between
] NBC's Tom Brokaw and President Bush. Subjects covered range
] from Iraq to the Palestinian-Israeli situation to the economy
] to al-Sahaf and the Dixie Chicks.
]
] I found the interview very interesting, not just for the
] policy stuff, but also to hear in Bush's own words what it was
] like to give the order at the beginning of the war, and what
] the decision-making process was like as last-minute changes
] were made in the war plan. I recommend this link highly for a
] better understanding of how decisions are made at his level.

I remember this interview... However, pulling it back up and reading it here I couldn't get past the first page without seeing a major gaff.

He Tells Tommy what's up. I don't see any bullshit here. Peace, security, and freedom. All those those are our goals for Iraq, and the middle-east in general.

Bush: I then gave the instructions to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld that Operation Iraqi Freedom would commence at a time of Tommy Franks' choosing. Told Tommy, you know, for the sake of peace and security and the freedom of the Iraqi people that he's got the orders to proceed. I asked God for blessing on him and the troops. He saluted, I saluted back and left the room.

And then we get the WMD bullshit..

Bush: It was a -- it was an emotional moment for me because I had obviously made up my mind that if we needed to, we would use troops to get rid of weapons of mass destruction to free the Iraqi people. But the actual moment of making that decision was a heavy moment. I then went outside and walked around the grounds, just to get a little air and collect my thoughts.

I can't help but wonder, given hindsight, if something freudian was happening there. I feel like I just had both sides of the WMD lie laid out for me because Bush can't form a sentence. Feels like at that point in the interview, he just knew he had to say WMD, and make sure that was mentioned at the most important decision point. Didn't even fit in the train of logic. The WMD were not oppressing the Iraqi people, Hussein was.

More Bush: I think there's going to be skepticism until people find out there was, in fact, a weapons of mass destruction program. One thing there can't be skepticism about is the fact that this guy was torturous and brutal on the Iraqi people. I mean, he brutalized them, he tortured them, he destroyed them, he cut out their tongues when they dissented. And now the people are beginning to see what freedom means within Iraq. Look at the Shia marches, or the Shia pilgrimages that are taking place.

I'm going to be all about the ends, but I still think the means sucked. Maybe they were the only means and I'm just a crybaby. It still just doesn't sit with me that we needed to wage war based on lying to the public. This is the type of thing that makes me think we are lied to about other things.. Track records, reputation, and history, are important. Everything but the lie sounds noble and good.

Ug.. Maybe in order to be happy with this, I'm just going to have to pretend that WMD means "any source of asymmetric threats that can effect the world or a given region".

I don't feel like harping on Bush today, I really don't.. I'm going to attempt to make this my only post today that does so.

RE: President Bush Interview: April 24, 2003