Bush - "War President"

[Guest Guest]

Anti-war Ad Says Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld & Rice "Lied" About Iraq

September 26, 2005

We find some subtle word-twisting, and place the claims in context.

Summary

An anti-war coalition of mostly liberal groups ran a newspaper ad quoting six alleged lies about Iraq by President Bush and others.

But, like movie blurbs, the quotes sometimes look different when read in full context.

 

And while much of what the ad calls lies was indeed wrong, there's evidence that the President and his advisers believed the falsehoods at the time.

 

Analysis

The ad carried a bold-faced headline saying "They Lied," and six brief quotes from Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and National Security Adviser Rice (now Secretary of State). It also carried a list of American military personnel killed in Iraq, along with the words "They Died."

The ad appeared Sept. 22 in USA Today and more than a dozen other newspapers. The sponsor, "Win Without Wars," is a coalition made up of groups including MoveOn.org Political Action, and using Fenton Communications, the same media consultant used by MoveOn.org.

 

The brief quotes all seem starkly false in hindsight. But some are a bit too stark – they look a bit different when read in full context. Furthermore, calling them lies suggests Bush and his advisers knew they were wrong at the time. And a bipartisan commission concluded earlier this year that what the Bush administration told the world about Iraqi weapons – while tragically mistaken – was based on faulty intelligence.

 

"We Found the Weapons"

 

Bush is quoted as saying “We found the weapons of mass destruction,” but that's not all he said. The quote is from an interview with Polish television given May 29, 2003 – weeks after the fall of Baghdad, as Bush was starting to face questions about why no Iraqi stores of such weapons had been found.

 

Reading all of what Bush said makes clear he was referring both to "weapons" and to "manufacturing facilities" and was still clinging to what intelligence officials had told him about Iraqi mobile laboratories that supposedly were used for manufacturing biological weapons.

 

The full quote:

 

Q: Weapons of mass destruction haven't been found. So what argument will you use now to justify this war?

Bush, May 29, 2003: We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories. You remember when Colin Powell stood up in front of the world, and he said, Iraq has got laboratories, mobile labs to build biological weapons. They're illegal. They're against the United Nations resolutions, and we've so far discovered two. And we'll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them.

 

In the end, neither weapons nor manufacturing facilities were found. Bush was wrong about the mobile laboratories, of course. He was repeating a claim transmitted to him by the CIA, which based its intelligence reports on an Iraqi source, code-named "Curveball," whom it later determined to be a fabricator. But the CIA didn't formally recall Curveball's reporting until May 2004, according to the report of the bipartisan Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. That CIA reversal came roughly a year after Bush's interview with Polish television.

 

The intelligence commission, though appointed by Bush, included several Democrats including co-chair Charles Robb, a former senator and governor from Virginia. Lloyd Cutler, former White House counsel to Democratic Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, was "of counsel" to the commission. One of the Republican commissioners was Sen. John McCain, Bush's opponent in the 2000 Republican presidential primaries.

 

"Saddam Hussein had al-Qaeda Ties."

 

The ad quotes Bush as saying, "There's no question Saddam Hussein had al-Qaeda ties." Bush said that September 17, 2003, after months of fruitless searching for evidence of WMD's in Iraq.

 

However, the full quote shows Bush also made clear that he was not claiming that Saddam had any connection to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In fact, he was knocking down a suggestion made four days earlier by Vice President Cheney, who said on NBC's Meet The Press that it is "not surprising that people make that connection" when asked why so many Americans believed Saddam was involved in the attacks.

 

Bush, Sept. 17, 2003: We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11th . What the Vice President said was, is that he has been involved with al Qaeda. And al Sarawak, al Qaeda operative, was in Baghdad. He's the guy that ordered the killing of a U.S. diplomat. He's a man who is still running loose, involved with the poisons network, involved with Ansar al-Islam. There's no question that Saddam Hussein had al Qaeda ties.

 

Since the word "ties" can cover any connection, however weak, Bush was in fact stating the truth. The bipartisan 9/11 Commission later cited reports of several "friendly contacts" between Saddam and Osama bin Laden over the years, and cited one report that in 1999 Iraqi officials offered bin Laden a "safe haven," which bin Laden refused, preferring to remain in Afghanistan. But nothing substantial came of the contacts. The commission said: "The reports describe friendly contacts and indicate some common themes in both sides' hatred of the United States. But to date we have seen no evidence that these or the earlier contacts ever developed into a collaborative operational relationship."

 

"We Will, in Fact, be Greeted as Liberators"

 

Cheney is quoted as saying, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, "We will in fact, be greeted as liberators... I think it will go relatively quickly... [in] weeks rather than months."

 

Those quotes are actually from two separate interviews, and they do give a rosy prediction that failed to include the bloody insurrection and resistance that continues to this day.

 

The first Cheney quote comes from an NBC Meet the Press interview March 16, 2003. The full quote makes clear – as the ad's blurb does not – that Cheney is stating his own "belief." Thus, the statement would be true if that's what Cheney actually believed at the time.

 

Cheney, March 16, 2003: Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. . . .

 

Q: If your analysis is not correct, and we're not treated as liberators, but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties?

 

Cheney: Well, I don't think it's likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators. . . . The read we get on the people of Iraq is there is no question but what they want to the get rid of Saddam Hussein and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we come to do that.

 

 

The second quoted fragment is from another interview the same day on CBS's Face The Nation . The full quote shows Cheney qualified his prediction of quick victory, by saying the "really challenging part" may come in the "aftermath" of a quick military victory. That turned out to be quite accurate.

 

Cheney, March 16, 2003: I'm confident that our troops will be successful, and I think it'll go relatively quickly, but we can't...

 

Q: Weeks?

 

Cheney: ...we can't count on that.

 

Q: Months?

 

Cheney: Weeks rather than months. There's always the possibility of--of complications that you can't anticipate, but I'm--I have great confidence in our troops. The men and women who serve in our military today are superb. Our capabilities as a force are the finest the world has ever known. They're very ably led by General Tommy Franks and Secretary Rumsfeld. And so I have great confidence in the conduct of the military campaign. The really challenging part of it to some extent may come in the--in the aftermath once the military segment is over and we move to try and stand up a new government and--and turn over to the Iraqi people the responsibilities to their nation.

 

 

US, British and other coalition forces invaded Iraq March 20, and on May 1 the US declared an end to "major combat operations." At that time 139 US armed forces personnel had been killed. But 1773 more died after that, plus five civilian employees of the Defense Department, according to official Pentagon figures as of Sept. 26, 2005. By that measure the "aftermath" has been more than a dozen times deadlier to the US military than the initial combat phase.

 

"We Know Where [the WMDs] are."

 

The ad quotes Defense Secretary Rumsfeld as saying "We know where [the WMDs] are" on March 30, 2003 – at a time when US forces were within 65 miles of Baghdad.

 

This quote doesn't look much different even in full context. Rumsfeld was reacting to a question about why no weapons of mass destruction had been found, and he said US and coalition forces didn't yet control the areas where weapons "were dispersed."

 

Q: And is it curious to you that given how much control U.S. and coalition forces now have in the country, they haven't found any weapons of mass destruction?

 

Rumsfeld, May 30, 2003: Not at all. If you think -- let me take that, both pieces -- the area in the south and the west and the north that coalition forces control is substantial. It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.

 

Subsequent events have proved Rumsfeld wrong. Whether his statement was a lie or a mistake depends on whether or not he knew at the time that the weapons weren't there.

 

"[saddam] is Actively Pursuing a Nuclear Weapon."

 

This quote is from Condoleezza Rice on September 8, 2002, months before the war began, in an interview with CNN. Rice was then Bush's National Security Adviser and later became Secretary of State.

 

Q: Based on what you know right now, how close is Saddam Hussein's government -- how close is that government to developing a nuclear capability?

 

Rice, September 8, 2002: You will get different estimates about precisely how close he is. We do know that he is actively pursuing a nuclear weapon. We do know that there have been shipments going into Iran, for instance -- into Iraq, for instance, of aluminum tubes that really are only suited to -- high-quality aluminum tools that are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs, centrifuge programs.

 

We know that he has the infrastructure, nuclear scientists to make a nuclear weapon. And we know that when the inspectors assessed this after the Gulf War, he was far, far closer to a crude nuclear device than anybody thought, maybe six months from a crude nuclear device.

 

The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.

 

What Rice said then is an accurate summation of what the US Intelligence community was saying at the time. Here's what the bipartisan Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction said last March, after a year-long study:

 

Commission on Intelligence Capabilities, March 31, 2005: On the brink of war, and in front of the whole world, the United States government asserted that Saddam Hussein had reconstituted his nuclear weapons program, had biological weapons and mobile biological weapon production facilities, and had stockpiled and was producing chemical weapons. All of this was based on the assessments of the U.S. Intelligence Community. And not one bit of it could be confirmed when the war was over.

 

Looking back, it is now clear that much of what is quoted in this ad was, even in context, false or misleading. To say Bush and the others "lied," however, requires evidence that they knew the intelligence they were getting was wrong. The unanimous finding of the Intelligence Commission argues against that idea.

 

Sources

Interview of the President by TVP, Poland, Office of the White House Press Secretary, 29 May 2003.

Report to the President , Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, 31 March 2005.

 

Remarks by the President after meeting with Members of the Congressional Conference Committee on Energy Legislation, Office of the White House Press, Secretary 17 Sep 2003.

 

The 9/11 Commission Report, Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, 22 July 2004.

 

"Interview with Vice President Cheney," Meet the Press, NBC, 13 Mar 2003.

 

"OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF) U.S. CASUALTY STATUS"

AS OF: Sep 26, 2005, 1000 a.m. EDT, US Department of Defense, 26 Sep 2005.

 

“Donald Rumsfeld” This Week with George Stephanopoulos, ABC (Transcript) 30 Mar 2003.

 

"Interview with Condoleezza Rice," CNN Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, 8 Sep 2002.

 

Related Articles

Bush's "16 Words" on Iraq & Uranium: He May Have Been Wrong But He Wasn't Lying

Two intelligence investigations show Bush had plenty of reason to believe what he said in his 2003 State of the Union Address.

 

 

 

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[Guest Henry K]

Checking the facts is a good thing.

 

http://www.factcheck.org/operation_iraqi_gloss-over.html

 

[Guest Guest]

this thread could be the most inaccurate body of statements i have ever seen, even for republicans. none of you know what the F you are talking about and are spewing out false information like it's water. i would suggest sane people forget trying to debate these delusional individuals. let them pat eachother on the back for seeing who the biggest moron is. these are people who listen to rush the criminal drug addict, sean hannity, laura ingraham, ann coulter and rusty humphries. that lineup alone could could fill a ward at the nuthouse.

 

[Guest Coulter Moonbat Alert]

NOW CHOKE ON IT, JUNIOR!

 

I checked your "references" - well, at least the links that worked.

The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies???? Oh yea...real credible.

Board of Directors

line

 

Steve Forbes

Board Member

CEO Forbes Magazine

 

Dr. Jeane J. Kirkpatrick

Founding Member, 2001-2006

Fmr. Ambassador to the UN

 

Jack Kemp

Chairman Emeritus

Fmr. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

 

Board of Advisors

line

 

Gary Bauer

President

American Values

 

Bill Kristol

Editor

Weekly Standard

 

Donna Brazile

Campaign Manager, Democratic strategist

Gore 2000

Hon. Richard D. Lamm

Fmr. Governor

Colorado

 

Rep. Eric Cantor

Chairman (R-VA)

Task Force on Terrorism

Rep. Jim Marshall

(D-GA)

U.S. House of Representatives

 

Rep. Eliot Engel

(D-NY)

U.S. House of Representatives

Sen. Zell Miller

(D-GA)

Former U.S. Senator

 

Frank Gaffney

President

Center for Security Policy

Richard Perle

Former Chair of the Defense Policy Board and FDD Advisor

 

Amb. Marc Ginsberg

Fmr. Ambassador

Morocco

Steven Pomerantz

Former Assistant Director

FBI

 

Charles Jacobs

President

American Anti-Slavery Group

Oliver "Buck" Revell

Former Associate Deputy Director

FBI

 

Charles Krauthammer

Syndicated Columnist

 

Dear God, you're clearly insane! :lol: If you're taking information from administration apologists and bona fide foreign policy screw ups as gospel (Zell Miller??? Bill Kristol???) then I am forced to sit back and chuckle at your ranting. Not much else an educated person can do for you.

 

Are we sure more stupid people wasn't part of the new software package?

[Guest Henry K]

There are other perspectives that you might want to consider, try

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein_and_al-Qaeda

 

 

You quote Stephen Hayes; this on him;

 

http://mediamatters.org/items/200406300014

 

 

 

 

[Madned]

SINCE HE LET 9/11 HAPPEN ON HIS WATCH AND THEN LIED TO INVADE A COUNTRY THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 9/11, I 'D SAY YES. DON'T FORGET OSAMA IS ALIVE, EVEN THOUGH GEORGE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT HIM. THE BORDER IS A MESS AND REMEMBER WHAT A BANG UP JOB HE DID AFTER KATRINA. THE LIST IS ENDLESS.

 

How true it is amazing the people who stick up for this administration. Osama according to Bhutto was murdered in 2002 see Frost and Bhutto interview. The agreement in 2005 with Cannada and Mexico for a north american union. We were never told. How broke Social Security and Medicare is and how it is the fault of the babyboomers. When he took the so called surplus and gave it to the richest people in the United States. We got the 5 % they got the 95%. And now it is going to happen again. enjoy your 600 dollars. It will not buy much, maybe a gas tank full. Fema has been put on notice from the states recently ravished buy tornadoes. And they are expected to actually do something this time. A tractor trailer load of our money disappeared in Iraq and this did not raise an eyebrow. And it irritates me to hear from these Bushers who obviously have their heads in the sand. Yes the list is endless. Hussien by no measure a saint at least kept the al queida out of Iraq. And lets not forget Halliburton was drilling wells from Kuwait into the Iraq oil fields and Hussien went before the UN four times to have them stopped.

 

[Madned]

You say that like it is a bad thing. As for my personal views, while re-reading the last post, I fail to see how I expressed any specific view.

 

I believe everyone is part liberal part conservative part capitalist part socialist. How can anyone be so narrow in thought? I share so I am a socialist I believe in a hand up not a hand out. I am a conservative I do not spend foolishly. I am a capitalist I invest in the stock market. I am a liberal some people will always be poor and may not have had the same opportunities as I.

 

[Guest toonsiesdrvgcat]

I believe everyone is part liberal part conservative part capitalist part socialist. How can anyone be so narrow in thought? I share so I am a socialist I believe in a hand up not a hand out. I am a conservative I do not spend foolishly. I am a capitalist I invest in the stock market. I am a liberal some people will always be poor and may not have had the same opportunities as I.

YOU my friend, ARE AMERICAN. that IS AMERICAN THINKING. MOST have sold their souls to the label of politics.

 

[Guest historian]

this thread should be re-named "Bush-War Hero". his service in vietnam was instrumental in "winning" that war, just like we are "winning" this war. he protected texas and alabama against the viet cong. i don't recall of any enemy attacks while he was there so he must have done a great job.

 

while we are at it, let's recognize dick cheney, donald rumsfield and paul wolfowitz for their heroics in vietnam. between the 3 of them, they received more deferments than the rest of the country combined. that's bravery at it's finest.

 

finally, i see people on this board fighting about the war in iraq. don't you guys watch the news. the war has been over since last may. george bush flew onto an air carrier and pronounced "mission accomplished"!!!!. a man with that much military savvy would never say it unless it was true. so what war are you guys fighting about? i wish people listened to the president like i do. then there wouldn't be these misunderstandings.

[Guest toonsiesdrvgcat]

this thread should be re-named "Bush-War Hero". his service in vietnam was instrumental in "winning" that war, just like we are "winning" this war. he protected texas and alabama against the viet cong. i don't recall of any enemy attacks while he was there so he must have done a great job.

 

while we are at it, let's recognize dick cheney, donald rumsfield and paul wolfowitz for their heroics in vietnam. between the 3 of them, they received more deferments than the rest of the country combined. that's bravery at it's finest.

 

finally, i see people on this board fighting about the war in iraq. don't you guys watch the news. the war has been over since last may. george bush flew onto an air carrier and pronounced "mission accomplished"!!!!. a man with that much military savvy would never say it unless it was true. so what war are you guys fighting about? i wish people listened to the president like i do. then there wouldn't be these misunderstandings.

trust me when i say, their are many, many among you thinking the same thing. His only major accomplishment in life was head cheerleader amongst his true peers at phillips academy. and to think some voted TWICE. not just ONCE.

 

[Guest Obamination]

Yes, I did steal that name, thought it was great.

Well let's see, Vote for Obama and he says CHANGE..well I guess explaining that isn't necessary to those who vote for him, just say the word in the wind and he's gotcha. Some credentials for a President.

Hillary, Universal Healthcare, yesh that's gonna fly again. Well, we know who she's hoping to get on board, just mention free anything and you got em!

McCain, well you have another Liberal to choose from, Legal Immigration tried to stop the Patriot Act, oh yes folks he's a Liberal so have yourself a ball...God Help America!

[Guest toonsiesdrvgcat]

Yes, I did steal that name, thought it was great.

Well let's see, Vote for Obama and he says CHANGE..well I guess explaining that isn't necessary to those who vote for him, just say the word in the wind and he's gotcha. Some credentials for a President.

Hillary, Universal Healthcare, yesh that's gonna fly again. Well, we know who she's hoping to get on board, just mention free anything and you got em!

McCain, well you have another Liberal to choose from, Legal Immigration tried to stop the Patriot Act, oh yes folks he's a Liberal so have yourself a ball...God Help America!

you covered all the angles. except the angle of your dangle. which is in BUSHs pocket

 

[Guest Guest]

trust me when i say, their are many, many among you thinking the same thing. His only major accomplishment in life was head cheerleader amongst his true peers at phillips academy. and to think some voted TWICE. not just ONCE.

 

and he actually won once!

[Guest BarfBoy]

this thread should be re-named "Bush-War Hero". his service in vietnam was instrumental in "winning" that war, just like we are "winning" this war. he protected texas and alabama against the viet cong. i don't recall of any enemy attacks while he was there so he must have done a great job.

 

while we are at it, let's recognize dick cheney, donald rumsfield and paul wolfowitz for their heroics in vietnam. between the 3 of them, they received more deferments than the rest of the country combined. that's bravery at it's finest.

 

finally, i see people on this board fighting about the war in iraq. don't you guys watch the news. the war has been over since last may. george bush flew onto an air carrier and pronounced "mission accomplished"!!!!. a man with that much military savvy would never say it unless it was true. so what war are you guys fighting about? i wish people listened to the president like i do. then there wouldn't be these misunderstandings.

 

Is that you, LibTard Guy? :lol:

[Guest historian]

Is that you, LibTard Guy? :lol:

 

 

wow, what a zinger!!! make sure to tell the rest of your social studies class that one.

[Guest BarfBoy]

wow, what a zinger!!! make sure to tell the rest of your social studies class that one.

No..I was serious. LibTard Guy makes over the top stupid remarks while posing as a right winger. That poster couldn't have been serious! Let me guess. You're too dumb to get the joke, right? Historian couldn't have been being serious! Bush a "war hero????"

[Guest historian]

No..I was serious. LibTard Guy makes over the top stupid remarks while posing as a right winger. That poster couldn't have been serious! Let me guess. You're too dumb to get the joke, right? Historian couldn't have been being serious! Bush a "war hero????"

 

 

yes, i'm the one that doesn't get the joke.

 

[Madned]

YOU my friend, ARE AMERICAN. that IS AMERICAN THINKING. MOST have sold their souls to the label of politics.

 

 

Thanks When I was a young boy being American I believed if another country were to do me harm my country would go to war. It is a shame to see what is happening to this country. And you are right that is American thinking we need more of it. Our soul is about all we will have left if we continue on this road at least pray we can die with some dignity Thanks again.