A President Besieged and Isolated
A President Besieged and Isolated, Yet at Ease
Bush, Grasping for Answers and Fixated on Iraq, Remains Resolute
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 2, 2007; A01
At the nadir of his presidency, George W. Bush is looking for answers. One at a time or in small groups, he summons leading authors, historians, philosophers and theologians to the White House to join him in the search.
Over sodas and sparkling water, he asks his questions: What is the nature of good and evil in the post-Sept. 11 world? What lessons does history have for a president facing the turmoil I’m facing? How will history judge what we’ve done? Why does the rest of the world seem to hate America? Or is it just me they hate?
These are the questions of a president who has endured the most drastic political collapse in a generation. Not generally known for intellectual curiosity, Bush is seeking out those who are, engaging in a philosophical exploration of the currents of history that have swept up his administration. For all the setbacks, he remains unflinching, rarely expressing doubt in his direction, yet trying to understand how he got off course.
These sessions, usually held in the Oval Office or the elegant living areas of the executive mansion, are never listed on the president’s public schedule and remain largely unknown even to many on his staff. To some of those invited to talk, Bush seems alone, isolated by events beyond his control, with trusted advisers taking their leave and erstwhile friends turning on him.
“You think about prime ministers and presidents being surrounded by cabinet officials and aides and so forth,” said Alistair Horne, a British historian who met with Bush recently. “But at the end of the day, they’re alone. They’re lonely. And that’s what occurred to me as I was at the White House. It must be quite difficult for him to get out and about.”
Friends worry about that as well. Burdened by an unrelenting war, challenged by an opposition Congress, defeated just last week on immigration, his last major domestic priority, Bush remains largely locked inside the fortress of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in the seventh year of a presidency turned sour. He still travels, making speeches to friendly audiences and attending summit meetings, such as this weekend’s Kennebunkport talks with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. But he rarely goes out to dinner, and he no longer plays golf, except occasionally chipping at Camp David, where, as at his Texas ranch, he can find refuge.
“I don’t know how he copes with it,” said Donald Burnham Ensenat, a friend for 43 years who just stepped down as State Department protocol officer. Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.), another longtime friend who once worked for Bush, said he looks worn down. “It’s a marked difference in his physical appearance,” Conaway said. “It’s an incredibly heavy load. When you ask men and women to take risks, to send them into war knowing they might not come home, that’s got to be an incredible burden to have on your shoulders.”
Bush is fixated on Iraq, according to friends and advisers. One former aide went to see him recently to discuss various matters, only to find Bush turning the conversation back to Iraq again and again. He recognizes that his presidency hinges on whether Iraq can be turned around in 18 months. “Nothing matters except the war,” said one person close to Bush. “That’s all that matters. The whole thing rides on that.”
And yet Bush does not come across like a man lamenting his plight. In public and in private, according to intimates, he exhibits an inexorable upbeat energy that defies the political storms. Even when he convenes philosophical discussions with scholars, he avoids second-guessing his actions. He still acts as if he were master of the universe, even if the rest of Washington no longer sees him that way.
“You don’t get any feeling of somebody crouching down in the bunker,” said Irwin M. Stelzer, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who was part of one group of scholars who met with Bush. “This is either extraordinary self-confidence or out of touch with reality. I can’t tell you which.”
A Parade of Setbacks
The reality has been daunting by any account. No modern president has experienced such a sustained rejection by the American public. Bush’s approval rating slipped below 50 percent in Washington Post-ABC News polls in January 2005 and has not topped that level in the 30 months since. The last president mired under 50 percent so long was Harry S. Truman. Even Richard M. Nixon did not fall below 50 percent until April 1973, 16 months before he resigned.
The polls reflect the events of Bush’s second term, an unyielding sequence of bad news. Social Security. Hurricane Katrina. Harriet E. Miers. Dubai Ports World. Vice President Cheney’s hunting accident. Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay and Mark Foley. The midterm elections. I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Alberto R. Gonzales and Paul D. Wolfowitz. Immigration. And overshadowing it all, the Iraq war, now longer than the U.S. fight in World War II.
Since winning reelection 2 1/2 years ago, Bush has had few days of good news, and what few he has had rarely lasted. Purple-fingered Iraqis went to the polls to establish a democracy but elected a dysfunctional government riven by sectarian strife. U.S. forces hunted down Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, but the violence only worsened. Saddam Hussein was convicted, but his execution was marred by videotaped taunting. Perhaps the only unalloyed major second-term victory for Bush has been the confirmation of two Supreme Court justices who have begun to move the court to the right.
Other presidents have been crushed by the pressure. Lyndon B. Johnson was tormented by Vietnam War protesters outside his window shouting, “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” Nixon swam in self-pity during Watergate, talking to paintings and once asking Henry Kissinger to pray with him. Bill Clinton fumed against enemies and nursed deep grievances during his impeachment battle.
But if Bush vents like that, no one is talking. Kissinger, who advises Bush, said the president has never asked him to kneel down with him in the Oval Office. “I find him serene,” Kissinger said. “I know President Johnson was railing against his fate. That’s not the case with Bush. He feels he’s doing what he needs to do, and he seems to me at peace with himself.”
Bush has virtually given up on winning converts while in office and instead is counting on vindication after he is dead. “He almost has . . . a sense of fatalism,” said Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), who recently spent a day traveling with Bush. “All he can do is do his best, and 100 years from now people will decide if he was right or wrong. It doesn’t seem to be a false, macho pride or living in your own world. I find him to be amazingly calm.”
To an extent, Bush walls himself off from criticism. He does read newspapers, contrary to public impression, but watches little television news and does not linger in the media echo chamber. “He does a very good job of keeping out the extreme things in his life,” Conaway, the congressman, said. “He doesn’t watch Leno and Letterman. He doesn’t spend a lot of time exposing himself to that sort of stuff. He has a terrific knack of not looking through the rearview mirror.”
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who attended a legislative meeting with Bush last month, said his impervious nature works both ways. “The things that make him unpopular also help him deal with all the pressure,” Kingston said. “He’s stubborn. He’s loyal to his philosophy.”
Reproached by His Own
The fabled loyalty of the Bush team, though, has frayed far more than might be apparent to him. The fight over whether Gonzales should remain attorney general has exposed a deep fault line. Bush remains convinced that his old friend did nothing wrong ethically in firing U.S. attorneys, and senior adviser Karl Rove angrily rejects what he sees as a Democratic witch hunt, according to White House officials. Yet beyond the inner circle, it is hard to find a current or former administration official who thinks Gonzales should stay.
“I don’t understand for the life of me why Al Gonzales is still there,” said one former top aide, who, like others, would speak only on the condition of anonymity. “It’s not about him. It’s about the office and who’s able to lead the department.” The ex-aide said that every time he runs into former Cabinet secretaries, “universally the first thing out of their mouths” is bafflement that Gonzales remains.
Some aides see it as Bush refusing to accept reality. “The president thinks cutting and running on his friends shows weakness,” said an exasperated senior official. “Change shows weakness. Doing what everyone knows has to be done shows weakness.” Another former aide said that no matter how many people Bush consults, he heeds only two or three.
Beyond Gonzales, the discontent with the Bush presidency is broader and deeper among Republican lawmakers, some of whom seethe with anger. “Our members just wish this thing would be over,” said a senior House Republican who met with Bush recently. “People are tired of him.” Bush’s circle remains sealed tight, the lawmaker said. “There’s nobody there who can stand up to him and tell him, ‘Mr. President, you’ve got to do this. You’re wrong on this.’ There’s no adult supervision. It’s like he’s oblivious. Maybe that’s a defense mechanism.”
Aides said they do challenge Bush. White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten had what one colleague called “a lot of hard discussions” with the president after the November midterm elections to shock him into recognizing that his approach to Iraq had failed. Bolten set up meetings so Bush could hear from critics of his policy and sent him written material to emphasize the need for change, the colleague said. That led to the decision to send more troops.
Even if he tries to avoid the media surround sound, Bush cannot help running into criticism. A group of moderate House Republicans bluntly told him during a recent White House meeting that he had become a drag on the party. And when the president invited conservative radio host Laura Ingraham for a bike ride last month, she upbraided him for his position on immigration.
Bush’s unpopularity appears to impose limits on where he goes. He turned down an invitation from the Washington Nationals to throw out the first pitch on Opening Day, pleading a busy schedule. The former baseball team owner instead hosted an invitation-only ceremony for a college football team in the East Room, where no one would boo. When commencement season rolled around, he stayed away from major universities, delivering addresses at a community college in Florida and a small religious school in Pennsylvania run by a former aide. And even then he was met by student and faculty protests.
Seeking History’s Lessons
Amid the tumult, the president has sought refuge in history. He read three books last year on George Washington, read about the Algerian war of independence and the exploitation of Congo, and lately has been digging into “Troublesome Young Men,” Lynne Olson’s account of Conservative backbenchers who thrust Winston Churchill to power. Bush idolizes Churchill and keeps a bust of him in the Oval Office.
After reading Andrew Roberts’s “A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900,” Bush brought in the author and a dozen other scholars to talk about the lessons. “What can I learn from history?” Bush asked Roberts, according to Stelzer, the Hudson Institute scholar, who participated.
Stelzer said Bush seemed smarter than he expected. The conversation ranged from history to religion and touched on sensitive topics for a president wrestling with his legacy. “He asked me, ‘Do you think our unpopularity abroad is a result of my personality?’ And he laughed,” Stelzer recalled. “I said, ‘In part.’ And he laughed again.”
Much of the discussion focused on the nature of good and evil, a perennial theme for Bush, who casts the struggle against Islamic extremists in black-and-white terms. Michael Novak, a theologian who participated, said it was clear that Bush weathers his difficulties because he sees himself as doing the Lord’s work.
“His faith is very strong,” said Novak, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. “Faith is not enough by itself because there are a lot of people who have faith but weak hearts. But his faith is very strong. He seeks guidance, like every other president does, in prayer. And that means trying to be sure he’s doing the right thing. And if you’ve got that set, all the criticism, it doesn’t faze you very much. You’re answering to God.”
Horne, the British historian, found himself with Bush on another occasion after Kissinger gave the president “A Savage War of Peace,” Horne’s book on the French defeat in Algeria in the mid-20th century. Bush invited Horne to visit. They talked about the parallels and differences between Algeria and Iraq as Bush sought insight he could apply to his own situation.
Horne said he is not a Bush supporter but was nonetheless struck by the president’s tranquility. “He was very friendly, very relaxed,” Horne said. “My God, he looked well. He looked like he came off a cruise in the Caribbean. He looked like he hadn’t a care in the world. It was amazing.”
Loyalists Lost
As Bush heads toward the twilight of his presidency, the White House feels increasingly empty. One after another, aides who have stuck with him are heading out the door. Andrew H. Card Jr., his chief of staff for more than five years, stepped down last year. And now counselor Dan Bartlett, an aide for 14 years, is leaving.
Card and Bartlett were the aides who spent the most time at Bush’s side. Bolten, Card’s replacement, and Ed Gillespie, Bartlett’s successor, each decided not to devote as much time to “body duty,” leaving the president without their constant presence. Others who have left have publicly castigated the president. Bush was particularly hurt, friends said, when reelection strategist Matthew Dowd disavowed him.
Bush seeks solace in his oldest friends from Texas and Yale University, hosting an annual summer picnic and a Christmas party. He invites friends to the White House or the ranch in Crawford. But those experiences are strangely impersonal. “It can be kind of clinical,” said a friend who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. “You’re in there and in that event it’s all very controlled—you come in for drinks at 7, you have dinner at 7:30 and by 9 you’re back at your hotel.”
Bush rarely leaves the White House for social outings in Washington, though lately he has tried to get out more, attending dinners last month at the homes of two old friends, attorney Jim Langdon and budget aide Clay Johnson III. Bush avoids politics in such moments. He reaches out for signs of normalcy, asking about business or mutual friends. “He wants to know if we’ve caught any fish,” said Robert McCleskey, a friend since grade school.
Bush also deals with stress through discipline, routine and exercise. On a typical day, he wakes at 5 a.m., arrives at the Oval Office at 6:30, then leaves at 4:30 p.m. for a 60-minute workout. He returns to work for a while before retiring to the residence, where he turns in at 9:30. On weekends, he favors two-hour biking sessions at a Secret Service facility in Beltsville with companions such as Card or Alexander Ellis IV, a young cousin.
Friends say this does not make him ignorant of his troubles. “There isn’t any doubt that he is totally and completely aware of all the existing circumstances around him,” said a close friend. “There’s not anything that he’s not aware of—how he’s perceived, how his people are perceived, the problems his people have. He is the furthest thing from oblivious. . . . Somewhere in the back of his mind there’s a pretty complete autopsy.”
Yet Bush can seem disengaged. When he flew to New York to visit a Harlem school and promote his education program, he brought along New York congressmen on Air Force One, including Democrat Charles B. Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. The White House was in the midst of tough negotiations with Rangel over trade pacts. But Bush did not try to cut a deal with Rangel, chatting instead about baseball. “He talked a lot about the Rangers,” Rangel said. “I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.”
Still, that trip demonstrated that Bush cannot escape his burdens. King, the GOP congressman, introduced him backstage to a soldier injured in one eye. Bush teared up and asked the young man to take off his dark glasses so he could see the wound, King recalled. “Human instinct is when someone has a serious injury to look the other way,” King said. “He actually asked him to take them off. He actually touched the eye a little. It was almost as if he felt he had to confront it.”
As they headed back to Washington a few hours later, with the televisions aboard Air Force One tuned to the New York Mets game, King mused that Bush must be feeling the weight of his office.
“My wife loves you, but she doesn’t know how you don’t wake up every morning and say, ‘I’ve had it. I’m out of here,’ “ King told him.
“She thinks that?” Bush replied. “Get her on the phone.”
King dialed but got voice mail. Bush left a message: “I’m doing okay. Don’t worry about me.”
Our founding fathers were very wise
http://pages.prodigy.net/aplus_omega/300b.htm
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” --- Benjamin Franklin
“But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.” --- John Adams
“Corporations which should be carefully restrained creatures of the law of the people, are fast becoming the people’s masters. Our liberty, our environmental and social health, and democracy itself are now endangered” --- Grover Cleveland
“Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write. The erosion of our sovereignty which has occured as transnational corporations have risen in power is replacing many of the functions of citizens and governments.” --- John Adams
“Without privacy there is no freedom. Only tyranny and the corrupting nature of power. Be forever vigilant to stay free”. --- Benjamin Franklin
“As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air however slight lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.” --- William O. Douglas, Supreme Court Justice
What did we get for our $300 Billion Mr. President?
Bush: “I take care of my friends” Who are your friends Mr. President. The U.S. and Saudi Oil Companies and military equipment manufacturers of course. In the tune of $300 Billion. The money the US will spend in Iraq. But they only gave you $1 Billion. That’s $1 Billion more than anybody else dufas. Besides they gave a lot to my Daddy, Cheney, and Rice just to name a few.
Never before in history has a President of the United States had such a close relationship with another foreign power as President Bush and his father have had with the Saudi Royal family, the House of Saud. There have been more than $1.4 Billion in investments and contracts that went from the House of Saud over the past 20 years to the House of Bush as well as support for their cronies at Harken Energy, Halliburton, and the Carlyle Group among them.
Bush Sr - Carlyle - Bush Senior serves on the Board of Directors of the Carlyle Group which is involved in nearly every aspect of military production, including making the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and a number of military aircraft used in Iraq. The Carlyle Group is the 5th largest DoD contractor for the Army behind Lockheed, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and Boeing. Carlyle’s chairman is ex-Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci. Its senior counselor is former Secretary of State James Baker. The senior adviser to the firm’s Asian Partners fund is former President George H.W. Bush.
In the 1990s, the Bin Ladin’s invested $2 million in the Carlyle Group. (Wall Street Journal, September 17, 2001). We’ve got plenty of Bradley’s over here that you can buy once they blow up in Iraq. Bin Ladin blows them up, Bin Laden makes money. Bush sends them to Iraq, the Bush’s make money. Both Bush and Bin Ladin would do anything to make a profit. The dollar is their only God. The thousands of dead Iraqi’s, suicide bombers, and US soldiers. That’s “collateral damage”. Somebody’s got to lose for us to become millionaires.
And last but not least. Do you know who brokered the port deal Bush wanted so bad with Dubai. The Carlyle Group. In the tune of $102 Million they would have made if the deal went through.
Bush Jr - Harken - In 1986, Bush Junior, to date a flop as a businessman, joined Harken Energy Corporation as a Director and was awarded 212,000 shares of stock. Sheikh Abdullah Bahksh of Saudi Arabia also invested in and became a 16 percent shareholder in Harken Energy while George W. Bush served on the Board at Harken. In 1987, the inexperienced and obscure firm was awarded a prime drilling contract in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Harken’s stock price soared. In June 1990, Bush Jr sold his Harken stock for a juicy $848,000. Thank you Saudi’s for getting me that job and Bahrain contract. I’ll pay you back.
Harken Energy had ties to the notorious Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), a Middle Eastern banking company. In 1988, the BCCI scandal broke with the exposure of such investors as Manuel Noriega, terrorist leader Abu Nidal, and the Medellin drug cartel. BCCI also laundered money involved in Bush Sr’s Iran-Contra scandal.
The Bin Laden family also helped fund Arbusto Energy, George W. Bush’s first oil venture in the 1970s. Is anybody still wondering why we haven’t found bin Landen? Look in Georgie’s bed. There is noone in America closer to the Bin Laden’s than our President. Now you’re getting a little smarter. Why do you think I disbanded the CIA team whose job was to find Bin Laden. And when asked where is Bin Laden our illustrious President said “I don’t know where he is. He’s not important”. But he is the man behind 9-11. Not Iraq, Mr President. Bin Laden. Now get out of Iraq. You got your Saddam. You gave your cronie contractors enough money. The Iraq people hate us for starting a civil war. And you’re not getting any of their oil. Well we’ll see about that boy. Now shut up and get out of my office before I send you to Guantanomo.
Bush associate, British citizen Alan Quasha, a former Director of Harken living in the British Virgin Islands and owner of Lyford Investments, bought 65 million shares of Harken in May ‘05 and now owns 62% of Harken. On 14 May 2001 The Carlyle Group announced that John Major, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, had agreed to join the firm as Chairman of Carlyle Europe. The British connections.
Cheney - Halliburton (the world’s largest oil-service, exploration and engineering outfit) - In 2000, his last year with Halliburton, Cheney received $34 million when he cashed out from the company. Halliburton also supplies a large portion of military and oil equipment used in Iraq. The Pentagon’s Defense Contract Audit Agency had questioned $263 million in costs for fuel deliveries, pipeline repairs and other tasks Halliburton was supposed to perform but paid all but 4%. Usually the Defense Department withholds 75% of what is in question.
Rice - Chevron - Condoleezza Rice is a former longtime member of Chevron’s Board of Directors which does business drilling for oil in the Saudi desert.
What are you jabbering about it’s only $300 Billion? And only $50 Billion was stolen by my cronies who I gave no-bid contracts (as reported by CBS News).
The average cost of a new school in the US is $8 million. That could have paid for 37,500 new schools! The average cost of a new hospital is $100 million. That Iraq money could have paid for 3,000 new hospitals! Or could have paid the health care costs of 148 million children. That’s all the children in America for an entire year (based on US Health and Human Services statistics). You promised to improve Social Security and Medicare but have done nothing but make huge profits for the pharmaceutical companies.
What did we get for our $300 Billion Mr. President? We got Saddam. “Afterall this is the guy who tried to kill my daddy”. I had to get’em no matter what! Even if it kills and bankrupts us. That was my intent from day one in office. Is any one man worth $300 Billion to get Mr President?
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill said Bush was looking for an excuse to oust Saddam Hussein within the first few days of taking office.
More Evidence of this is found in the Downing Street Memo:
Months before Bush went to Congress or the UN or the public for approval of a war, Blair and Dearlove met at #10 Downing Street, and the minutes of that meeting are recorded as the Downing Street Minutes or Downing Street Memo.
The Downing Street Minutes are short, to the point, and shocking. They make clear that:
1. Bush had already decided to go to war long before approaching Congress or the public or the UN about it, and had already started the attack with increased bombings;
2. Bush had already decided to lie about weapons of mass destruction and ties to 9-11;
3. The Brits were concerned by the illegality of an aggressive war, but the Bush Administration was not;
4. Going to the UN was an attempt to justify the war, and the hope was to craft an ultimatum that Saddam Hussein would reject;
5. The focus of the Bush and Blair administrations was on selling the war to the public, and not at all on trying to avoid it;
6. The Bush and Blair administrations were aware that Iraq was no threat, and were willing to attack Iraq precisely because it posed no serious threat of fighting back.
When the Downing Street Minutes were first published by the Sunday London Times, shortly before the 2005 British election, the Blair Administration chose not to deny their authenticity. Shortly after the Minutes were released, sources within both the Bush and Blair Administrations confirmed their accuracy to the press. A former senior US official told Knight Ridder that the Downing Street Minutes were “an absolutely accurate description of what transpired.” Two senior British officials, who asked not to be further identified, told Newsweek in separate interviews that they had no reason to question the authenticity of the Downing Street Minutes.
The first thing I did when I stepped inside the door of the White House was tell the DOD to start drawing up plans to invade Iraq. I’ll worry about how get support for that. I’ll put the fear of God into our people with 9/11, 9/11, 9/11, terrorist, terrorist, terrorist, WMDs, WMDs, WMDs. I understand I can’t dazzle the American people with my intelligent policy making and conversation, but I can always blind them with fear.
Retired Command Sergeant Major Eric Haney, founder of the military’s elite covert counter-terrorist unit Delta Force says “Bush has fomented a third world war for personal gain. An utter debacle. But it had to be from the very first. The reasons were wrong. The reasons this Administration gave for taking this nation to war were not what they stated.”
You are best friends with the Bin Laden’s. Bin Laden was the key terrorist behind the 9/11 attack. Where is the link between Saddam and Bin Laden? What does Iraq have to do with 9/11? Where are Iraq’s WMDs? What justification is there for an unprovoked attack on a soverign country.
Just five days after Sept. 11, Bush indicated to Rice that while he had to invade Afghanistan first, lets start plans to get Saddam Hussein second. And if my fear tactics don’t work, and my get the evil doers doesn’t work, and we need to shove Democracy and Freedom down their throats at the barrel of a gun doesn’t work, then I’ll tell the American people God speaks to me. According to Blair and Bush “God speaks to me and told me to attack Iraq” and Kill. That’s the same thing their God told them, the suicide bombers, to do. Kill you. I guess all Gods just want to Kill. In the name of God, of course.
And on a Killing note - the US House of Representatives overwhelming approves giving India US nuclear technology proposed by Bush by a 359-68 vote on Wed 7/26/06. Lawmakers rejected amendments that would have put limits on India’s nuclear weapons program. The US says build as many nuclear bombs as you want and here is the technology to do it. Our goal is WWIII and total destruction of everyone in the world except the US. We love War and Killing. Dig’em out of their holes. Wanted Dead or Alive. Preferably dead. Bring it on.
Under the India deal, it will get access to US nuclear fuel and equipment. Pakistan gets nothing from the US but Russia will oblige as they did Venezuela. It’s only fair. Russia plans to deliver 30 Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets and 30 helicopters to Venezuela. It has already ordered 100,000 AK-103s and wants to set up factories to produce Kalashnikovs under licence. Smart move Venezuela because you’re next after Iraq, Iran, and N Korea.
And the US plans to sell arms worth $4.6 Billion to Saudi Arabia including AH-64 Apache helicopters and UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters. While India and most of the world except the US has condemned Israel’s “disproportionate and excessive use of force” in Lebanon.
Israel’s response is we’re following our unwritten constitutional amendment that states we kill 10 Arabs for every Jew. We did the same thing with those Gaza suicide bombers. 10 for 1. We were falling behind on the scoreboard so we had to bomb that condo and kill those 50 women and children. Sorry but you know it’s your fault. Of course. But with your multi-million dollar advanced US attack jets didn’t you see it was a condo? We can buy you a $50 pair of binoculars to look first if you need them. Don’t be stupid. We knew exactly what the target was.
“Israel accused of war crimes”. Amnesty International has accused Israel of committing war crimes by deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in Lebanon.
UN denounces Israel’s use of cluster bombs. “What’s shocking and completely immoral is that 90% of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict when we knew there would be a resolution” said the UN’s humanitarian Chief Jan Egeland.
Back to Bush. Yes we need to spread my vision of Democracy which is when they vote for someone else make sure to change the source code in the Diebold machines so they vote for me a little bit more than the other guy (computer scientists say a security hole recently found in Diebold Election Systems touch-screen voting machines is the ."worst ever” in a voting system) and if that doesn’t work have the Supreme Court validate my election and appoint me President. Freedom. Of course, which in my Presidential view is every American’s God given right to agree with me and my policies or feel my wrath. Hell Hath No Fury Like a W Scorned. And the Republican Congress has done a good job of goose stepping in line. As well as most Democrats which was a pleasant surprise. I must have everyone including the American people shaking in their boots. If I was to sum up in one word what has been the overwhelming factor in my success as President it would be “FEAR”.
I don’t agree with most things you say Mr President but I do agree with this.
While serving as Governor of Texas, George W. Bush met with high-level Al Qaeda leaders, hoping to get support to build an oil pipeline across Afghanistan. Four months into his presidency, Bush rewarded the Taliban by handing over $43 million in May 2001 and blocking FBI efforts to find and prosecute terrorism in Afghanistan, only six months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. FBI’s counterterror Director John O’Neill who became one of the world’s top experts on Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, was determined to hunt Bin Laden and his followers down and bring them to justice. After years of investigating, O’Neill came to the conclusion that “All the answers, everything needed to dismantle Osama bin Laden’s organization can be found in Saudi Arabia.” The Bush administration blocked those efforts of the “most knowledgable agent it hadâ€? to investigate the Saudis and their ties to the Bin Ladens. John O’Neil subsequently quit his job because of these frustrations with the Bush administration’s willingness to support the Taliban (and bin Laden) for the sake of the oil pipeline. Did the money, even unknowningly, help fund the attacks? John O’Neil was killed on 9/11 in the World Trade Center attack. What a coincidence?
Get Saddam. Is that the only reason to invade Iraq Mr. President?
We need to put Saddam on trial. He is an evil person, he advocated torture, invaded other countries without provocation, fixed elections and intimidated his own people and opponets through Fear. He has weapons of mass destuction and isn’t afraid to use them, he threatened every country with regime change that didn’t agree with him and thumbed his nose at the United Nations.
But Mr President who are we talking about YOU or Saddam Hussein?
Don’t we a wise ass. Besides if you want the truth it’s not Saddam it’s Money. If you want the truth always “Follow the Money”. For example, I said the US needs to be energy independent of oil. America is addicted to oil. HeHeHe. The money I’ve given to all other energy alternatives (solar, wind, hydrogen cells, biofuels) is less than 1% what I give Big Oil. And after we destroy the military and oil equipment in Iraq and they destroy some of ours, both of us will buy it back from my good friends at Harken Energy, Halliburton, and the Carlyle Group making them huge profits. We’ll even give them exclusive non-compete no-bid contracts to ensure it. A large portion will eventually funnel back to me. Isn’t that good enough to justify my unprovoked attack on a soverign country? I don’t believe so Mr. President.
Then you tell me what we got. OK Mr. President.
#1 The polls show the people in Iraq don’t like us any more now then they did before. They consider us invaders and occupiers. Can you blame them? We destroyed the infrastructure of their country with our bombas. Many don’t have food, water, electricity, proper sanitation, medical support, and a police force for security. When you take over a country and start a war it will kill thousands of men, woman, and children as well as soldiers. We try not to kill the civilians but that’s the ugly part of war. Now many of these childless mother’s and father’s are thinking “You killed my baby, destroyed my home, and now I have nothing to live for so I’m going to kill you”. So the 1st thing we got is the creation of thousands of more terrorists!
#2 But we’re spreading Freedom, Democracy getting those evil-doers, stopping terrorism. Stopping or Promoting? What’s the difference. If we promote it, Hell, more money for me and my affiliates that invests in oil and military equipment. Mark my Words. I’ll be the richest President ever to leave office.
What if they set up a democratically elected government that you don’t like Mr. President. I’ll cut off aid like I did with the Hamas or maybe bomb them again till they get it right. Isn’t that hypocritical. You, You just don’t know how things operate. And what if Iraq’s democracy is similar to what happened in Russia when they went Democratic or what is beginning to happen in the US. What we got is government corruption and ethics scandals. Close door meetings setting agendas and fixing of elections and wars so that a handful of the rich benefit, the poor get poorer, and the national debt soars to unprecendented levels.
To finance this war that will cost $300 Billion, you did not ask the wealthiest in our country to sacrifice Mr. President. Instead you gave welfare to the rich. Under your tax cuts, US billionaires and millionaires got $242 Billion back over the past five years while the poor and middle class got poorer. But you did cut after school programs by 1.3 Billion, Medicaid by $42 Billion, Veterens benefits by $8 Billion, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families by $5 Billion and threaten to cut Social Security and Medicare by using those trust funds to finance the war.
But in all fairness you and your Administration have achieved these goals (which are all impeachable) Mr. President:
- government corruption and ethics scandals at the highest levels of your Administration (yourself, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Abramoff, Libby, DeLay)
- record profits for the oil companies and record gas prices for consumers (ExxonMobil soars past WalMart to the top of the 2006 Fortune 500 list)
- $3 Trillion budget deficit increase over the past five years under your watch
- Hurricane Katrina mismanagement. But But there was no way I could have known about the danger of Hurricane Katrina. You are lying again Mr President. National Hurricane Director Max Mayfield told you about the leeves two days before the Katrina hit New Orleans.
- faulty prescription drug program for our seniors or your “No Drug Company Left Behind” program. An AARP study showed that drug prices in 2005 rose at twice the rate of inflation and that savings realized today by seniors enrolled in Medicare Part D significantly diminished.
- no progress in the health care crisis that needs dramatic improvement. More than 50 million Americans are uninsured - including 8 million children - and countless others are underinsured. Employer-sponsored health care is dwindling and insurance premiums are rising.
How much is 50 million Americans? That is equal to all the people living in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming.
- losing our credibility in the world by torturing. I’m vetoing McCain’s anti-torture bill. We need our torture.
- lack of Homeland Security as evidenced by the Dubai port deal and daily border crossings from Canada and Mexico
- trashing the Constitution and Bill of Rights by illegal domestic wiretapping in the name of “the war on terror” to enhance your Power
- lying about WMDs and using 9/11 to start a $300 Billion war in Iraq with no plan or exit strategy besides “stay the course” which means setup permanent bases to stay there forever to look after the new assets of your friends
- leaking the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame while saying the person that leaked that sensitive information will no longer be working for my Administration. You did Mr President
- cuts in school lunch and special education programs while giving $242 Billion back to our nation’s richest 1%
But don’t worry Mr President. You have mastered the concept of FEAR much like Hitler. The reason nobody in Germany would stand against Hitler and nobody in the US will stand against you.
You have killed hundreds of thousands of people needlessly in a war based on lies for your personal profit. Put the US in enormous debt and for all practical purposes destroyed the US economy. But you will not be impeached.
Even though Clinton had an impeachment trial for getting a Blow by an intern which did NOT cost the American people one penny or kill anyone. Except for the millions of dollars wasted by the Republicans pursueing this crap. But with Bush they sit idlely by while he single handedly destroys this country for everyone except himself and his friends (the richest 1%).
And Nixon was faced with impeachment and forced to resign for just one of the above #9 ie. wiretapping his political opponents at the Watergate hotel. You have done this and much much more Mr President.
Then Congress agreeded to let you borrow another $781 Billion on Mar 16, 2006, to pay for the war and combat terrorism. The national debt ceiling was raised to $9,000,000,000,000 (trillion). The debt will represent $30,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States.
“The fact is our country is broke” said Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio. “We’re spending money we don’t have and passing it onto our kids, and at some point, somebody’s got to say, Enough’s Enough.”
Of the total debt held by the public, 45% is in foreign hands. That means that approximately $92 Billion is leaving this country every year to pay off the interest to foreign entities. In my opinion the Democrats should be as fiscally irresponsible as the Republicans. Don’t raise Taxes and get elected. Just put it on my bill even though I don’t have the money to pay, keep the presses rolling printing money and writing checks with no money in the bank to pay. Let the country go to Hell. The President and Republican controlled Congress has now increased the debt ceiling four times by a total of $3 trillion since Bush took office five years ago.
Mr. President, because you are the “Spend and Spend” President and will not Tax to pay for it, we are asking future generations to pay for this war, and they will pay for it in the form of higher taxes or fewer Government benefits. They stand to inherit a weakened America, one so compromised by debt and economic crisis that the promise of opportunity for all has faded. And there is no end in sight.
Ahhh. The main thing like I said “I take care of my friends”. The US and Saudi oil companies were my largest campaign contributers (90% of the millions went to me and the Republican Party). I promised them I would invade Iraq to create oil shortages in the short term so they could have a reason to raise their prices and make more money in profits than they ever have in history. And they have. The US and Saudi oil and military equipment manufacturing companies including ExxonMobil, BP, Harken Energy, Halliburton, and the Carlyle Group profits are at record levels steadily doubling and tripling their profits since the war started on Mar 19, 2003. ExxonMobil has soared past WalMart to the top of the 2006 Fortune 500 list Not to mention flying all the Saudi’s out of the US immediately after 9-11 (Former White House counter-terrorism tsar Richard Clarke said the Bush administration sanctioned the repatriation of about 140 high-ranking Saudi Arabians, including relatives of Osama bin Laden in the immediate aftermath of September 11, even as American airspace was closed. ) and the security port contract to the Saudi’s as a little bonus. If that isn’t proof to the bin Laden’s how much you love them then nothing is. And as the New York Times reported on July 4, 2006 I had disbanded the CIA unit that had hunted for Osama bin Laden many years ago. Why did you close the bin Laden unit Mr President? I told the CIA not to find him anyway. It was a waste of money. Window Dressing to seem like I really wanted to capture my close personal friend bin Laden.
You got that right boy. And if I wanted Osama I could have got him in July 2001. Osama bin Laden underwent surgery in an American Hospital in Dubai in July 2001. During his stay in the hospital, he met with a CIA agent While on the World’s “most wanted list”, no attempt was made to arrest him during his two week stay in the hospital. But the US could have ordered Osama bin Laden’s arrest and extradition in Dubai in July of 2001 if Bush had wanted to. This may have stopped the attack on 9/11 but would also have made it harder for Bush to get what he wanted. A preemptive attack on Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Venezuela. After 9/11 (or the other Pearl Harbor) it would be much easier for Bush to stage the support for attacks on these countries.
Got any more questions? Yes about 9/11, many people running from the World Trade Center buildings heard explosions in the building’s basements just before the collapse. Professional demolition experts say they couldn’t have done a better job of bringing down the building if they set the charges themselves. There was a crimp in the middle of these buildings just before a perfect implosion. Not what you would expect from a plane impact in which the building should fall to one side and not perfectly in the middle. Firefighters describe two events at the WTC that are consistent with a controlled demolition. Bright flashes from inside the building, and a number of crackling sounds all the way around the buildings before they collapsed.
Are you saying I planned 9/11 so I would have an excuse to invade Iraq? No Mr. President. Even though I have many issues with your programs I cannot bring myself to believe that. But I do believe that your friendship with the Bin Ladens and Saudis influenced your decision to block the CIA and FBI investigations that could have possibly stopped the attack. It seems you cared more about your “friends” (the Saudis) than the American people you swore to protect. And why when you were told of the attack in the school building did you not leave immediately. You continued for 15 more minutes talking to the children. Wasn’t the 9/11 attack important enough to need your immediate attention? Or did you already know exactly what was happening but never did anything to stop it? 9/11 happened on your watch Mr President!
And now you’re going to have the Saudis guard our ports Mr. President? Yeah. You got anything against that. The Saudis are my good friends and I’ll veto any bill that tries to block it. The only other time Bush threatened a veto was when McCain intoduced a bill to stop the torture at Guantanamo. We need our torture.
Mr. President you are doing the same thing with the Dubai port deal that you did with 9/11. Putting the American people at risk to reward your Saudi friends.
In 2005, the Dubai Port Company, a Saudi government backed firm, invested $8 Billion in the Carlyle Group. It’s payback time. You can secure our ports even though Saudia Arabia was a key transfer point for illegal shipments of nuclear components to Iran, North Korea and Lybia and Saudia Arabia was one of three countries in the world to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan among just a few things. Oh did I mention Neil Bush, W’s brother, is a frequent visitor to and paid speaker in Dubai, showing up there right after 9/11 trying to get investors for his educational software company. Don’t worry Neil you’ll get all the support and money you need now that I gave them this port contract even if it fails. They’re making billions every day on those high gas prices we created. That should be enough. And Dubai will still operate plants in GA and CT that makes precision components used in engines for military aircraft and tanks used in Iraq. Even though Dubai is doing billion dollars of business each year with Iran. Thanks Georgie they gave me the money. Guess where this “Leave No Child Behind” software will debut first. Florida! Thanks Jeb (Jeb Bush another brother of Neil’s and Governor of Florida. How surprising!).
And don’t forget my uncle William H.T. Bush. He collected $3 million as a result of the sale of Engineered Support Systems to DRS Technologies of New Jersey which I approved. Both businesses have extensive military contracts. Like father Like sons.
But Mr. President did you know that:
- 15 of the 19 hijackers that flew into the World Trade Center came from Saudia Arabia. Two of the hijackers were receiving financial support from the Saudi government.
- Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden got most of their money from the Saudis.
- Haifa bint Faisal, wife of Saudi ambassador Bandar bin Sultan, acknowledged that she sent nearly $150,000 that helped hijackers Khalid Almidhar and Nawaf Alhazmi find housing in San Diego, open bank accounts, get Social Security cards, pay expenses and arrange flying lessons in Florida.
- Osama bin Laden’s father owns the largest construction company in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Binladen Group.
- Michael Springmann, formerly chief of the visa section at the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia observed that 15 of the 19 people who flew airplanes into the World Trade Center got their visas as a special favor to the Saudi Arabia Royal family.
- There is irrefutable evidence that highly-placed Saudis aided and supported the terrorists who murdered over 3,000 American citizens on September 11, 2001. You’re going to award a contract to the Saudis to guard six major ports in the US (NY, Miami, Baltimore, New Orleans). Isn’t that the fox guarding the hen house?
Fuwee. My grandfather Prescott Bush never apologized for trading with the Nazis. My Daddy George Bush Sr never apologized for the drug and arms deals in the illegal Iran-Contra operations that he Directed and suckering Saddam into invading Kuwait so we could have an excuse to attack Iraq in the 1st war. And I’m going to reward my good friends the Saudis with this port contract. And I’m never going to apologize for the 2nd war in Iraq even if I did have to lie about those WMDs, the Iraq-Al Qaida 9/11 connection, aluminum tubes, uranium from Niger, centrifuges, and mushroom clouds. A Bush does not apologize for anything. Remember that. We make money for ourselves and our friends. At any cost Mr President? Yes.
Bush Sr lied to start the 1st war with Iraq - On July 24, 1990 two Iraqi armoured divisions moved from their bases to take up positions on the Kuwaiti border. Later the same day the U.S. State Department spokesman Margaret Tutwiler, was asked whether the U.S. had any military plans to defend Kuwait, and replied: “We do not have any defense treaties with Kuwait, and there are no special defense or security commitments to Kuwait.” The next day on July 25, 1990 Saddam Hussein summoned U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie to his office in what was to be the last official contact between Baghdad and the United States before the invasion of Kuwait. Glaspie essentially giving Saddam the green light by telling him “We have no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts like your border disagreement with Kuwait.”
Why should anyone think Bush Jr wouldn’t lie to start the 2nd war with Iraq - There never were any weapons of mass destruction!
Mr. President Congress finally stood up to your support of the Saudis and will not allow the Dubai port contract. Damn those troublemakers. Why didn’t they just shutup and do what I tell them to do like usual? In the aftermath of your Dubai port blunder Mr. President why in the world would you hire a Communist China conglomerate to help detect nuclear materials inside cargo passing through the Bahamas to the United States. This will allow foreign workers to have access to how the United States screens containers for nuclear material and how this technology scrutinizes the container. All of those things allowing a terrorist to thwart the screening process and bring a nuclear bomb into the US. You call that being strong on security. Protecting the American people. Didn’t you learn anything from the Dubai port deal? I guess the people that said you’re a little slow and have a learning deficit disorder are right. Or did the alcohol kill too many of your brain cells.
And I’m going to make sure in the long term the Saudi and US oil companies will get Iraq’s oil. And Iran’s and Venezuela’s too. The US barrs all arms sales to Venezuela. This should make the invasion a little easier. We don’t want to miss this boat like we did with N. Korea. Those sneaky Koreans got those nukes behind our NSA and CIA backs. Although a few boxcutters did it to bomb the WTC so it wouldn’t be hard to fool us. But now we can’t invade N. Korea. Damn. So the 2nd thing we got is the highest gas prices for consumers and highest profits for the oil companies in history. Not to mention losing our reputation among most of the countries of the world as being a benevolent and peace loving nation. A reputation the US had spent centuries to build.
#3 Now that Iraq’s Armed Forces have been decimated their prime enemy Iran, whom Iraq was keeping in check, grows stronger destabilizing the region. And if we want to invade Iran too. They say go ahead. That’s why their publishing the fact “We got centrifuges. We’re enriching uranium”. Come and get us. Spend another $300 Billion. We’ve hidden our main enrichment facilities underground in 500 different locations. You can bombas our main nuclear sites your satellites know about. We will continue when you’re gone. Unless you want to be here forever and drain your resources further. That should just about financially destroy your country and devastate your people from within.
Do you have a comment on Iran’s strategy Mr President? Yes. My Administration runs on Fear. Fear of imaginary nuclear weapons or an incident we can blame on you - whether real or imaginary - that will condition Congress, the media, and the American people for a pre-emptive attack on you. Never mind that Afghanistan has unraveled, bin Laden is still on the loose, and Iraq is in civil war. Just like I did with Iraq. Only this time we won’t send troops. We’ll send nuclear bombs to cut the costs.
Even if Iran had a nuclear weapon Mr President, why would this be different from Pakistan, India, and North Korea having one? Pakistan has spread nuclear technology throughout the world, and in particular to the North Koreans. Why not invade Pakistan Mr President? Because they have nukes and not much OIL. We want to control OIL. Production in Iraq is down 50%, and world oil prices have more than doubled to $60 per barrel, oil company profits are at their highest levels in US history rising 43% for 2005. A war in Iran could easily have a similar result. We could see oil over $120 a barrel, and $6 gas at the pump. More money for me and my oil buddies. But will the American people appreciate $6 gas at the pump? Ahhh.
Mr President you needlessly and foolishly threaten Iran as an “axis of evil” even though they have no nuclear weapons and not North Korea because they do have nukes but they are a greater threat? Don’t you think if you were Iran you would be crazy not to try and get nukes? Then they would be safe from your takeover of their country. Only if you are small and weak will the US attack you. But Iran does thank the US for giving them their 1st nuclear reactor. We didn’t give it to them. We sold it to them like we sold Iraq all its weapons. So you could later destroy them. Now you’re thinking like your President. Sell them, destoy them, “regime change”, sell them again. Remember who I work for. The American people Mr President. You’re thinking like a child now. The oil and military equipment companies of course.
A few courageous US Senators like Barbara Boxer from California have supported this conclusion and stated “This report (from the FTC) proves that this Administration is owned and operated by Big Oil.” Bush, his cronies, the richest 1%, and the oil companies are laughing all the way to the bank. While the average consumer sinks under the weight of high gas prices, high medical costs, high unemployment, and homes priced out of reach for most. The American Dream of the ‘50s and ‘60s where you could buy a home, have your wife stay home and take care of the children, and not worry about medical care is gone. Destroyed by MERGERS. Corporate corruption and greed by companies so huge now that they cannot be stopped. They own the courts. They own our government officials. Hillary has already been bought as was Kerry. The Enron officials that were convicted by a jury of average people. That will not stand upon appeal when higher “payed off” judges set them free. Just like Microsoft which was ordered by Judge Penfield Jackson to break up the monopoly but upon appeal was found Not Guilty.
Just like in Florida when that state’s Supreme Court threw out a $145 Billion punitive damage award against US tobacco companies which was decided by a jury of average citizens (verdicts which mean nothing to people and corporations with money). Even though it was agreeded the companies had misled smokers living in Florida about the dangers of lighting up. Upon appeal life is good for the rich. You should know by now the little guy never wins in America and a verdict by a “jury of your peers” means nothing!
The 3rd thing we got is a stronger Iran and weaker US. Of course this was only possible with your help Mr. President.
Retired General William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency and security adviser to Ronald Reagan, wrote that the Iraq war “is serving the interests of Osama bin Laden, the Iranians, and is fomenting civil war in Iraq.”
The fourth retired DOD General in less than a month today (4/13/06) called on the US defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to resign. All agreeing that “he was not competent to lead our armed forces”. The President probably thinking “I’m not competent to be President but that hasn’t stopped me”. I’m not firing him or Cheney because that will be admitting I was wrong and I don’t do that. I’d rather destroy America than admit I made a mistake. Besides I don’t want to be the only incompent, lying, and corrupt person in my Administration leading the country.
Odom joins four other retired Generals ie. Marine Corps Lieutenant General Gregory Newbold, who served as the operations director of the Joint Staff during in Afghanistan, Major General John Batiste, former commander of the US Army’s 1st Infantry Division in Iraq from 2004 - 2005, Military Commander, Anthony Zinni, who headed the US Central Command, Army Major General Paul Eaton, Major Gen. Charles Swannack, who led the 82nd Airborne Division during its mission in Iraq. All call for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to be fired for incompetence.
Mr President, many insiders say Reagan was an effective President because he listened to his experts like General Odom. Reagan was an actor and not experienced in all departments of our government but the key thing is “he listened”. You reward your friends by placing them in high positions but they have no experience in those departments and they fail like the FEMA Director and Rumsfeld. Bush appointed Michael Brown, an Oklahoma lawyer with NO Emergency Management experience but who had worked for the International Arabian Horse Association to head FEMA. A letter to Bush signed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Senators Richard Durbin of Illinois, Deborah Stabenow of Michigan and Charles Schumer of New York asked for Brown’s firing because of his “failures” in the Gulf Coast region (Hurricane Katrina).
Ahhh. These Generals that want Rumsfeld fired are not being loyal to our troops or our country. They are cowards and want to run rather than fight. We need to stay the course for victory. What is our victory Mr President? Why are we in Iraq Mr President? OIL, OIL, OIL. OK. Now Shut Up. I’m tired. This is a hard job.
I have to disagree with you Mr President. Each of these five Generals have more than 20 years of military experience. Combined they have over 100 years of combat experience in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. You, Cheney, Rumsfeld have no combat experience and your military experience Mr President is limited to the National Guard. And you call these Generals and anyone else who disagrees with you cowards and unpatriotic. These Generals say this war in Iraq was conducted in a casualness and swagger that are traits of those who have never known combat or the pain and suffering of war.
Why is it that we come in and destoy a country and then spend Billions to build it back up. Like in Germany. Like in Japan. Like in Iraq. Dig a hole and then Fill it back up. Because the companies selling the shovels and getting the contracts to dig the holes and fill them supported me in my election by campaign contibutions. My father, Rice, Cheney all have a stake in these companies. Sat on the Board of Directors of these companies. Gave us millions. We owe them. Are you stupid? That’s the way it works in America dumbas. Sorry Mr. President you are so astute. Do you owe the American people anything? Naaw. Let’em get their own money.
Even the latest conflict proves this point. Bush pledges $230m in Lebanon aid. Destroy it and then pay your cronies to build it back up. That’s how you make money for yourself and your friends. Too bad you have to do with the lives of woman, children, and US soldiers you bastard. All you had to do was say one word to Israel and they would have stopped the massacre in Lebanon.
While in the meantime millions of Americans suffer and soldiers die. Like in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina because there’s no money or soldiers or willingness of the President to help. Like in the US as a whole where millions don’t have any health care. And thousands of schools are in disrepair.
When are we going to take care of America Mr. President? Gosh darn don’t worry me now about that. There’s too many poor people in our country the way it is. Who cares if a million or so more die. Most of our military are poor. I got them over there in Iraq making me and my friends money. I fried as many people as I could that were on death row when I was Governor of Texas. I set a record didn’t I. Afterall as CBS news reported I was a member of “Skull and Bones” at Yale University. As was Kerry because the Repubs cover all bases. Even if they lose they win. Hillary is a Repub mole. If she wins the Repubs win. Skull and Bones love death just as long as it’s not them or their families. Bush has said, I didn’t fight in Vietnam and my girls won’t fight in Iraq. That’s for the stupid and poor. And look at Louisiana. We knew those levees wouldn’t hold:
During a briefing President Bush received days before Hurricane Katrina struck, National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield told the President that the integrity of the levees was “a very very grave concern”. Just days later, the President misled the American people again when he claimed that no one could anticipate a failure of the levees that flooded New Orleans.
but spent the money in Iraq instead. What about America? You smile when you promise compassionate conservative family values (which means “I got mine” and “I got yours too") and then reduce every family, education, health, and veterans program budget so you can give tax cuts to the richest 1% of Americans. The CEO of Halliburton earned about $8,300 an hour. And the CEO of ExxonMobil earned about $13,700 an HOUR. That’s more than a full-time worker making the minimum wage earns in an entire YEAR - but clearly these two CEOs need a tax cut. No, No. I am concerned. This is a hard job. This is a real hard job. Then you need to show you’re doing something for the other 99% of Americans that are not your millionaire and billionaire friends.
You’ve got it all wrong. Your just listening to that liberal media. And that racist Major of New Orleans when he said “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”. I don’t care about poor people of any color red, brown, black, white, or rasberry. If they’re poor they won’t be contributing to my Repubilican’s friends campaigns anyway. Who cares about them! They are only numbers to me.
When there’s no profit in it for those at the highest levels of government there is no action. So what about elections. We’ve got that covered too. With electronic voting, our friends, and no hard copy paper trail we can change one line of code and get as many votes as we want just like we did in Florida and Ohio last time when the fix was in. If we need more votes we got plenty of dead people to vote for us and lots of blacks that won’t be allowed to vote. Besides we’ve got so much dirt on those Demos from our illegal domestic wiretapping and spy operations they don’t stand a chance.
Many people feel you are trashing the Constitution with these illegal wiretaps and consciously and intentionally violating the laws of this country. Even Republican appointed former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor who retired in Feb 2006 after 24 years on the supreme court has said the US is in danger of edging towards a dictatorship. When a person of such distinction (and others) speaks about a dictatorship the American people should listen. She is not joking. You know Mr President that Nixon was going to be impeached before he resigned for spying on political oppponents.
In the name of “the war on terror� are we to sacrifice every freedom to your demands Mr President? Will you soon be ordering warrantless house-by-house searches of neighborhoods, where you suspect a terrorist may be hiding? Will you impose new restrictions on what can be printed and broadcast. You have already traumatized the people of this nation and many in the Congress to give you whatever you want.
Is your goal to spread FEAR to gain POWER Mr President? If you don’t find resistance in your “do as I say” Republican Congress you might as US citizens get a clearer picture of your “make money for me and my friends” agenda. Many US citizens will act to uphold the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that includes a renegade appointed President.
Just hold on a minute. Let me tell you something. I’m the President and if I want to do something I will. Those paper shuffling bureaucrats can say whatever they want. When I say it’s legal then it’s legal. You can all go to Ahhh you know.
Even though you don’t welcome some checks and balances on your total power and authority to impose your will and run the country Mr. Dictator, Oh Excuse me, Mr. President Eavesdropping on Congress and spying on Americans without judicial or congressional approval is illegal. The American Bar Association opposes any future electronic surveillance inside the United States that does not comply with the provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. (FISA), and urges the President, if he believes that FISA is inadequate to seek appropriate amendments or new legislation rather than breaking the law and becoming a criminal. Even Presidents must abide by the law. Dictators don’t if that is what you want to be all powerful Mr. President. Then you can truely do whatever you want.
Mr President why did you say that “our Constitution is just a piece of paper”. Because it didn’t stop Mussolini in Italy. They had a constitution when he became their country’s dictator; or Hitler, he came to power through democratic means under a German constitution. Spain had a constitution which did not prevent Franco from seizing power. Nor ought we to forget that the Soviet Union had a constitution adopted in 1936 that bore remarkable similarities to the American version. Constitutions, in other words, do not have a favorable history of limiting power and assuring individual liberty. And our US Constitution has not stopped me either.
But you did urge a gay marriage ban amendment to our Constitution. And the ban on burning the flag. Are these the most important issues facing the American people Mr. President? Less than 1% of Americans are gay or worry about burning flags. Most Americans don’t talk about these issues. Why are you so concerned about them Mr. President? Because I don’t have a plan for the health care crisis, rising gas prices, jobs, affordable housing, the budget deficit, immigration, or the war in Iraq. I don’t want the American people to start thinking about all these other things. I need a distraction. Do you think a gay ban or flag ban amendment as your major achievements over six years will save votes for your party in November? Do you really think after the way you’ve screwed 99% of the American people over all these years they will reward you? Do you really think that you can “change the subject” like parents do with a child when they are crying to get them thinking about something else will work? Do you really think the American people are that stupid? Frankly Yes.
They are like children. That’s why its important to have two or three key words they can remember and keep repeating them over and over. Like the Patriot Act. Being a Patriot is good so this must be good even though the majority of people don’t realize how it spits on our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The next will probably be Freedom Act and you could put anything in it and it will pass also. Or 9-11 (bad) I need this to stop it. Or War on Terror. Terror is bad. I need that to stop it. Irrespective of the ramifications of your actions and how they are undermining the quality of life of most Americans. Everything you do Mr President is done for one sole purpose. To support the richest 1% and largest corporations that you take your orders from. Period.
It helped me win the 2004 election so I’ll give the American people their gays and they will be happy. It’s gays they want and it’s gays they will get on a platter. And hopefully they won’t think about the hundred other ways I’m screwing them. You know I did study history. Especially the Romans and Hitler. They were the best at getting and keeping Power and that’s exactly what I plan to do. Thank you for your sincerity Mr. President.
But you sound nervous Mr. President. You haven’t been drinking again have you. Hullabaloo. And don’t believe those stories I passed out in the White House while drinking and watching a football game. I choked on a pretezel. That’s NOT what the Landover Baptist Church Deacon and your wife say. At least you don’t have to drive yourself around anymore. That should keep those DUI’s off your record.
And don’t believe Cheney’s Secret Service agents either. They said Cheney was drunk when he almost shot his friends head off while quail shooting. It’s a lie. Cheney and I don’t drink. That’s the last I want to hear about it. Got it! Good. And if you don’t have it I’ll have some people in black coats and black cars come over to your house and give you some shock and awe. No Mr. President you don’t have to do that. Everything is very clear.
You spend 100x more on WMDs and War than the entire “Axis of Evil” combined. We could eliminate poverty around the world with what you spend on war. We could educate the entire planet. We could give everyone working modern running water, put a roof over everone’s head, feed every starving child, give everyone in the US health care. Instead, we give no-bid contracts and Billions and Billions to your buddies. Thank You Mr President.
And I understand that any disagreement with your policies makes me unloyal to our troops and unpatriotic to my country. Excuse me Mr. President for revealing your true intentions from your carefully crafted cloud of deception. And trying to save the lives of our young men in Iraq and stop your “Spend and Spend” policies that are destroying America. Not that you or Cheney would ever be over there to fight and die. Who is unpatriotic? You follow the instructions of your all powerful oil company masters and profit from this $300 Billion war and the $2 Billion a year in lobbying money while plunging the country into debt.
You sold out the American people and its soldiers who are paying the heaviest price for this war.
#4 The last thing we got for our $300 Billion
Thousands of dead Iraqi’s - Thousands of dead US soldiers
That’s what we got!
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