WASHINGTON, Oct. 25, 2006
Bush Delivers Somber Review Of Iraq
President Calls Mounting U.S. Casualties 'Serious Concern' But Rejects Timetable For Pulling Out
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Play CBS Video Video Future Of Iraq Debated After a somber assessment of the war in Iraq, there are conflicting reports concerning the future in Iraq. Aleen Sirgany reports.
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Video Bush Addresses Iraq Concerns CBS News RAW: President Bush held a press conference to address growing concerns surrounding the war in Iraq.
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Video Bush 'Not Satisfied' On Iraq President Bush repeated his announcement that the Iraqi government had agreed to set a timetable for political progress, but Iraq's prime minister criticized the plan. Jim Axelrod reports.
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President Bush addresses reporters at the White House, Oct. 25, 2006. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
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Interactive Bush Presidency The president's agenda, plus facts, figures, major events and key personalities.
"A fixed timetable for withdrawal, in my judgment, means defeat," he said.
In a somber, pre-election review of a long and brutal war, Mr. Bush conceded that the United States is taking heavy casualties and said, "I know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation in Iraq."
"I'm not satisfied either," he said at a speech and question and answer session at the White House 13 days before Nov. 7 congressional elections in which Republican control of the House of Representatives and the Senate is at stake.
"Americans have no intention of taking sides in a sectarian struggle or standing in the crossfire between rival factions," Mr. Bush said.
Several Democratic critics have said that is precisely what the administration is risking with an open-ended commitment of American forces, at a time that a year-old Iraqi government gropes for a compromise that can satisfy Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish political interests.
Mr. Bush gave Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki a vote of confidence just hours after Mr. Maliki called his own news conference to reject timetables set on Tuesday for Iraqis to take over from U.S. troops, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod. Mr. Bush was cautiously supportive.
In Baghdad, the Iraqi leader took a hard slap at the United States for a raid by U.S. and Iraqi forces on the stronghold of a Shiite militia led by a radical anti-American cleric on whom Al-Maliki relies for political support. Al-Maliki said the raid "will not be repeated."
Al-Maliki also criticized the top U.S. military and diplomatic representatives in Iraq for saying his government needed to set a timetable to curb violence in the country. "I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it," he said.
It was just two weeks ago that the president had his last formal, solo White House news conference, and he's never had two of them this close together, reports CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller. But with the midterm elections less than two weeks off and control of Congress at stake, he wants his message to be heard.
In his opening moments at the podium in the East Room of the White House, Mr. Bush departed starkly from a practice of not talking about specific deaths in Iraq.
"There has been heavy fighting, many enemy fighters have been killed or captured and we've suffered casualties of our own," he said. "This month we've lost 93 American service members in Iraq, the most since October of 2005. During roughly the same period, more than 300 Iraqi security personnel have given their lives in battle. Iraqi civilians have suffered unspeakable violence at the hands of the terrorists, insurgents, illegal militias, armed groups and criminals."
He called these events "a serious concern to me, and a serious concern to the American people."
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More From Politics
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 142 CommentsWe in America need to pull back from this Frenzy of Fear that has spellbound us since September 11, 2001. I am not saying to let down our guard or not be prudent with our Law enforcement, Intelligence agencies or Military as their constant job is to protect the American people and they do it well. Rationally speaking it is more likely that a person will be killed in a car accident on the way to get milk than killed by a Terrorist in America. Hispanics coming across our border for work are not the terrorist or the enemy. Unfair trade practices initiated by our government are the cause of our jobs leaving and the demise of the Middle Class in America not some Terrorist plot. Political Parties have been using fear in an attempt to maintain power in this country. Americans do the math you are more likely to do yourself bodily harm than to be harmed by a Terrorist. America is a Land of Opportunity and hopes where people live in Freedom. America is not a land were people will be governed by Fear.
Michael C. Boetjer
Captain U. S. Army
Double Blue Star Father
bluestardad that is only a fraction of the real truth..
OUR GOVERNMENT and OUR COURTS are CORRUPT
The TROOPS are DYING IN-VAIN for a LIE
ALL of these people who think they are fighting for AMERICA
the AMERICAN WAY
for FREEDOM, and LIBERTY
it is a LIE
The TRUTH IS IT all comes down to the COURTS and
COURTS are CORRUPT
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT
James B. Veasaw v. Cari M. Domingues,et al.
No: 05-1467
the U.S. SUPREME COURT COVERED UP GOVERNMENT CRIME
even when the CRIMES showed up
on paper in the COURT RECORD..!
I guess we have a DOUBLE STANDARD JUSTICE SYSTEM
you know
ONE for the GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
(Bureaucrats / Politicians)
and
ONE FOR THE PEASANTS
(The People)..!
I can't even begin to list the names of
REPUBLICANS (CONSERVATIVE) TALK SHOW HOSTS
(They are ALL COMPLICIT- I spent years asking for their help)
THESE REPUBLICANS (CONSERVATIVE) TALK SHOW HOSTS
who helped this administration
who helped this administration court appointees
who helped these CRIMINALS COVER THESE CRIMES AGAINST ME.
bluestardad that is only a fraction of the real truth..
OUR GOVERNMENT and OUR COURTS are CORRUPT
The TROOPS are DYING IN-VAIN for a LIE
ALL of these people who think they are fighting for AMERICA
the AMERICAN WAY
for FREEDOM, and LIBERTY
it is a LIE
The TRUTH IS IT all comes down to the COURTS and
COURTS are CORRUPT
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT
James B. Veasaw v. Cari M. Domingues,et al.
No: 05-1467
the U.S. SUPREME COURT COVERED UP GOVERNMENT CRIME
even when the CRIMES showed up
on paper in the COURT RECORD..!
I guess we have a DOUBLE STANDARD JUSTICE SYSTEM
you know
ONE for the GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
(Bureaucrats / Politicians)
and
ONE FOR THE PEASANTS
(The People)..!
if OUR GOVERNMENT and OUR COURTS are CORRUPT
The TROOPS are DYING IN-VAIN for a LIE
ALL of these people who think they are fighting for AMERICA
the AMERICAN WAY
for FREEDOM, and LIBERTY
it is a LIE
The TRUTH IS IT all comes down to the COURTS and
COURTS are CORRUPT
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT
James B. Veasaw v. Cari M. Domingues,et al.
No: 05-1467
the U.S. SUPREME COURT COVERED UP GOVERNMENT CRIME
even when the CRIMES showed up
on paper in the COURT RECORD..!
I guess we have a DOUBLE STANDARD JUSTICE SYSTEM
you know
ONE for the GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
(Bureaucrats / Politicians)
and
ONE FOR THE PEASANTS (The People)..!
I can't even begin to list the names of
REPUBLICANS (CONSERVATIVE) TALK SHOW HOSTS
(They are ALL COMPLICIT- I spent years asking for their help)
THESE REPUBLICANS (CONSERVATIVE) TALK SHOW HOSTS
who helped this administration
who helped this administration court appointees
who helped these CRIMINALS COVER THESE CRIMES AGAINST ME.
According to Chairman Bush, "timetable" means anything this Red Queen of a politician says it means, neither more nor less. It can mean holding in place, it also can changing and THEN holding any course variation at any time. If this is "holding", what does it mean to move?
Though Bush wasn't in the Navy, even he should be able to understand his concept of "stay the course" is wrong, not to mention flatly illogical. The outrage is Bush is fully aware of his deceit, and still believes he is not widely seen as the consumate opportunist he always has been.
The worrisome aspect of all this is dictatorship begins with petty deceit, proceeding directly to damning deceit and overt abuse of power. Bush made every link he could between Iraq and 911, and years later, abruptly protested he never specifically linked the two. Clearly, the low cunning of this Prevaricator-in-Chief endangers the very democracy he claims to defend.
What cost do you feel is just for this boondoogle? Obviously $500 billion and 3,000 American dead are not enough for you.
The military commanders do not want unnecessary deaths, but right now, they are on the ground in Iraq, by order of the President. People are dying all around our troops and they cannot do much about it. They do not know why they are there, or why the people in Iraq started killing each other.
"
They are there to help keep order. The terrorists have sparked a religious uproar and are trying to prevent the governement from succeeding through any means possible. Bush has said this in a recent speech.
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If the experts said it would be this way, why did we not take the time to create a better plan? I think I know part of the reasons: "politics". The party wanting this war needed it to BEGIN quickly or it might never come to pass.
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Time? Time for the terrorist/extremist to strike again and/or get better prepared? No plan is perfect, it matters the end result.
Stop going with the flow people! I bet alot of you are fallowing the flow, in thinking Bush is the problem. Though it is highly unlikely. The right thing is rarely the easy thing... Suck it up.
Only the future will tell if leaving Irag is best or not. What if we all (majority) vote to leave Irag, then 3 years down the road we get nuked/attacked by terrorist from Irag/middle east because we did not finish the job.
Please think from multiple angles and possibilities, be open minded.
(...lousy Generals, must be terrorist sympathizers, just like 2/3 of America...)
By Mark Benjamin / Salon
Oct. 25, 2006 | WASHINGTON -- Two retired senior Army generals, who served in Iraq and previously voted Republican, are now openly endorsing a Democratic takeover of Congress. The generals, and an active-duty senior military official, told Salon in separate interviews that they believe a Democratic victory will help reverse course from what they consider to be a disastrous Bush administration policy in Iraq. The two retired generals, Maj. Gen. John Batiste and Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, first openly criticized the handling of the war last spring, when they called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
(CBS would rather cover Paris Hilton than these Generals)
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601019_after_pats_birthday/
These quotes come to mind after hearing "W's"
explanatios of the war in Iraq.
"A lie, repeated often enough, will end up as the truth."
'the bigger the lie, the greater likelihood that people will believe it'.
Attributed to: Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Propaganda Minister 1933-1945
And this one, from a movie,:
"Who is the more foolish......the fool or the fool who follows him?"
'Nuff said.
Interesting post marcelde. Remains to be seen if it remains true.
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