From President Bush’s speech tonight [emphasis added]:
On September the 11th, we resolved that we would go on the offense against our enemies, and we would not distinguish between the terrorists and those who harbor or support them. So we helped drive the Taliban from power in Afghanistan. We put al Qaeda on the run, and killed or captured most of those who planned the 9/11 attacks – including the man believed to be the mastermind, Khalid Sheik Mohammed. He and other suspected terrorists have been questioned by the Central Intelligence Agency, and they’ve provided valuable information that has helped stop attacks in America and across the world.
Believed by whom? I thought he was the mastermind. It was my understanding that we waterboarded this man because he was the mastermind. I thought you told me that we gained valuable intelligence from torturing applying an “alternative set of procedures” on this man. And after that, in your carefully vetted and crafted 9/11 speech, you can only assure me that he is “the man believed to be the mastermind”?
That’s pathetic.
Well of course, “believed to be” cuz the prez might need to produce the real (or the real today) mastermind just weeks before the election so none of those heathen libruls get into the congress or senate.
Don’t forget there are still about 40,000 number 2 Al queada guys out there for us to catch. And maybe Benny Laudin isn’t the real number one, ever think of that?
If you would just trust the prez you would understand this stuff. I mean, he’s the president isn’t he?
Cheeeeeze!
Exploiting 9/11..shoud summarize Bush’s speech tonight. First, why do this on 9/11 unless it is a political speech?..a sincere memorial speech would have been done on the eve or 9/11 and not ever mentioned Iraq.
And what makes his speech pathetic is that Iraq has only become a haven for terrorist because we can’t secure the country. Next, why is OBL still around to call this the “third world war?”, if W captured the puke the only thing he would be saying is when do I get a new pair of sandals and can I wear socks with my sandals.
Next: Will gwb try and sell a bridge from Mac City to St. Ignace?
From the transcript of his speech on the whitehouse.gov site:
Read it carefully. Bush separates himself from “every American” by “So do I”. As he now claims not to be an American, does that not automatically bar him from office under the Constitution?
It might be as simple as a lawyer’s insistence that they describe arrestees as “alleged” and “believed to be” criminals: to say otherwise would infer that a trial wouldn’t be fair. News broadcasters use the same careful wording.
not pathetic.
It’s criminal.
…whenever I hear that kind of talk from a Bushketeer, it means they’re covering six for when they get caught in a lie.
peterbergen.com has a posting called “Could it happen again?”, dated 9/6/06. He includes the 9/11 Commission Report observations that OBL had the final say on the attacks in 2001. KSM’s plan was to have 10 planes simultaneously attack the East Coast and Asia, but it was deemed too complicated to be successful.
Peter’s long essays are a treasure when compared to the CNN sound bites to which he is usually confined!