Scott Pelley interviewed President Bush on 60 Minutes tonight. I watched it. I wish I didn’t. It was a travesty from beginning to end. Pelley did a great job. Bush was pathetic. Here’s the most offensive exchange.
Asked if he thinks he owes the Iraqi people an apology for not doing a better job, Bush says, “Well I don’t, that we didn’t do a better job or they didn’t do a better job?”
“Well, that the United States did not do a better job in providing security after the invasion?” Pelley clarifies.
“Not at all. I think I am proud of the efforts we did. We liberated that country from a tyrant. I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude. That’s the problem here in America. They wonder whether or not there is a gratitude level that’s significant enough in Iraq,” Bush replies.
I want to remind everyone that somewhere between 400,000-600,000 Iraqis are dead as a result of this invasion. No need to apologize. Here’s another pathetic exchange.
“You’re not very popular in the country right now, to be frank,” Pelley remarks.
“I’m afraid you’re right,” Bush acknowledges.
Asked if that gets to him, the president says, “Not really.”
You really need to see the dismissive smirk on his face as he says ‘not really’.
What does the AWOL President have to say about multiple deployments for our troops?
Pelley mentioned to Mr. Bush that thousands of those troops have served two, three and even four tours already and if he would impose a limit.
“You know, Scott, it is…we’re fortunate that people are willing to continue to serve. I’ve talked to some wives in there whose husbands have been over there for their second time. I said, ‘How you doin’?’ ‘I’m doing fine, my husband understands what we’re doing.’ The military is motivated,” Bush says.
“In Vietnam as you know, you served 365 and you were done,” Pelley remarks.
“This is a different situation. This is a volunteer army. In Vietnam, it was, ‘We’re going to draft you and you’re going to go for a year.’ This is a military where people understand there may be additional deployments,” Bush says.
Finally, here is Bush explaining his deep strategic thought process.
“Most Americans at this point in time don’t believe in this war in Iraq. They want you to get us out of there,” Pelley says.
“I would hope they’d want us to succeed before we get out there. (smirk) That’s the decision I had to make. I mean, there is, you know, Scott, there… I thought a lot about different options. One was doing nothing, just kind of the status quo. And I didn’t think that was acceptable, and I think most Americans don’t think it’s acceptable. Secondly, we’d get out,” Bush says.
“You actually thought about that?” Pelley asks.
“Of course I have. I think about it a lot, about different options and my attitude is if we were to start withdrawing now, we’d have a crisis in our hands in Iraq,” Bush explains. “And not only in Iraq but failure in Iraq will embolden the enemy. And the enemy is al Qaeda and extremists. Failure in Iraq would empower Iran, which poses a significant threat to world peace. So then I began to think, ‘Well, if failure’s not an option and we’ve gotta succeed, how best to do so?’ And that’s why I came up with the plan I did.”
It’s a hell of a plan, Bushie.
