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.
I had him on in the backround because the smirk is more than I care to tolerate anymore. Asked about the democrat’s opposition to the escalation and if he had the authority to send more troops against the will of congress, he just flatly replied, “they can try to stop me, but we’re going forward”. It’s about time people in geberal and democrats in particular get their heads around the fact that our country is now lead by a pure dictator who’s daring anyone to stop him. Well, how’s that 100 hours deal look now?
I’m glad I didn’t watch it. I’d rather watch my Biography Channel Brit mystery reruns than get apoplectic.
Moronic twit.
“…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.”
Willing to continue? Motivated military? WTF? They go to jail if they refuse to deploy, don’t they?
That hardly constitutes willingness, IMO.
Or, if their time in service is almost up, they have a choice. They can either re-enlist for a hefty signing bonus that, by the accounts I’ve read, they might never see; or, they can leave the service and be threatened with loss of benefits they were promised when they signed up.
I don’t remember all the details, but I do remember there are details involved that amount to blackmail.
I read something even worse than this yesterday and it’s making me nuts trying to remember where, but in effect, Bush just signed a law that makes an active duty sevice member’s commitment to serve in combat openended. In other words, there’s no limit on when the government can call someone back up. There is no expectation of being free from obligation, ever. If this doesn’t foment a mutiny in the ranks then I don’t know what will. In any event, the threat of a draft looming on the horizon seems more and more a certainty each day.
The way this administration treats its armed forces, past and present, is nothing short of a national disgrace.
In any event, the threat of a draft looming on the horizon seems more and more a certainty each day.
I agree and yet, I think only a draft will focus the mind. Unless and until more people VOCALLY show their concern about the fact that folks are on their 1000th rotation, and that no one ought to be there, will we see change. Someone said that protesting, to some, seems like a “fringe” activity. Yes it’s BS, but some do hold that mindset.
Until it’s their ox being gored.
Most of us will go back to drooling over “pimp my toilet.” And I wish I was lying about there being such a thing as “pimp my toilet.” The whole concept is so foul (basically, a gaming system/beer dispenser…wait for it…on a TOILET) that I refuse to link to it. Suffice it to say that I’ve seen it twice on the “news” already.
Twice more than I heard anyone ending this immoral war.
My feelings about a draft are beginning to change. A little at least. My overall feelings about our current military are complicated and evolving and I’ve made statements here that basically call our soldiers murderers. Because in a naive (I guess) way, looking at the war as a whole being an illegal and unwarranted invasion of a country that did nothing to us, I can’t help but hold individual soldiers accountable for the part they’re playing in it. I won’t give them a pass so easily for supposedly, according to some, not being aware of what they are doing there because they’re cut off from the media. Too many atrocities have been committed for it to be blamed on just a few. That’s my opinion. The culture is rotten. That’s not to say that there aren’t individuals , like Tracy’s husband, who are doing good things, or doing what they can to limit the suffering of the Iraqis and our own. But the whole enterprise is criminal. It might not be criminal in this country, but no one can argue that we’re not breaking international laws and human rights agreements. And still, coming from an anti-war upbringing, I held onto a pride in the American military because I always believed it to be a force that was used mostly for good around the world. But saving Private Ryan isn’t a realistic take on our military history as a whole. I guess I’m starting to see us from an outside perspective. Not from our happy little insulted, patriotic, nest here.
As for the draft, as much as I oppose it and disagree with those who call for any kind of mandatory national service, I am starting to believe that a draft might be the only way to make the American people rise up against this government. Not the elites that Rangel supposes would oppose sending their own priveleged children because they’ll always find a way out of responsibility. But by the common person. The real force behind the scenes that had much more to do with the ending of the Vietnam war than the public anti-war movement ever did came from within the military itself. There was widespread resistance, not only in burning draft cards and refusing to go, or leaving to Canada, but by fragging, by widespread drug use, by whole units and platoons simply refusing orders in country, underground newspapers, radio programs, the Winter Soldier hearings, all kinds of dissent within the military itself that broke the back of it. Making it unable to perform. That’s why I look at individual soldiers like Eren Watada and Scott Benderman and see a sign of hope that the soldiers themselves will stand down. because that is what will end this war faster than anything.
I’ve gone on long enough. As you can see, I’m troubled and confused about all this. I never want to feel badly about my own. It breaks my heart. My American heart.
You and me, both.
I’m more torn about this than I can ever completely express. My Dad was in the military. And my brother. And my FIL. And my godbrother. And my godsister. Uncles and cousins and friends. I grew up in a military town. It was just everywhere.
Speaking only for me, I think the average African-American exercises a skepticism about government that others Americans don’t because we know what it’s like to be the target. We can generally smell hypocrisy and hidden agendas very well, no matter who’s exercising the policy.
Yet the military was seen as the way out. You could learn skills. Earn money. See a bit of the world. But basically, get you the hell out of your small, segregated town where there less than zero prospects. So it was seen as a good. Black men could put the lie to those who said they were not brave, not courageous, not smart. Not MEN. Their example is a mighty blow for the race. I understand it, though I don’t agree totally [It’s the whole make it good for the men and it will advance the race thing, but ignore women, except as us being sexually above reproach since we were and still are stereotyped as whores. One reason why there’s such a conservative social strain–no one wants to be the stereotype. But I REALLY digress.]
I still celebrate aspect of it: e.g., the Tuskegee Airmen, the Triple Nickles, the various first Black military this or that. It makes me very proud. And I love evening parades. Always have.
But I know their talents are being used for policies I don’t like. Most folks are skeptical if not outright dismissive of the policies. Historically, that’s been true. We feel we’ll bear the brunt of a draft. We know how hard military life is. We know that people suffer the consequences of war for years. To this day, there’s a family member still affected by Vietnam. And now here we are for another war. I knew from the start that the Iraq war was utter bullshit. So did others.
I, in general, do not support war. I did not support the Iraq war. I protested this war. I even went to church and prayed on the eve of it–with all my issues w/ church, that’s what I was left with. Most of us knew it was folly, and it didn’t matter what class or job description of the typical African-American–we knew it was folly from the beginning. And why? Because we are closer to it–we still have friends and family in the military and either potentially or literally in harm’s way. I will try to say this with great care, but it does not seem that most urban or suburban or exurban middle class (and up) white families have any military connection anymore.
What really struck me was the “mission accomplished” saga where administration flunkies intimated that hanging that banner was the soldiers’ idea–and that so many people believed them! I never spent a day of my life in the military, but I knew enough to know that was bullshit. There’s a chain of command. No E-4 or sergeant is gonna even LOOK IN THE DIRECTION of a high commanding officer, especially a commander-in-chief. The military is a hierarchy, and an often class-based one. The reason why the wingnuts went ape-shit over John Kerry’s remarks and why they’re trying to stir the pot over Barbara Boxer’s remarks is that they know that they are telling the truth. We do NOT want to acknowledge class and the role it plays in this war. Ever.
Looong story short: it has always occurred to me that government uses our military for awful ends, though I’ve been proud of those men and women (especially those now in their 60s, 70s, and 80s) with military careers. But I want them home, and I want them home five minutes ago. I don’t want them to fight unless there’s a real reason–ever. And perhaps we can get them home, but not until enough people care about them to do so. It seems, however, that can’t happen unless there’s a draft.
A group in Detroit, FAME, has received permission to go into some high schools to inform the students about their options NOT to be recruited. The link was at AfterDowningStreet.org. Here it is: http://www.famedetroit.org/
FAME stands for Finding Alternatives to Military Enlistment. The group explains the way Stop-Loss works, and the fact that short enlistment terms morph into much longer ones if the decision is made by the government.
My mother has been involved in counter recruitment efforts in S. Florida for many years now. They had to go to court to win access to the high schools there and still encounter a lot of hostility from faculty and the military who used to have a monopoly on access to the kids.
The “Democrat-Congress” thing on part of the reporter and the “Gee, neat” crap over the helicopter was almost more than I could stand.
But Junior? A sociopath. What a completely immoral bastard.
we (allegedly) “liberated Iraq from a tyrant”…but who will liberate the US?
I’m beginning to change my tune…I’ve been in the “investigate then impeach” camp, but now we can’t bring charges soon enough against this madman. And if Cheney pulls the same thing, we’ll do it all over again.
Bush says he won’t listen to Congress…meaning he won’t listen to the people, because Congress is the voice of the people. So where is he different than Saddam Hussein? That’s what I’d like to know…
I doubt that Kim Jong Il acts as juvenile as Bushie does. “I have my Texas friends. We do a lot of entertaining… I like making decisions…. I’m exhilerated by the experience [of being president] . . . I’m glad I did it [become president].
I walked through the living room just at the moment when smirk boy was saying that the Democrats don’t have a plan, and HE gets to decide what to do.
Go ahead, fuckwad, stomp your foot on the floor and throw another temper tantrum, just to make it clear to everyone what a childish douchebag you really are.
(Under the circumstances of this wretched administration, and given scribe’s daily offering of all things related to swear words … I respectfully request that “fuckwad” and “douchebag” be included in the BT spellcheck.)
just sayin’…
I didn’t watch it, but from the sound of your quotes, this is precisely why the faculty at SMU are resisting the Bush presidential library being located on their campus. They haven’t refused in so many words yet, but have stated that planning details are not forthcoming.
OTOH, I read that the faculty don’t share Bush’s world view, nor his high-falutin’ policies that shred US laws and the Constitution.
It’s Barney, Laura and Shrub playing for time as
Wapo: finds our incurious president is Isolated
Shit.. even in Israel there’s growing criticism of the U.S. – threats are growing experts say – creating more, not less, danger for Israel
Of course, Barney probably exercises more independent thought than either Bush or Lieberman, who rather seems more like the family pet.
you nailed it better than I ever could.
He also said he wanted to make sure everyone knew it was his responsibility (hence the admission of some gaffes which is as far as he went on mistakes) so we didn’t blame the military for Iraq.
Again, Bush creates a division from air, trying to give the the impression that some people may be criticizing the military.
He also said he wasn’t concerned about his legacy.
We yell at the t.v. Can’t help it.
I wish we didn’t spend so much time on Chimpy. He’s there as a distraction, a veil, a stooge for the real powerbroker, Cheney, and Cheney’s backers in the Defense industry and Oil industry.
Oh how I wish people would just stay away from the distraction of GWB. I know, I know, he’s the prez-dunt whether we like it or not, but somehow people think that it matters that he’s prez-dunt. It does not. The strings are being pulled by Cheney, Addison and the boards of several corporations and other business oligarchies, here and abroad.
Go away Georgie, you’re a bad boy who should be sent to your room — permanently! Neither seen nor heard.
I don’t watch him anymore. He has nothing new to say. From what I’ve read about the show he met my expectations. He should be impeached or asked to resign before he tries another foolish invasion. He is a very dangerous President. Hope Congress as a whole begins to act in all of our best interests.
“… and that’s why I came up with the plan I did.”
George is not staying on script!
… about press reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not ask for more U.S. troops — as the administration maintained — but for more Iraqi control.
Rice replied that the core of al-Maliki’s plan had been preserved, but U.S. generals determined that U.S. forces would have to back up the Iraqis. The fabric of Iraqi society is disintegrating so rapidly, she said, that “they don’t have a lot of time to get on top of it, and we don’t have time to sequence our help to help them get on top of it.”
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."From Daily Kos the following actual excerpts of the shrub:
Pelley: You mention mistakes having been made in your speech
Bush: (nods and smiles) What mistakes are you talking about? Abu Ghraib was a mistake. Using bad language like, ya know, “bring ’em on,” was a mistake. I think history is going to look back and see a lot of, uh, ways we could’ve done things better. No question about it.
…the reason I brought up the mistakes, and I, is one, that’s the job of the commander-in-chief, and two, I don’t want people blaming our military. We got a bunch of good military people out there who are doing what we’ve asked them to do. And the temptation is gonna find scapegoats. Well if people want a scapegoat, they’ve got one right here in me. ‘Cause it’s my decisions.
No, I, I, I, I don’t, that we didn’t do a better job? Or they didn’t do a better job? (smile)
Not at all. I think, I think I’m proud of the efforts we did. Uh, we liberated that country from a tyrant. Uh, I think the Iraqi people owe the, 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.
It’s uh (sigh), you know I, uh (looking to sky), uh, it’s hard to, uh, for the family members to recount, uh, or relive their love in front of the President (shrug). Yet, you know once we get beyond the initial (pause), kind of meeting, it’s amazing how strong the folks are and umm, they want to just let ’em, let me know a lot of things. They want me to let me know what their son or husband was like.
…Umm, (sigh) you know, you know a lot of them say, you know, Mr. President, don’t, don’t let my son die in vain.
Pelley: How can you escalate the war when so many people in this country seem to be against it?
Bush: Uh, I, uh, I’m going to have to keep explaining. That’s why I’m doing this interview with you. Uh, Scott, uh, sometimes you’re the commander-in-chief, sometimes you’re the educator-in-chief, and a lot of times you’re both when it comes to war. (smile)
What an idiot-in cheif.
Does anyone know what the ratings were for this
60 minutes? I did not watch, was getting supplies
for the opening episode of “24”.
I was curious to observe how his med adjustment went and so I watched. The entire thing was revolting but the part I found most frightening was his anger at the Iraqi people because of their ingratitude.
This theme of blaming Iraqis is bi-partisan and voicing it should instantly disqualify a politician for public office. I’ve heard several Dems, including the deeply unattractive Vilsack, pull this crap too. (Vilsack was of the opinion that ‘we’ had created a “culture of dependency” in Iraq. Indeed his was the same language I’ve heard republicans and ‘centrist’ Dems use to describe single women trying to raise children by themselves.)
Don’t these people ever deal with reality? We invaded and occupied their country. Our occupation has been far more damaging to the people of Iraq than Saddam Hussein’s rule. Now they’re irritated because the Iraqis aren’t grateful? We have killed 650k of them, tortured them, raped them, stolen from them, refused to allow them to count their dead. And now they’re supposed to be grateful? Whatever for?