Bush sidesteps criticizing Iraq shooting

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: AP



By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent 13 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Thursday refused to criticize a U.S. security company in Iraq accused in a shooting that left 11 civilians dead, saying investigators need to determine if the guards violated rules governing their operations.

Bush said he expected Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would raise the shooting by agents of Blackwater USA when they meet next week at the U.N. General Assembly.

Al-Maliki has urged the U.S. Embassy to find another security firm to protect its diplomats, saying he cannot tolerate "the killing of our citizens in cold blood." He called the shootings a "crime" and said they had generated "widespread anger and hatred."

"Obviously, to the extent innocent life was lost, you know, I'm saddened," the president said at a wide-ranging news conference. "Our objective is to protect innocent life. And we've got a lot of brave souls in the theater working hard to protect innocent life."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070920/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

[tekisui]

1. How about the Senate passing bill to censure Blackwater

for acting above the law and for murdering innocent Iraqis?

[uppityperson]

5. Indeed

[AzDar]

2. He's simply an evil, empty, fool.

The last 7 years seem like a surreal nightmare.

[saigon68]

9. He and his "gangster" sidekick Cheney are War Criminals

They have killed thousands of children and old women.

They are the scum of the earth




I truly believe that the Chimp is EROTICALLY AROUSED by photos of his carnage

[musette_sf]

3. calls moveon.org "disgusting"

but refuses to criticize Blackwater.

i'm with Will Pitt - we're now in Crazyland and Bizarro World, just sheer insanity.

[LSparkle]

4. Innocent in WHOSE eyes, Mr. Bush?

"To the EXTENT INNOCENT life was lost ... " Qualifiers abound ... Was innocent life really lost? Were the lives lost really innocent?

And his crowd accused Bill Clinton of "parsing"?????

[Sam Ervin jret]

6. Would Hitler criticize the S.S.? I think not. Private police a necessary EVIL for Authoritarian gov

Someone tell me they are surprised. I need a good laugh.

[pattmarty]

7. Fucking mercenaries!!!!! That's exactly what they are.

[HuffleClaw]

8. but he'll rant about a tv ad that killed nobody?

'to the extent innocent life was lost' ? how very cutely sickening.

[Redstone]

10. I will not, under any circumstances, celebrate the killing of an American soldier. But:

fucking mercs? I'll not shed a tear over any one of them who gets waxed in Iraq.

They took the money, and they know the risks. Fuck 'em, each and every one.

Redstone

[grilled onions]

11. It's His Favorite Dance

The Bush 1 anna 2 sidestep!

[rodeodance]

12. NOTHING in this story about the REAL story!!

...In a telephone conversation on Monday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked al-Maliki to delay any initial action to the shooting and that any permanent measures be held up until all the facts were known, a senior State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details of the private discussion.

Maliki, however, insisted on taking a stronger line and warned that continued use of the contractors would further inflame tensions, the official said. Blackwater's operations in Iraq were suspended, prompting the U.S. embassy in Baghdad to ban all road convoys by diplomats and other civilian personnel outside the heavily fortified Green Zone.

A U.S.-Iraqi commission is looking into the shooting.

The shooting is the latest source of tension between Baghdad and Washington as Bush presses ahead with the Iraq war despite strong opposition across the United States and in the Democratic-led Congress. A week ago, Bush announced gradual cutbacks in U.S. forces from the current peak of 168,000 soldiers. Even so, the plan would leave 130,000 U.S. troops or more in Iraq next summer.