New talking point emerges: "Would still go to war, knowing what we know"

[sabra]

From today:

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2005/12/14/ap2391731.html

<snip>

"We are in Iraq today because our goal has always been more than the removal of brutal dictator," Bush said. "It is to leave a free and democratic Iraq in his place.

"My decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision. Saddam was a threat and the American people and the world is better off because he is no longer in power," the president said.

From Monday:

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128768674451

QUESTION: I would like to know why you and others in your administration invoke 9/11 as justification for the invasion of Iraq when no respected journalists or other Middle Eastern experts confirm that such a link existed.

BUSH: Oh, I appreciate that.

...

And the second decision - which was a very difficult decision for me, by the way, and it's one that I didn't take lightly - was that Saddam Hussein was a threat. He is a declared enemy of the United States. He had used weapons of mass destruction. The entire world thought he had weapons of mass destruction. The United Nations had declared in more than 10 - I can't remember the exact number of resolutions - that disclose or disarm or face serious consequences.

I mean, there was a serious international effort to say to Saddam Hussein: "You're a threat.' And the 9/11 attacks accentuated that threat, as far as I'm concerned.

And so we gave Saddam Hussein the chance to disclose or disarm. And he refused.

And I made a tough decision. And knowing what I know today, I'd make the decision again. Removing Saddam Hussein makes this world a better place and America a safer country.

[MsUnderstood]

1. So in response to the question

When asked why his administration invokes 9/11 as justification for war in Iraq, he uses 9/11 as a justification for invading Iraq.

But never will he be able to explain why 9/11 is tied to war in Iraq.

[fishnfla]

2. the very definition of stupidity

doing the same thing over again and expecting different results

[ultraist]

5. That's also the definition of insanity

Doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. ;)

[rock]

3. "Removing Saddam Hussein makes this world a better place"

As I've pointed out repeatedly, bushsucks* always makes his point one-sided. "Removing Saddam Hussein makes this world a better place" all other things equal. Of course, they're not. There's 2100 young soldiers of ours that are dead and 200 billion + dollars gone. This is quivalent to: you would be better off with a brand new house and car. So why don't you get them?

[sabra]

4. plus he forgets to mention the reports of global terrorism at

an all time high...

[EarlG]

6. Good grief

So Bush would still have gone to war if he'd known then what he knew now. Noble of him to admit it now, since there's no way that we would have gone to war in Iraq if the administration hadn't hammered the false WMD and 9/11 angles. Paul Wolfowitz admitted as much back in 2003.

So we've gone from Bush in 2000 saying that America shouldn't nation-build, to an invasion of Iraq based upon propaganda and cooked intelligence, to a situation where we're now not leaving Iraq until we've trained their armies and installed a democracy. Talk about mission creep.

And what's next? By saying that he'd make the same decision again despite everything that has happened, Bush has essentially admitted that this was his plan all along. What other plans is he going to con the American people into that we won't know the truth about until three years later?

[sabra]

7. the WMD & Al Qaeda links were just the frosting on the cake

they have no shame.

[rustydog]

8. No DUH. Shit, you decided to go to war before 9-11 you FUCK

So it stands to reason you would go to war knowing what you know now. You now know the congress is sitting on it's collective hands and letting you get away with mass murder of innocent Iraqis.

How stupid do you think we are Georgie?

[sabra]

9. and he does it again:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,178741,00.html

<snip>

With all that in mind, Bush said he made the right decision to go into Iraq and topple the former Iraqi dictator.

"I said it today and I said it at the last speech I gave ... I made the right decision. Knowing what I know today, I would have still made that decision," Bush said.

The president spoke with FOX News' Hume on the eve of the Iraqi election for a 275-member Parliament, the first election of its kind since before Saddam and his allies grabbed power through a Ba'ath Party coup in 1968.