This is from our friends in TURKEY
'They Didn't do Anything to You, or to our Country' (Turkish Paper's take on Helen Thomas)
Zaman (Istanbul) ^ | 04.10.2006 Monday
Helen Thomas is an 85-year-old veteran American journalist. Thomas who started as a White House correspondent during John F. Kennedy’s tenure, has been working in this profession for 62 years.
Thomas has another title: The American journalist who is the most outspoken critic of the US Iraq invasion.
She describes George W. Bush as “the worst president in US history.”
Thomas, who has had close relations with US presidents since Kennedy, was also on friendly terms with Father Bush.
However, she continually has negative views about the Son of Bush.
Thomas, who was always in the front row at press conferences in the past, has been relegated to sit in the back row during Bush’s reign.
For a long time Bush has refused to allow Thomas ask questions…
Bush tried to end the “Cold War” between them by complimenting Thomas, saying, ”Your performance at the Gridiron was just brilliant.”
When Thomas refused to forgive such flattery, a “Hot War” broke out this time.
Let’s look at the warlike dialogue between Thomas and Bush at the White House…
Thomas: I'd like to ask you, Mr. President -- your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, the wounds of Americans and Iraqis will last a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is: Why did you really want to go to war? You have said it wasn't oil, or the quest for oil. It wasn’t Israel or anything else. What was it?
Bush: Helen, I think you presume, in all due respect to your question and to you as a lifelong journalist -- I didn't want war.
Thomas: But, everything I've heard…
Bush: Hold on for a second, please. Excuse me. Excuse me. No president wants war. Everything you may have heard is just that, but it's simply not the truth.
Thomas: They didn't do anything to you, or to our country.
Bush: Hold on for a second. Excuse me for a second, please. Excuse me for a second. They did. The Taliban provided a safe haven for al-Qaeda.
Thomas: What about the Taliban, I'm talking about Iraq!
Bush: Helen, excuse me. That's where -- Afghanistan provided safe haven for al-Qaeda. I also saw a threat in Iraq .
Thomas: Thank you, Secretary Rumsfeld!
Bush: I kind of semi-regretted it.
* * *
As you see, Bush was defeated in his own field and in front of an audience.
When Bush tried to show that the excuses for Afghanistan were also valid for Iraq, he was mocked by the grand dame of the press corps, and that’s why she referred to him as “Secretary Rumsfeld.”
Bush was left defenseless as he was teased by Thomas…
Bush was struggling to defend the invasion of Iraq but his excuses were entirely groundless…
He attempted to justify the Iraq war with the Taliban excuses…
He tried to escape by saying, “I also saw a threat in Iraq” but he was unsuccessful.
America’s lies on the war have become so ossified with war crimes that, today, the US president has nothing to say to defend the war.
Thomas suddenly appears and browbeats Bush…
Because the Iraq war is unsustainable…
There is a remark made by Bush, which I believe should lead to an “inquiry.” Bush says: “No president wants war.”
Is that so? Lyndon Johnson, who made a vow to the American people on a plane and became president after Kennedy’s assassination, immediately threw out John F. Kennedy’s decision to withdraw from Vietnam! Johnson went down in record books as the president who poured fuel on the fire of the Vietnam War.
Bush and his men were intoxicated with war in Iraq. It was planned well before September 11…
They cannot even defend their illegal wars even through rhetoric. |
