"Murder," you write? Howza 'bout this:
Topic: Iraq - Pre-Invasion
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 3/6/2003
Quote/Claim:
"No matter what the whip count is, we're calling for [a U.N.] vote. We want to see people stand up and say what their opinion is about Saddam Hussein and the utility of the United Nations Security Council. And so, you bet. It's time for people to show their cards, to let the world know where they stand when it comes to Saddam. [Source: White House Web site]"
Fact:
"At a National Security Council meeting convened at the White House at 8:55 a.m., Bush finalized the decision to withdraw the resolution from consideration and prepared to deliver an address to the nation that had already been written. - Washington Post, 3/18/03"
Reference Reference
Topic: Iraq - Pre-Invasion
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 3/6/2003
Quote/Claim:
"I've not made up our mind about military action. Hopefully, this can be done peacefully. Hopefully, that as a result of the pressure that we have placed -- and others have placed -- that Saddam will disarm and/or leave the country. [Source: White House Web site]"
Fact:
"The inspections are not getting us there, the president said, getting down to business. The U.N. inspectors were just sort of stumbling around, and Hussein was showing no intention of real compliance. 'I really think I'm going to have to do this.' The president said he had made up his mind on war. The United States should go to war. - 1/13/04, from Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward, reprinted in Washington Post, 4/18/04 "
Reference Reference
Topic: Iraq - Pre-Invasion
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 3/6/2003
Quote/Claim:
"No matter what the whip count is, we're calling for the vote. We want to see people stand up and say what their opinion is about Saddam Hussein and the utility of the United Nations Security Council. [Source: White House Web site]"
Fact:
"On March 17, 2003, with a possible resolution waiting in the wings, Bush announced he would not call for a vote, saying, 'The United Nations Security Council has not lived up to its responsibilities, so we will rise to ours.' - Slate, 9/23/03"
Reference Reference
Topic: Iraq - Pre-Invasion
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 2/8/2004
Quote/Claim:
"The thing about the Vietnam War that troubles me, as I look back, was it was a political war. We had politicians making military decisions. And it's lessons that any president must learn, and that is to the set the goal and the objective and allow the military to come up with the plans to achieve that objective. And those are essential lessons to be learned from the Vietnam War. [Source: Meet the Press transcript]"
Fact:
"Donald Rumsfeld has become the Iraq conflict's McNamara. His second-guessing of the deployment orders in the months before the fighting started is being blamed by retired and serving officers alike for the thinly protected 300-mile supply lines on which US troops are now depending. - Guardian, 3/31/03"
Reference Reference
Topic: Iraq - Pre-Invasion
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 12/28/2001
Quote/Claim:
"I'm right now focused on the military operations in Afghanistan, [Source: White House Web site]"
Fact:
"Following an important meeting on Iraq war planning in late 2001, President Bush told the public that the discussions were about Afghanistan. He made no mention afterward about Iraq even though that was the real focus of the session at his ranch. - AP, 4/18/04"
Reference Reference
Topic: Iraq - Pre-Invasion
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 12/15/2003
Quote/Claim:
"In Iraq, there was a lot of diplomacy that took place before there was any military action. [Source: White House Web site]"
Fact:
"Time Magazine reports that as early as March, 2002, President Bush showed little interest in debating what to do about Saddam. Instead, he became notably animated, according to one person in the room, used a vulgar epithet to refer to Saddam and concluded with four words that left no one in doubt about Bush's intentions: 'We're taking him out.' - Time, 5/5/02
"
Reference Reference
Topic: Iraq - Pre-Invasion
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 11/4/2003
Quote/Claim:
"[Saddam Hussein] is no longer threatening people.” [Source: White House Web site]"
Fact:
"At the time of this statement, the New York Times reported, Saddam Hussein may be playing a significant role in coordinating and directing attacks by his loyalists against American forces in Iraq, senior American officials said.” - NY Times, 10/31/03"
Reference Reference
Topic: Iraq - Pre-Invasion
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/22/2003
Quote/Claim:
"I made it clear that a [diplomatic] process had gone on way before I made the decision to use military force.” [Source: White House Web site]"
Fact:
"According to Bush’s State Department Director of Policy and Planning Richard Haas, the decision to go to war had been made by July of 2002 – 8 months before the invasion. When asked whether there was a particular moment when he realized war in Iraq was definite, Haas said, The moment was the first week of July (2002), when I had a meeting with Condi…She said, essentially, that that decision's been made, don't waste your breath.” - New Yorker, 3/31/03
Time reported in May (2002) that in late March of 2002 Vice President Dick Cheney told Senators The question was no longer if the U.S. would attack Iraq...The only question was when. - Time, 5/6/02 "
Reference Reference
Topic: Iraq - Pre-Invasion
Speaker: Bush, George - President
Date: 10/17/2003
Quote/Claim:
"The force must be strong enough so that the mission can be accomplished. [Source: White House Web site]"
Fact:
"According to testimony from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 10/16/03 the Bush Administration had deployed 1 soldier for every 189 people in Iraq, and 1 soldier for every 1,913 people in Afghanistan. Both were dramatically worse ratios than Kosovo (1 per 48), Bosnia (1 per 58) and East Timor (1 per 86)--the deployments of the Clinton years which Bush maligned during his campaign. "
americanprogressaction.org |
