Killing Them Softly with Their Words: Hanging the Bush League by Their Own Words and Actions

Apparently, a slight plurality of voters believe that the Republicans-by which they mainly mean the administration of George W. Bush-are best at handling national security issues in America regarding terrorism. Baffling is really the only word one can use to describe this belief. And so I present to you the actions and words of those whom you have entrusted to protect you, as their own words do them more harm than anything I could possibly say.

2001: The Bush administration not only puts an end to a highly classified program that monitored Al-Qaeda suspects inside the US, but also gives $43 million dollars in aid to the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

May 2002.
Condoleezza Rice: I don’t think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile.

August 2001: The Bush administration receives a memo titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” which specifically warns that Bin Laden may try to strike against the US using hijacked airplanes.

August 2002.
Dick Cheney: There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.

December 2002.
Donald Rumsfeld: [Afghanistan] has elected a government�the Taliban are gone. The Al-Qaeda are gone.

February 2003.
Ari Fleischer, White House Press Sec.: During the campaign, the President did not express disdain for nation-building.

October 2000.
Candidate George W. Bush: I don’t think our troops ought to be used for what’s called nation-building.

May 2003.
Pres. Bush: We found the weapons of mass destruction [in Iraq]. We found biological laboratories [in Iraq].

May 2003.
Dick Cheney: I don’t believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons.

March 2003.
Dick Cheney: “We believe he [Saddam Hussein] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.”

July 2004:
Scott McClellan, White House Press Secretary: [The administration] “never said Iraq was an imminent threatâÂ?¦the media have chosen to use the word imminent” to describe the White House’s claims about Iraq.

“No terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people and the stability of the world than the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.” Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Sept. 2002

“This man poses a much graver threat than anybody could have possibly imagined.” President Bush, Sep. 2002.

“The Iraqi regime is a threat of unique urgency. . . . It has developed weapons of mass death” President Bush, Oct. 2002.

“There’s a grave threat in Iraq. There just is.” President Bush, Oct. 2003

“There are many dangers in the world; the threat from Iraq stands alone because it gathers the most serious dangers of our age in one place.” President Bush, Oct. 2002

“The Iraqi regime is a serious and growing threat to peace.” President Bush, Oct. 2002

“There is a real threat, in my judgment, a real and dangerous threat to America in the form of Saddam Hussein.” President Bush, Oct. 2002

“I see a significant threat to the security of the United States in Iraq.” President Bush, Nov. 2002

“Today the world is…uniting to answer the unique and urgent threat posed by Iraq.” President Bush, Nov. 2002

“The world is also uniting to answer the unique and urgent threat posed by Iraq whose dictator has already used weapons of mass destruction to kill thousands.” President Bush, Nov. 2002

And, finally, “this [Iraq] is about an imminent threat.” Spoken in February 2003. Who said it? White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

Don’t these guys have enough money to pay someone to keep track of their lies?

November 2004.
Pres. Bush: I have yet to hear from our commanders on the ground that they need more troops.

August 2006.
Pres. Bush: Nobody has suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the [9/11] attack.”

September 2002.
Pres. Bush: You can’t distinguish between Al-Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror.

September 2003.
Dick Cheney: It’s not surprising that people make that connection [between Saddam and 9/11].

March 2003.
Letter from Pres. Bush to Congress: The use of armed forces against Iraq is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations or person who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.

For those of you who really want to entrust your security to an administration that not only seems incapable of telling the truth or realizing what is really going on in the world of national security, but is also incapable of keeping track of their own lies so that they don’t consistently repeat them, I can only say that you deserve exactly what you are going to get.

The rest of us, however, do not deserve it.