President Bush gets heated with Martha Raddatz over Afghanistan
By SilentPatriot Monday Apr 28, 2008 4:11pm
President Bush got hit with a curveball today as Martha Raddatz opted to ask about the deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan instead of the economy. A visually agitated Bush went into an impassioned diatribe of how important it is to stick to our guns in Afghanistan and help secure the country. I have to say that I agree fully with the President on this one. It's just too bad he's virtually forgotten about the effort there, diverting vital resources to Iraq instead.
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Q Can I just add to that, a couple weeks ago --
THE PRESIDENT: No, you can't. This is the second follow-up. You usually get one follow-up, and I was nice enough to give you one. I didn't give anybody on this side a follow-up, and now you are trying to take a second follow-up.
Q Can I just say --
THE PRESIDENT: They just cut off your mic. You can't, no.
Q A couple weeks ago you said --
THE PRESIDENT: Now she's going to go without the mic. This is awesome.
Full transcript below the fold..
I'm pleased with the Afghan army, that when they're in the fight they're good. I wish we had completely eliminated the radicals who kill innocent people to achieve objectives, but that hasn't happened yet. And so I think it's very much in our interests to continue helping the young democracy. And we will.
Yes. Obviously you've got a follow-up.
Q But do you think we're winning? Do you think we're winning?
THE PRESIDENT: I do, I think we're making good progress. I do, yes.
Q Can I just add to that, a couple weeks ago --
THE PRESIDENT: No, you can't. This is the second follow-up. You usually get one follow-up, and I was nice enough to give you one. I didn't give anybody on this side a follow-up, and now you are trying to take a second follow-up.
Q They didn't try.
THE PRESIDENT: I know you try.
Yes.
Q Can I just say --
THE PRESIDENT: They just cut off your mic. You can't, no.
Q A couple weeks ago you said --
THE PRESIDENT: Now she's going to go without the mic. This is awesome. (Laughter.)
Q A couple weeks ago you said that in Iraq, in 2006, you said we were winning and the strategy was working to keep up troop morale.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q How can we believe that you're not doing the same thing here?
THE PRESIDENT: You tried to ask me that question before. It's a repeat. Look, I said --
Q No, I'm talking --
THE PRESIDENT: Can I finish, please? The question you asked me before at the exclusive I gave you on the ranch was: You said that we were winning in the past. I also said that there was tough fighting. Make sure you put the comments in place.
So what I'm going to tell you now is, we're making progress in Afghanistan, but there's tough fighting. I'm under no illusions that this isn't tough. I know full well we're dealing with a determined enemy. I believe it's in our interest that we defeat that enemy. And so, yes, we're making progress. But it's also a tough battle. We're facing people who are willing to strap bombs on themselves and walk into places where the innocent dwell, or the innocent shop, and kill them.
Is it in our interest to confront these people now, whether it be in Afghanistan, or Iraq, or Europe, or anywhere else? And the answer is, absolutely, it's in our interest. And the notion that somehow we can let these people just kind of have their way or, you know, let's don't stir them up, is naive or disingenuous, and it's not in our nation's interests. We are in a global struggle against thugs and killers. And the United States of America has got to continue to take the lead.
And so in Afghanistan, yes, we're making progress. Does that mean that it's over? No, it doesn't mean it's over. We're in a long struggle, as I've told you many a time, against these jihadists. You defeat them ultimately by the advance of democracy. See, this is an ideological struggle. These aren't isolated, law-enforcement moments. We're dealing with a group of ideologues who use asymmetrical warfare -- that means killing innocent people -- to try to achieve their objectives. And one objective is to drive us out of Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East, or anywhere else where we try to confront them.
And so, yes, I mean, look -- is it tough? Yes, it's tough. Is it difficult? Absolutely. Is it worth the fight? In my judgment, yes, it is.
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How presidential. Did he conclude with "PWNED!"
Holy shit. Who does this person think she is? Lord High Poobah doesn't have to say a damn thing. It's not like he's a servant of the people or anything.
This behavior is proof that herr dubyah actually believes he doesn't have to answer to the American people.
It's hard work.
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I love when Bush tells reporters what their question is.
His meds must be working today.
I a-a-a-am the Decider! You will shut the fuck up!
I saw this exchange this morning during the live broadcast, and I was floored at the way he treated the press corps. It was obvious that he had very little respect for these journalists. If they weren't properly deferential, he'd pull this sort of stuff on them. I've seen press conferences where he's done it before.
He tried to cut her off from asking for a clarification on her first question by claiming that had been her follow-up. The "are we winning" part was in the first question, and he didn't answer it, so she asked for a clarification. Then she went for her follow-up, and Bush saw what she was trying to do and wanted to cut her off.
Good on her to point out the administration's sunshine politics (don't worry, everything is fine, we're working really hard on it) as the farce that they are. You just can't trust anything that comes out of anyone in this administration.
He gets his manners from the big giant head.
I have to say I loathe stephie 'fat boy' harper but if this fuckstick was the leader of my country I'd weep daily in complete despair and embarrassment.
The Constitution is well equipped to protect our rights as we monitor the most corrupt criminal unconstitutional illegal Administration in our Nation's History.
Our Founding Fathers Understood. This Union, our Contract with each other, is bigger than any White House, Contractor, Wall Street or Lobbyist
As we saw the country we love, deteriorate, we went on a search of web sites that were truly trying to understand what is happening to our country.
What drew me to this site was the level of truth that it was trying to communicate.
Thank you Crooks and Liars… everyone.
Whenever I thing of the word "ignoramous" in the future.....this pathetic excuse of a "decider" will pop right into my mind.
What a f*cking idiot!!
We are so proud of you dubya....you total buffoon. So disgusting that the USA could be led by such a clown.
Wow, what a rude piece of shit. Proof that money doesn't buy class.
...
Everytime I think "What a f***ing arrogant PRICK" couldn't possibly come to mind anew anymore...
What a child. Obviously he feels that people can't handle the truth.
There is no "winning" against a guerrilla insurgency. Never has been, never will be. Just ask the Russians.
well, bush pounded the podium, so he must be right
thismachinekillsfascists @ 15:
or the israelis, or the brits, or the cubans
fact is bush has set it up so that the insurgencies in both iraq and afghanistan can continue, because his philosophy collapses if america doesnt continue to have an enemy
How long before the White House changes the transcript to make Bush seem less angry and make Raddatz look as impolite and out of control as possible?
Maybe I've missed it before, but this time I detect a bit of brain damage in the man. I used to think it was just a mish-mash of arrogance, stupidity and tunnel-vision. But no, I think it may be more than that. Some of the upstairs gears appear to be stripping out before our eyes.
If we all look back at all the presidential elections since 1789,
I think there is an answer to all of this in History somewhere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election#Preside...
We cant believe -- how could such a small corrupt group
of people undermine our entire country and justice.
We will never forget when we saw a picture of the american flag flying in a distress position on the Capitol.
Our Founding Fathers are weeping.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC1EZcrZEIs
History is repeating.
Thankfully also, so do the good teachers and good men who have always spoke at the crucial time.
The time is now.
I saw this exchange this morning during the live broadcast, and I was floored at the way he treated the press corps. It was obvious that he had very little respect for these journalists.
And they LOVED it! It was stunning to watch. There were also a number of planted "journalists" who asked Gannon-esque questions. What do you get when you cross a delusional President with an ineffectual Press? DISASTER!
worst.
evah.
JohnMcCainLovesViagra @ 13:
But it does buy an election...
...or two.
What an ass. Just like Ashcroft. Just like Rove. Just like Rumsfeld. Just like Cheney. They're bullies to all serious questioners.
I think we're all missing the point here. With the exceptions of a) how he was a flaming baby in how he responded to the reporter and b) his trying to tie in Iraq to the equation: he is dead on. You cannot placate jihadists, and this objective to eliminate these extremists is worth the fight. Afghanistan is the right place to do it, and you can't just walk away from that country. We should walk way from Iraq, but not Afghanistan.
What has it come to that I agree with this guy? oof...must be a cold day in Afghanistan.
C'mon - where have you folks been for the last eight years? What on earth did you expect Alfred W. Newman to say? You use your time and your web log to point out what petulant wanker our President is, again, and again, and again, to what end? Hey all of you out there - does this post bring any new information to your minds, and if so where have you been since 2001? Sheesh already...
Hence, his name on the Stephanie Miller Show: President Pissy Pants Cuckoo Bananas.
Martha Raddatz is one of the most respected jounalists in the business. The troops LOVE her, because she reports the truth about what is happening in Bush's war. Little George really shows us what kind of stuff he's made of in this clip. Petulant, insecure, afraid of being asked a question he hasn't rehearsed with an acting coach.
that magnificant douchbag!!!!
Annette @ 25:
But they're in Pakistan.
I think her follow up should have been:
"How do you feel about the fact that all through your business, political and personal life, whatever you've touched has tuned to shit"?
It would be nice indeed if, as bush has said in the past: " I hope we can get to
the bottom of the answer." What a total joke/clown/fool we have in the W/H.
Bush seems to be rather concerned with his place in history; Mr. President, if you're reading this, I've got good news.
Your place in history has been established:
You're a punchline.
oh god i misspelled magnificent
What a complete A@@ and petulant child. I am so ashamed of where we have devolved to over the last 8 years. Word cannot describe how worthless this POS is in terms on moral fiber or anything.
El Cid @ 27:
That's a keeper. Have to use the from now on. And you can change "pissy" for "prissy" and it still works.
theWalrus @ 30:
You don't think there are jihadists in Afghanistan? There are. Who do you think we're fighting there? Fluffy bunnies?
What is that man trying to say ? In junior bush 's fantasy world we are making progress in Afganistan. Go tell that to karzai the ruler of kabul who almost got killed last sunday.
Two words:
Douche Bag.
Annette @ 37:
All they guys who attacked us on 9/11 died while carrying out their mission. Those that planned and plotted *that* crime are currently in Pakistan.
"ideologues who use asymmetrical warfare that means killing innocent people"
Of course, U.S. forces don't use asymmetrical warfare.
U.S. forces don't kill innocent people
B2 bombers and UAVs are obviously not asymmetrical.
Pure unadultered propaganda.
Go for it BushCo.
Invade Canada, Venezuela, and Russia.
We'll see who wins.
If this a "Global struggle against thugs and killers," then why do we treat it like an AFTERTHOUGHT??
Good God, man. People are dying. Take it serious and do something to support those troops who are spilling their blood for YOU and ME!!
Get serious, sit down at you desk....take the reports...hour by hour.... not in the morning as you putt your golf ball in a glass......or go to some party and dance with the visiting band....
You don't think it is that serious.... These MEN and WOMEN are looking to YOU...to do the HARD WORK!!!....and bring our people home!
So that makes him a jihadist as he defined.
vince @ 7:
Ha! He hasn't been the same since his puppeteer Rove left his side. The question should be why is he allowed to give a press conference. He's a lame frickin' duck & totally irrelavent to the political process with many incumbent reps running for cover since his job approval rating started tanking (5) years ago.
His last official act will be hugging McBush in Minneapolis, sure to be a Kodak moment :)
Oh I forgot, he still has to pardon scooter!
Like totally awsum!
This person masquerading as the president of the US has lost all credibility. It pisses me off to no end that he constantly lies and pretends he knows what he talking about. He's a complete moron. A total embarrassment to the good people of this country.
Silent patriot said,"
"I have to say that I agree fully with the President on this one."
I say prove it and enlist ...take a few friends with you. ...good luck!
What an ass! With a guy like this in charge of the country for the last seven years, is it any wonder we're circling the drain? ...and honestly, for a country that put this fool in office not once, but TWICE--knowing full well what a tool he is--can we really say we didn't deserve everything we're getting now?
MargeAggedon @ 23:
True. And it can buy oil companies that you can run into the ground.
I don't mind watching this - much better than seeing him avoiding the questions with non-answers or pointing fingers. Getting McCain riled like this will be the best way to defeat him this fall.
JohnMcCainLovesViagra @ 49:
But that's ok because there's always war profiteering and corporate welfare to fix it.
I personally do NOT support the war in Afghanistan for this reason. The vast majority of the people on the planes responsoble for crashing them into the WTC were Saudis god dammit. NOT Afghanis. The Afghan war is all about an oil pipeline from the Caspian central republics of the old Soviet Union. Period. The Taliban would not play ball so georgie used this as an excuse to try and oust them. Bin Laden may or may not have ever been there, but I would be willing to bet he IS in Saudi Arabia somewhere by now. So fuck Bush. He lies every time he opens his mouth
It makes you wonder why the helper-monkeys of the press continue to carry water for this idiot.
Bruce @ 31:
I'd kiss the person who had the balls to ask him that question.
thismachinekillsfascists @ 15:
Ask the Russians? What is that supposed to mean? Like a war with a simple little country like Afgahnastan could bankrupt a nation and bring about the downfall of a world superpower? Cmon.
Hey did anyone see 'Charlie Wilson's War'? Pretty cool right? Silly U.S.S.R. Hey.........uh........ohhhh. Dammit!
The Smiths @ 11:
UNFORTUNATELY we have ENABLERS in the Democratic Party who have trampledon the US Constitution by allowing the bush crime family to continue with their crimes.
Annette @ 37:
These fluffy bunnies have beaten the Brits and the Russian and are on their way to beat us too. Why? It's their country and they don't want us there. No matter how much smack we buy from their cousins, they will never like us. This war, and the one over to the west from there, the wars we never legally declared as the Constitution insists, are lost and we will lose our money, our sons and daughters, our reputation there because of Chimpy McFlightsuit's screw-up from the get go. Worst. Prezden. Ever.
Why be floored? The press has been letting him get away with anything he likes...in so doing, they disrespected us, the people, by failing to hold these tools accountable! Bush can walk up to these so-called journalists and shit on their heads for all I care!
He is so over his head. But, then again, he was as governor, ball club owner and oil company exec, also.
I hope he was a good cheerleader.
I think like Britney Spears said, we should trust the President because it's the right thing to do. If GWB thinks were winning and in doing so defending the "dwellers", than gawdarnit, we are winning the fight for the right to dwell now and for those who will dwell in the future, and in the lands were people like to dwell,... or shop.
America = bush's new Arbusto.
enor @ 59:
Nah. He probably fell down a lot, fucked up routines...
Charlieboy @ 57:
Perhaps we should use the holy hand grenade.
milquetoast @ 47:
HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!
I agree 100%!
theWalrus @ 40:
...I thought all the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia (lets attack there)
...arent jihadists in Iran? (lets attack there)
...some in Indonesia too (there?)
...Syria.........maybe Egypt?
Tubular tie, Bush. I mean, aaaawesome. WHOAH! Don't lean s'far out! Y'might fall over the podium! Wait! Smurf! [pound!] Y'got it, Bushy! Yeehaw!
...*...
Stupid fucking inarticulate slapnut idiot.
Wow. Someone aside from Helen Thomas stands up to Bush? I'm amazed.
please dont irritate the prez if he injured his hand he may have to get us to spank his monkey for him !!!arrrggggh
What a big baby. He knows he can't answer the question truthfully so he has a little hissy fit. Good Lord canhe just leave now?
Gross to have an idiot yelling at the audience. An imbecile.
Lets get ready for America's next imbecile in the Whitehouse John McCain.
I watched part of the press conference today & it appeared that GW was being fed answers through a hidden ear piece. He would hesitate to talk (listening to what someone was telling him) & then blurt out some barely coherent statement. Anyone see it that way? And by the way, he is a national disgrace.
theWalrus @ 40:
That is wrong. The Taliban in Afghanistan financed and hosted the bin Laden cabal for years before 9/11. This is not to say that there aren't any bad guys in Pakistan (or Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Morocco, Spain, Iran or Iraq as well).
The Ambassador of Af. came and spoke at our school and encouraged all of us to believe in the mission to bring about peace to the country and to rid the country of the Taliban and other extremists.
What gets me is many people on this site as well as the majority of my friends have hyper-politicized Afghanistan due to Iraq. Mind you these are the same people who were all supportive of Clinton's actions in Somalia and the former Yugoslavia. The irony is completely lost here...I don't think I could lay enough FACTS to change anyone's mind here.
Martha Raddatz will always rock in my book because she's the one who took the picture of Chimpy playing guitar at a fund-raising stop in CA when he should've been in NoLA during Katrina.
As I recall, he was playing an open G chord...on the fourth fret. If you're a musician, you know what I'm talking about. My musician friends refer to that as "the W chord," and it sounds like sh*t.
Thanks, Martha.
Spoon banging fuckwit...
enor @ 59:
He's still a cheerleader. He's been cheering on a bloody, mindless, evil occupation since some idiot handed him a megaphone at ground zero in NY. The trick is to get him to shut the fuck up.
Annette @ 72:
did anyone ever show you the mountains in afganistan ? the thousads of ambush sites ? the fact that the britts and russhians got thier ass handed to them by the afganys out to give you that fighting gurellias in afganistans a fools dream!
"this is awesome."
like the pope's speech?
JohnMcCainLovesViagra @ 13:
You said it... it can't by intelligent debate either, from what this fucktard says...
He is so easy to dislike/despise. No agenda, other than war, for the past seven years, and now we've got to listen to what he says about anything? Don't think so. He forfeited that right a long time ago.
From the Thug and Killer in Chief.
Bush: "Comeon! Aren't ya gonna ask me how I don't sweat? how come yall don't ball-tickle me like you do my successor "McShitFerBrains, hyuck, hyuck" "
George W. Bush, the first US President to lose two god damn wars. A disgrace as President and totally pathetic as a man the cost of 4,052 US Troops, 500,000 Iraqi's and $2 trillion dollars has been a steep price to pay for our sorry ass nation at the hands of this imbecile.
I work as a manager in a factory in the middle of Republican redneck land. My coworkers are all now former Bush admirers who detested my opinions over the last seven years under their shit stained leader. Four dollars a gallon has a way of turning gun toting, pick-up driving hillbillies into venomous back biters.
The only good thing to come out of Bush's disastrous two terms is that he has effectively killed the Republican Party. None of my former Bush blowing coworkers will admit to even belonging to the Republican Party let alone to have voted for Dumbya. Traitors.
Now if we can only find that same special candidate destined to destroy the lame Democrat Party there will be hope that we can yet save our nation.
Go Hillary Go !!!
Hulk @ 12:
Well, I personally think you'd do better thinking of "ignoranus" - because Bush is both dumb as shit AND an asshole.
So, let me get this right. The bush doctrine is to go out into other countries and confront anyone who thinks differently than us. To confront them and kill them if they stand up and tell us to go back to our country and mind our own business.
Nice.
And he wonders why he is the most hated person in the world.
Yes... even more than the little dick who sits next to him in the potty room.
OOPS did I say POTTY?
I meant "party".
right.
Is our journalists learning Patriotism?
Was he drunk in this video? He sure seemed to slur an awful lot....
Annette @ 72:
Annette @ 25:
Annette: How exactly do you eliminate Jihadism in Afghanistan when their Shiva and Ganesha worshiping ancestors whaled the shit out of Alexander the Great? Let's remember Ol' Alex went from Macedonia to the Indus with a tiny army, and they still kicked the crap out of him! No army has ever won in Afghanistan. No army has ever occupied Afghanistan. I doubt we will win there, not when one side of the Cold War tried (the USSR) and failed. Bill Clinton's activities in Somalia and Yugoslavia were also deplorable. I notice you forgot to mention President Clinton's two adventures in Iraq. But unlike Herr Dubya, Clinton at least left the place. So did Dubya's dad. But, the person who said the 19 hijackers were Saudi is correct. If we should have gone after any power, Saudi Arabia should have been it, in a perfect world where bombs falling on Mecca and Medina wouldn't make every Muslim from Bosnia to Indonesia hate us.
tyree @ 76:
Not just Britons and Soviets, Ghenghis Khan (you know, the dude that forged most of Eurasia into an empire, that Ghenghis Khan) and Alexander the Great and Tamerlane all failed as well.
How very presidential of him. Really, I believe displays like this will contribute greatly to earning back the respect we seem to have lost in the eyes of the world.
I also believe in the tooth fairy.
The man is not just dumb - he has no class.
Somebody give him a drink.
By the way, we already know his talking points. Why not ask about impeachment. What will his defenses be? Will he try to pardon himself?
What a goddamn crackhead.
MargeAggedon @ 75:
I guess, he, like Reagan, are really just 'front men' (AKA: Cheerleaders) for the real people who run this country.
In America any boy may become President and I suppose it's just one of the risks he takes.
Adlai E. Stevenson Jr. (1900 - 1965)
www.thefaithdebate.com
LOL...poor Dumbya. He realizes he's going to leave the world in a fucking mess and that, yet again, a job his dumbass Daddy got him he completely fucked up. Hahahaha. Poor Dumbya...it's even penetrating his delusional fat head that he's going down in history as the biggest fuck up of all time.
"Although the United States may have become as strong and as big as an elephant, she is being directed by the brain of a shrimp. Head of an elephant and brain of a shrimp. That is the tragedy, not just for the United States alone, but also for the whole world." - Ly Chanh Trung.
Will she be tortured this week or next week? That's the only question of import.
tyree @ 76:
Wow. Excellent argument about the mountains...I'm really stupid and didn't know there were mountains in Afghanistan. I suppose it is your suggestion we just simply allow the jihadists to stay there peacefully in those mountains I didn't know about and successfully plan another attack on the U.S. then. If it were not for Bush & his idiotic idea to invade Iraq, the U.S. would have been quite capable of defeating the Taliban and other insurgents because the Afghani citizenry is behind their defeat and ouster. The comparison of the U.S. military forces to the Russian and British defeats are disingenuous and misinformed at best. Those countries were in the midst of empire building. The U.S. (w/o Iraq war) would have been concentrating its entire military complex on that country.
But like I said, I don't think I'm going to change any minds here because whatever Bush says, whether it's right or wrong, will be irrefutably presumed wrong. It's a shame that we cannot challenge ourselves to discern between the man and the plan...
"And one objective is to drive us out of Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East, or anywhere else where we try to confront them."
Ain't colonialism a bitch.
"Please, please, can I finish my lie?"
So his argument seems to be:
A. If we weren't making progress, then it wouldn't be "worth the fight".
B. It's totally "worth the fight."
Therefore, C. we are making progress.
thismachinekillsfascists @ 15:
How about asking a Vietnam vet?
OK, now we see that when Dubass says "awesome", it's actually a put down. So when he said to the Pope "awesome speech", he was really dissing it! Come on, Vatican, strike back! Call him out for his anti-catholicism!
Can I get a side of realism here? We are there. We need to deal with that fact and deal with the other countries DIPLOMATICALLY that aide and abet these whack-jobs. Just b/c I think we need to solve the Af. war does not mean I am blind to the Saudi/Iranian/Egyptian/etc issue.
How does this "press conference" differ from any of the others? Chimpy repeats the same, tired talking points his handlers have pumped into his thick skull. Then he attempts to charm the press corps with his witty frat boy nicknames...followed by inapproriate smirks and cocky gestures.
We've seen it all before.
Imagine this shithead having to face tough questions AND multiple follow-ups.
Yup, thanks all you redneck shit kickers for electing a guy you'd want to have a beer with. That worked out quite well for all of us, huh? And by the way, just WHY would you want to have a beer with this skidmark in the first place??? Are you interested in learning how to run three failed oil companies??? I don't get it.
The national embarrassment continues.
MargeAggedon @ 75:
Some day, he will. The silence of him never speaking in public again will be blessed.
Jon @ 9:
I guess it's only fair, considering how little respect I have for him.
Of course, having seen the deletion of Chris' comment above and the reference to "chattering" in one's comments here, I guess one can't blame the President for trying to run his press conferences in a similar manner. If he doesn't like the question, he cuts off the mike.
Dave @ 86:
Probably heavily medicated. And he was definitely being fed the buzzwords from the teleprompter screen at his lectern. Every time his fetal alcohol syndrome brain freezes up, he looks down and seems to find another talking point.
I was shocked years ago when his father told a member of the press to "shut up and sit down". I was even more shocked that it didn't seem to bother anybody else.
This stuff doesn't shock me any more - it's SOP. I haven't been able to stand watching/listening to him for years. Thanks for providing transcripts.
Annette @ 97:
You yourself are being disengenous. The Soviet Union entered Afghanistan in large part because Jimmy Carter forced them into it. That's no lie. His aide Brezinzki said that he helped provoke the Russians into it. The Red Army, furthermore, was against entering the Afghanistan area (contrary to the United States Army and 'Nam) and had Brezhnev died a little earlier than he did, the Soviets would have collapsed very probably later. Reason being that with a strong leader (and no Politburo member who supported the invasion of Afghanistan was a serious candidate for Soviet leader) the Russians would have stayed out. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics walked right into a clusterfuck that we made.
No. 44 @ 98:
Until the invasion of Iraq, the U.S. version of colonialism was much softer then the old version. Once we invaded, all pretense dropped.
General_Rennenkampf @ 88:
The only way to "win" against the Taliban and Al Qeada is to eliminate the conditions that cause young Muslim men to be drawn to them in the first place (the same goes for the problem of inner-city gangs, for that matter). I don't have enough skin on my fingertips to type out all the ways that the Cheney's have failed to do this and, in fact, have only made their allure all the more powerful. That is the real issue here.
Tim Ed Anshabby @ 111:
Yes. Improve living conditions and the support for radicalism goes down. The problem is balancing improvement with cultural imperialism, something the West just won't do. We got to where we were because we applied extreme force to the rest of the planet. The payback's a bitch, and it's long been overdue, in some respects.
Annette @ 72:
Uhhh, no. Bin Laden was financed by Saudis and others who supported his cause. The Taliban let him stay in Afghanistan after he was forced out of Africa, but they didn't have to "finance" him. The Taliban themselves were largely supported by the Pakistani ISI intelligence services, and the ISI used bin Laden's Afghan camps to train insurgents to send to Kashmir to fight the Indian Army. And, of course, Pakistan took bundles of money through that whole period from the US in military aid.
Read Steve Coll's Pulitzer Prize-winning Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. He's got a new book out on the bin Laden family, too.
The US should never have tried to do a makeover in Afghanistan. Even the most essential part of it -- shutting down the leadership of al Qaeda -- didn't get done. If there was ever a real, definable task to the "war on terror" that was it, and that was not going to be easy, in and of itself; various government agencies had been trying to figure out a way to do that since the mid-90s. Blowing up a country in the furtherance of the goal of making it stable is just the most stupid plan ever devised. But we've done it twice now under Bush.
People who think that the Afghan war is "the good fight" are deluded. Millions of people are suffering even more than they were before the war because the US government is incompetent and disinterested in their country, and can't even manage to figure out where bin Laden is.
Annette @ 97:
Wow. Excellent argument about the mountains...I'm really stupid and didn't know there were mountains in Afghanistan. I suppose it is your suggestion we just simply allow the jihadists to stay there peacefully in those mountains I didn't know about and successfully plan another attack on the U.S. then. If it were not for Bush & his idiotic idea to invade Iraq, the U.S. would have been quite capable of defeating the Taliban and other insurgents because the Afghani citizenry is behind their defeat and ouster. The comparison of the U.S. military forces to the Russian and British defeats are disingenuous and misinformed at best. Those countries were in the midst of empire building. The U.S. (w/o Iraq war) would have been concentrating its entire military complex on that country.
But like I said, I don't think I'm going to change any minds here because whatever Bush says, whether it's right or wrong, will be irrefutably presumed wrong. It's a shame that we cannot challenge ourselves to discern between the man and the plan...
You don't think the USA is building an empire? Except it's trans-national corporate empire. And pResident fucknuts is getting the American taxpayers to fund it for them, with our poorly paid military and well-paid, privately run, but publicly funded mercenaries.
Can I just say aside from Bush's demeanor, that it is very clear how this administration has controlled the message all of these years... allowing only one followup question to complex issues (or any questions) really limits the reporters to what they can ask in order to get an answerable quote... but it does NOTHING to hold this administration accountable to his judgments or his actions. It also does NOTHING to serve the American Public which should be the first obligation of a free press. That the press complies with this rule... is astounding...out of what? a sense of politeness?
"Cut her mike!" sounds like Bill O'Reilly -- don't like the message, or an alternate opinion? stick your fingers and call "lalalala" so you can't hear anything you don't want to hear.
thismachinekillsfascists @ 15:
Yeah but with perpetual war comes perpetual no bid contracts. Havent you learned from Orwell? US always warring!!!
> President Bush got hit with a curveball today as Martha Raddatz opted to ask about the deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan instead of the economy.
Too bad it wasn't a fastball.
Would someone else why is the opium output up over 800% in Afghanistan since the invasion?
General_Rennenkampf @ 112:
Agreed. It will take a generation of highly concerted effort to bring about that kind of change. But what breaks my heart is that, had we approached Afganistan the correct way (say, the way that perhaps a President Al Gore might of had the wisdom to do it), maybe there could have been some hope. For instance, for once in our lives the US could have owned to its mistakes and failings. We could have said that all Middle Eastern monarchies are inherently wrong. We could have embraced the ICC, even if it meant putting Kissinger on trail. It would have taken radical changes in our world view, but it might have worked. Now no one living will ever know if it could have.
To call Bush a sack of shit is an insult to excrement.
What a fucking asshole. I don't think the question was: Is it in our interest to defeat the enemy in Afghanistan?
What an embarrassment to have such a douchebag as the leader of my nation . . .
Pol Pot-O-Cheesesauce @ 101:
As a Vietnam veteran, I find it amazing that so many Americans, and even liberals, are buying the party line that the United States is fighting the "good war" in Afghanistan. The U.S. is never going to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people or any other country that it illegally occupies. One way to demonstrate this is if the 1974 Oscar-winning documentary Hearts and Minds were to re-released in theaters today to demonstrate the folly of having the U.S. invade another country while also allowing the victims of United States aggression, the Vietnamese people, to have their voices heard in this film.
It would appear that many if not most Americans are not aware that Afghan villages have been bombed by American fighter jets and that innocent Afghani families have been wiped out by American bombs. A report on 60 Minutes about six months ago had a story which focused on an Afghan family whose sole survivor was a ten year old boy. The smart bomb and the intelligence that the military employed to seek out the Taliban proved to be neither smart nor intelligent since the U.S. military later learned that this Afghan family had absolutely no connection to the Taliban or the terrorists. It was rather amazing that a corporate network actually decided to investigate this story. But this is simply the tip of the iceberg since undoubtedly most Afghans, like the Iraqis, know that these atrocities happen in their country on an all too frequent basis.
It should also be noted that that [alleged] agent of hope and change, Barack Obama, believes that the emphasis should be shifted from Iraq [where, even after his phased withdrawal finally takes place, he advocates keeping close to 100,000 American troops in order to, as he says, keep an eye on things. Again, not the best way to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people by keeping foreign troops either on their soil or in the region, where they can be sent back into Iraq at a moment's notice to create more havoc and decimation against the Iraqi people ] to Afghanistan, where U.S. forces will again continue to unjustifiably bomb Afghan villages and homes and rein down death and destruction upon the Afghan people.
Support the troops. Bring them home now.
"The exclusive on the ranch"
"I know full well..."
Wow. Shameless asshole.
can someone just take him out and shoot him? this is the worst, most childish, self obsessed failure of a human being. and there seems no end to him. there is no end, is there. he will live forever. jesus. h. christ. on. a. stick.
the pRESIDENT has a problem when faced with Democracy in action, I guess.
wow. the president looks sad. angry. yuk.
Like father, like son. I remember Bush Sr. saying to a jouralist something along the lines of "You're talking to the President of the United States!"
Annette @ 97:
The real problem is that there is no plan in Afghanistan. Similar to the virtually complete lack of planning in Iraq, Afghanistan has little military support and even less direction. What would qualify as victory in Afghanistan? That's the question that the top brass don't want to answer and neither does W. Short of organized genocide, we're not going to be able to use force to eliminate the extremists and we're incredibly unsuited to "win hearts and minds" in an attempt to change the fundamental social forces that create extremism. Random strikes against militant bases isn't going to accomplish anything, the Russians learned that years ago during their attempts to pacify the country. They used tools that we likely would resist using (or deny) such as chemical weapons and still were unable to do more then unite the country against them.
I think you made some good points but I'd like to know what would qualify as victory in Afghanistan.
Dhalgren @ 123:
In other words, "I let you talk to me and ask me questions with big words on my fake ranch with the rented animals, so no more questions!"
Taking one from BILLO,"Cut her mike...."
He saw what happened to the Soviet Union in the eighties in Afghanistan; so W went into two countries(Afghanistan and Iraq) in order to ruin our economy,and ruin our economy he did.At least he has been successful at something.
"President Bush got hit with a curveball today..." Apparently, not hard enough to takeout this insipid SOB and put both George and us out of our misery.
Funniest line in the whole clip was Bush declaring that the reporter made him lose his train of thought. Yeah, those trains of thought are precious all right considering that Bush has them so infrequently.
what a fucking asshole bush is.
harley @ 118:
Back before the opium wars in China, many rich American families were profiting from the opium trade, just like many rich Brits were. China fought a war and won. They removed the opium trade from China. Afghanistan has always been the suppliers to the world for opium (heroin). It took less than a year for the opium planting to resume at levels not seen since before the Taliban took control. The Taliban, by the way, almost completely irradicated it from Afghanistan. Guess which country controls the product, the USA or England, or both! Lots of 'old money' was made on the east coast way back when off of opium. The Bushes are really from Maine you know. Kinda makes one wonder....
Dr. Hussein Matt @ 1:
He also told the pope "awesome speech, your holiness."
What an adolescent. And an adolescent girl at that. He probably is a big Miley Cyrus fan. My eight year old nephew is more mature.
Jesus he is arrogant. I love the part where he bitches "they just cut off your mic" as if he's on fucking O'Reilly. Guess what, jackass! Soon, you will be COMPLETELY UNABLE to control the conversation that goes on around you.
Bush has been amazingly spoiled in his years at the White House. Reality is going to make him insane when he has to face it.
I think I will go rub one off right now...
Gee, I feel so much safer now.
The totally illiterate Dumbya was brought up to be a habitual LIAR.
Just watched the video, and IN MY JUDGEMENT, Bush is a fucking imbecile.
He's drunk.
He cuts her off before she follows up with an unrelated answer, then says she had her follow up. Then has the mic cut. It's the Bill O'Reilly playbook.
All he forgot was, "Shut up!"
Asymetrical warfare? You mean like spending more on our military than the rest of the world combined?
"We defeat ideologues by bringing democracy."
Don't look now, but he's just given out his secret weakness.
I can't believe how close-minded some of your folks are. Yes, Bush and his administration are a bunch of buffoons and they have made countless mistakes over the years, but does that mean they are incapable of EVER making a good point!?
Afghanistan was a just fight and anyone who disagrees is a peace-nik moron. I find it ironic that some of the same people who bitch and moan about human rights forget the atrocities in Afgh. The Bushies majorly screwed up by diverting our efforts in Iraq, but Afgh. was a necessary move. Had the US and our numerous allies at the time (remember when the world sympathized with us after 9/11?) stayed on task here I think we could have seen success. As it is the US got off course, but that doesn't change the fact that Afgh. is worth continued effort, and YES it will take a long time. The battle needs to be one of both bullets and improved living conditions for their citizenry.
Develop some independent thoughts folks and realize it is OK to sometimes agree with the other side. We aren't rooting for sports teams here. This is public policy...there are rights and wrongs and huge chasm of gray in-between. I remember a time when I used to listen to Rush Limbaugh and buy his crap. I lived in a bubble of Convservatism. Then I grew up became more liberal and now realize to make up my own mind. That sometimes means agreeing with buffoons and disagreeing with geniuses.
miss_kitty @ 141:
He ain't drunk! ;D
Erroll @ 122:
Amen- bring them HOME
And thanks for your insightful commentary.
I'm guessing that, like most people here, I DO love this country, and wish that our foreign policy was something I might be proud of. Instead, I continue to wonder how so many *experts* can make the wrong decisions over and over again. Of course I understand fully that sometimes people just make the wrong move, or that we are indeed a country whose largest corporations dictate much of our (inter)national conduct.
Still, I like to think we're a better country than that, even on my most cynical days. We managed to do a monumental thing with the Berlin Airlift 60 years ago, and we could, with some creative thinking, do the same today.
I guess he cares even less now about how he treats the media since he's been virtually ignored for a year now.
What a colossal ***hole. Brash, arrogant, pugnacious, impolite, etc. And he twists a reasonable question so out of shape that the response bears virtually no relationship to what was being asked.
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