The White House fires back at George W. Bush

[babylonsister]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/white-house-fires-back-george-184550021.html


The White House fires back at George W. Bush
Business Insider By Colin Campbell
3 hours ago

snip//

Earnest was responding to reports over the weekend on Bush's remarks to a closed-door gathering of Jewish donors. At the Republican Jewish Coalition event in Las Vegas, Bush allegedly criticized Obama for putting the US in "retreat" around the globe. Bush also panned the current president's nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Both Bloomberg and The New York Times reported Bush said Obama pulled US troops out of Iraq too quickly in 2011, paving the way for the Islamic State jihadist group (also known as ISIS or ISIL) to take root there. Attendees recalled Bush quoting Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina): "Pulling out of Iraq was a strategic blunder."

But Earnest told reporters that it was Bush who actually set the stage for the Islamic State by invading Iraq in the first place in 2003. Earnest called this point a "historical fact."

"I do think that we've made the case aggressively before, and I think that's backed up by extensive evidence, that there are links between al Qaeda ... and ISIL. And the fact is al Qaeda was not in Iraq prior to President Bush's decision to commit significant American military resources on the ground in that country," he said.

Earnest also tweaked Bush by suggesting Obama was elected primarily as a result of the American public rebuking the Bush administration's foreign policy decisions.

"The fact that President Bush has a different perspective and a different philosophy when it comes to foreign policy, isn't just a well-known difference {between them}," he added. "In the minds of many people, it's the principle reason that President Obama is sitting in the Oval Office right now.

[notadmblnd]

1. it's good to finally see the Administration throwing the shit right back at bush and cheney

[olegramps]

68. It is a little to little far too late:

Although President Obama refused to charge the Bush administration for their lies in order to wage war, I could never grasp why an wasn't commissioned by Obama to wasn't launched to investigate, in depth, the entire run up to the Iraq War. Such a investigation would have been effective in totally exposing the depth of the deceit that Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld went to mislead the citizens. It could have been just as effective as trying them in court and forever silencing them as virtual traitors and exposing our national press in their conspiracy.

We have seen now how the rabid Republicans are using various committees to trump up false charges in their determination to discredit Democrats. It made no sense for Obama to totally allow them to get off not only without even a hint of their responsibility, but to even empower them to them to then attack his presidency. It leaves me wondering why?

[Scarsdale]

72. $$$$

Dumbya was paid $250,000 for this!! Looks like he will spend it all on booze. He looks older than his father. Drinking excessively for years and years takes a toll. I doubt that he will donate anything to Wounded Warriors.

[1StrongBlackMan]

2. Not to mention ...

I do think that we've made the case aggressively before, and I think that's backed up by extensive evidence, that there are links between al Qaeda ... and ISIL. And the fact is al Qaeda was not in Iraq prior to President Bush's decision to commit significant American military resources on the ground in that country," he said.

I read/heard (somewhere?) that ISIL's command structure and leadership is almost exclusively former Republican Guard (Saddam's army).

[Dont call me Shirley]

14. Right about that, 1SBM. And bush told the R Guard "you're fired and take your weapons with you",

setting up this whole mess.

[Chemisse]

16. Now there's some irony.

Imagine if Gore had been chosen by the Supreme Court. The world would be a different place right now. Who knows? He might have even prevented 9/11.

[pansypoo53219]

37. i figured out about 2002 that gore was never gonna win. the rite INSTALLED bush as a conservative

protection PLOT. they made it up to install the asshat. shame on sandra.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

41. ^

Yep, I remember that.


ugh.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

26. utOf course it is, Bush needs to keep his stupid mouth the fuck shut

[malaise]

28. There was very little news in the past two weeks about the last survivor of Sadam's cabinet

A senior intelligence guy who was killed - one of the big names in ISIS - most of the senior folks in the Islamic state group are victims of that illegal war and occupation. Thank George Bush - that fucking war criminal.

[kentuck]

3. Castor oil !

Ewwww...

[Jefferson23]

4. GOOD. I despise Bush and his entire rotten lot. n/t

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. As if to say that bush was at all credible on matters of foreign policy or anything else for that

matter. bush has achieved the status of world class imbecile.

[BrotherIvan]

6. I bet they kinda sorta wish they had thrown them to the international courts now

Ungrateful bastids!

[Jack Rabbit]

7. Instead of firing back at the Frat Boy verbally

. . . just indict the bastard for war crimes.

[hifiguy]

12. All of those evil fuckers , including Chimpy and DicKKK

should have been indicted, shipped to the Hague, tried, found guilty and hanged for war crimes years ago.

[Enthusiast]

52. It's not too late. At least they should have to answer for their crimes in the

court of public opinion and have to endure a full throated media condemnation. Of course that would require a media that was not complicit in their crimes. You know, like some whole nother country.

[hughee99]

62. Politically, it is for Obama.

He does nothing for 6 years and then decides to prosecute the previous administration for war crimes only after bush starts publicly criticizing him? He'll never do it now. That ship has sailed.

[Enthusiast]

63. Oh, I know that. I'm just wishful thinking.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[The CCC]

55. All of those evil fuckers , including Chimpy and DicKKK

The Hague doesn't have Capital Punishment. The US does, and does have international treaties against torture. It has all the authority to try, convict, and execute these rat bastards. Unfortunately we can't look back, gotta look forwards. became the mantra of Obama.

[project_bluebook]

8. Obama should have put bush and cheney in prison

that would have shut them up.

[Enthusiast]

53. But that would have been disrespectful of the office of the Pretzeldency.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[tanyev]

9. Does he not remember signing the agreement that set the deadline to leave as Dec. 31, 2011?

Or maybe he thinks that leaving them there until the 31st instead of pulling them out on Dec. 18 would have made all the difference in the world?

Effing dumbass.

[deutsey]

56. Not too mention that the Iraqis basically told the US to get out

The US suffered a major diplomatic and military rebuff on Friday when Iraq finally rejected its pleas to maintain bases in the country beyond this year.

Barack Obama announced at a White House press conference that all American troops will leave Iraq by the end of December, a decision forced by the final collapse of lengthy talks between the US and the Iraqi government on the issue.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/21/iraq-rejects-us-plea-bases

[Sheepshank]

10. Bush...silent as a lamb for so, so long. Almost allowing everyone to forget.

then finally starts blathering and reminds us what he was like.

[AtheistCrusader]

11. That's not very nice.

Takes him a while to re-read My Pet Goat.

[rhett o rick]

39. Will he ever figure out how his Poppy and Cheney manipulated him? I bet Laura knows.

Poor simple bastard.

[spanone]

13. cue the cheney of death.....3...2...1

[KrazyinKS]

15. Bush keeping his mouth shut for so long did him a lot of good-

He really did spend a lot of time hiding, because he knew he fucked up. I think he really did know. Remember the TV spot where his dad said he would have not have pushed into Baghdad because it would have created a quagmire during desert storm.

[Stuart G]

17. This statement really shows what Bush is, blames others, lies, accepts no responsibility.

Oh, and he killed hundreds of thousands of people.. I wonder how those families feel about him speaking out against Obama?

[George II]

19. Notice he hasn't made any trips outside the country?

How many ex-president and ex-vice presidents, for that matter, have not traveled overseas? None that I can recall.

They know they'd be swooped up and tried for war crimes.

[Volaris]

30. That was Cheney who said that, as a defense of NOT removing Saddam In '91. There's TAPE of this, btw

[George II]

18. I think they're taking all of these shots because they know......

.....that Obama has been INFINITELY more effective as President than the previous administration, and they're jealous that he's been cleaning up all of their messes.

Afghanistan war - ENDED
Iraqi War - ENDED
Depression - ENDED
High unemployment - ENDED
Low morale - ENDED
Affordable Health Care - PASSED

I could go on, but in slightly more than six years Obama, even WITH republican obstructionism, has accomplished so much more than the baby bush and Cheney ever did.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. The only thing Bush tried to end was Social Security.

[Beartracks]

46. Quite the contrary: They accomplished a LOT.

It was probably one of the most successful presidencies, given that all the damage and harm they did both nationally and globally seemed to be done on purpose. Destabilize the world and enrich the rich. So for the Bush cabal and the neocons, it was Mission Accomplished.

====================

[Gothmog]

20. George W. Bush complaining about this mid east is silly

Bush is the reason that ISIS exists

[George II]

21. Attendees recalled Bush quoting Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina):

"Pulling out of Iraq was a strategic blunder."

Did bush also tell those people that the reason Obama withdrew in 2011 because BUSH SIGNED AN AGREEMENT with Iraq to withdraw by 2011? Did he tell them that Obama wanted to extend the date but the government of Iraq refused?

These fuckers just want to blame everyone but themselves for screwing up the world for decades, if not forever.

[robbob]

40. And the media let's them get away with it...

Like no one in the media ever asks the follow-up question. Like they've all developed amnesia regarding any wrongdoing on the part of the previous administration.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

22. "it's the principle reason that President Obama is sitting in the Oval Office right now."

Last edited Tue Apr 28, 2015, 11:48 AM - Edit history (1)

And the principle reason George W. Bush should be sitting in a jail cell right now.

[Enthusiast]

50. +1 an entire shit load.

[Sunlei]

24. should have stopped /w 'save kuait' shrubs and u woulda been the hero of the middle east

[kairos12]

25. Shrub cratered American foreign policy and the American economy. Worst President ever.

Or tied with Raygun.

[Enthusiast]

51. It would be bad enough but he never even received much media criticism for his path of destruction.

It should have been like after 1929 where the Republican Party took decades to gain even the slightest credibility.

[quadrature]

27. any comments about Libya? ...nt

[jaxind]

29. The MFers!

The nerve, the gall, the chutzpah!! I just hope by Bush saying all that maybe that will open up a huge dialogue about how much dear Bushie did to mess everything up and create what we're dealing with today!

[Cha]

31. bush gets out of bathtub to try and change his genocidal foreign policy legacy.. he has a lot of gd

nerve. Only stupid people would buy that.

mahalo babylonsister

[BlancheSplanchnik]

42. that, right there!

good one, Cha!

[Cha]

47. Mahalo Blanche!

[mrdmk]

32. You mean this George Bush

<snip>
The 2003 Mission Accomplished speech gets its name from a banner that read "Mission Accomplished" displayed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during a televised address by United States President George W. Bush on May 1, 2003 and the controversy that followed.

Bush stated at the time that this was the end to major combat operations in Iraq. Bush's assertion—and the sign itself—became controversial after guerrilla warfare in Iraq increased during the Iraqi insurgency. The vast majority of casualties, both military and civilian, occurred after the speech.[2]
<end of snip>

<snip>
In November 2008, Bush indicated that he regretted the use of the banner, stating in a CNN interview, "To some, it said, well, 'Bush thinks the war in Iraq is over,' when I didn't think that. It conveyed the wrong message."[16]

In January 2009, Bush said that "Clearly, putting 'Mission Accomplished' on an aircraft carrier was a mistake".[17]
<end of snip>

link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Accomplished_speech


P.S. My apologies in advance for having to put a face with the statement. I could just feel the loathing prior to my act...

[LiberalLovinLug]

73. Of course he didn't REALLY regret using that banner

Because it worked. It helped get him re-selected. Nothing works better for the conservative base than to be told, in emphatic terms, that they done did good. That they were right all along, in this case that it would be easy, and quick and we'd "win". USA USA USA!

And inconvienent things like "truth" and "facts" just get in the way of the party. Debbie Downers. So when the majority of Americans are finally realizing that invading Iraq was an awful mistake...they do what all cowardly bullies do...point their fingers at someone else.."they did it!"

And it would be so laughable and pathetic if it were not for their dim-witted base that really really really wants to be right all the time. Actually they HAVE to be right all the time or their world crumbles... and so they'll swallow this rewriting of history and the next election will be "too close to call" once again.

[mrdmk]

74. Bush strutted around like the top rooster at the time

His saying, 'Mission Accomplished' was just for the gullible thinking everything went as planned and the problem (as they saw it) was remedied.

Of course it was total bullshit to put it bluntly. Bush is neither a leader for the common good more or less a problem solver.

[dpatbrown]

33. Gutter audacity

No one, from the Bush admin. (or their supporters) have any right to judge Obama's foreign
policy in the Middle East. Zero. The gutter audacity of them thinking they do, is just plain B.S.
They are responsible for everything happening throughout the area, EVERYTHING. It makes me sick every time I hear those war criminals (Chency) lying.

[Historic NY]

34. I like the new Obama....(b)ucket list....

[MyNameGoesHere]

35. Too late now

When Obama finished his first swearing in he should have turned to his Secret Service and said, "Arrest those two now".

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

36. Ouch!!!!

That's going to leave a mark.

[nakocal]

38. Republicans live in a different reality

Republicans do not live in the real world when it comes to the Middle East and foreign policy that President Obama and the rest of the world inhabit. Republicans have been wrong on foreign policy since the late 1930s when they backed Hitler. Yet since they have always owned a substantial portion of the media (and since Reagan) have taken control of 90% of the media, the myth that they know what is going on still exists.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

43. ^^^^^^^^ this^^^^^^^^ n/t

[Enthusiast]

49. Fuck....

Last edited Tue Apr 28, 2015, 05:45 AM - Edit history (1)

On MSNBC, the supposedly liberal channel, the hosts routinely cite the words of idiotic conservative loudmouths to make their point. That's how fucking Republican the fucking media is.

[gratuitous]

44. The Republican solution, as always

Oh no! We've got a whole new problem on our hands from our unprovoked invasion of another country. Only one solution suggests itself to Republicans: Another invasion and more war, of cuss. The results will be different this time. Really. For sure! Why don't we just see, smart guy, and don't give me that "definition of insanity" junk.

[Egnever]

45. Aww crap

Shrub was here and I didn't know it. I would have brought a shoe or something to throw at him had I known.

[Enthusiast]

48. Bout time.

[47of74]

54. Here would be the real way to fire back

Here's the real way the White House could fire back: Round up all the criminals who set the Middle East on fire from the previous administration and put them on a flight to The Hague.

[red dog 1]

78. + 1

Rendition the bastards!

[47of74]

79. Tell them they're going on an all expenses paid trip to Israel.

[Jesus Malverde]

57. Really did they open a whoop ass investigation on the iraq war and 911?

theater

[Triana]

58. Blaming Obama for ISIS is bullshit. Here's why...

Here is what the leader of ISIS said about its current existence: "If there was no US prison in Iraq, there would be no ISIS. The prison was a factory. It made us”

. . . Abu Ahmed recalled. They had also been terrified of Bucca, but quickly realised that far from their worst fears, the US-run prison provided an extraordinary opportunity. “We could never have all got together like this in Baghdad, or anywhere else,” he told me. “It would have been impossibly dangerous. Here, we were not only safe, but we were only a few hundred metres away from the entire al-Qaida leadership.”

It was at Camp Bucca that Abu Ahmed first met Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the emir of Isis who is now frequently described as the world’s most dangerous terrorist leader. From the beginning, Abu Ahmed said, others in the camp seemed to defer to him. “Even then, he was Abu Bakr. But none of us knew he would ever end up as leader.”

. . .

According to Hisham al-Hashimi, the Baghdad-based analyst, the Iraqi government estimates that 17 of the 25 most important Islamic State leaders running the war in Iraq and Syria spent time in US prisons between 2004 and 2011. Some were transferred from American custody to Iraqi prisons, where a series of jailbreaks in the last several years allowed many senior leaders to escape and rejoin the insurgent ranks.

Abu Ghraib was the scene of the biggest – and most damaging – breakout in 2013, with up to 500 inmates, many of them senior jihadists handed over by the departing US military, fleeing in July of that year after the prison was stormed by Islamic State forces, who launched a simultaneous, and equally successful, raid on nearby Taji prison.

Iraq’s government closed Abu Ghraib in April 2014 and it now stands empty, 15 miles from Baghdad’s western outskirts, near the frontline between Isis and Iraq’s security forces, who seem perennially under-prepared as they stare into the heat haze shimmering over the highway that leads towards the badlands of Falluja and Ramadi.

Parts of both cities have become a no-go zone for Iraq’s beleaguered troops, who have been battered and humiliated by Isis, a group of marauders unparalleled in Mesopotamia since the time of the Mongols. When I visited the abandoned prison late this summer, a group of disinterested Iraqi forces sat at a checkpoint on the main road to Baghdad, eating watermelon as the distant rumble of shellfire sounded in the distance. The imposing walls of Abu Ghraib were behind them, and their jihadist enemies were staked out further down the road.

The revelation of abuses at Abu Ghraib had a radicalising effect on many Iraqis, who saw the purported civility of American occupation as little improvement on the tyranny of Saddam.

THE REST:

http://www.theguardi...ory?CMP=twt_gu



_ _ _ _ _

And in regards to ISIS, there is another piece of relevant information that the media and those who support the Bush regime like to ignore (they inexplicably blame Obama instead, for the fact that ISIS exists - but the fact is Obama has little to do with it):

How the Top Iraqi Terrorist Was Helped by a Bush-Signed Agreement

With the crisis in Iraq intensifying, conservative media outlets have searched for a fall guy and found one: President Barack Obama. In recent days, conservative websites have peddled the claim that it was Obama who freed the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Al Qaeda-inspired Islamic militant group currently overrunning cities in northern Iraq and threatening Baghdad. Referring to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who heads ISIS, the Daily Mail asserts, "Obama SET FREE the merciless terrorist warlord now leading the ISIS horde blazing a trail of destruction through Iraq." Right-wing author David Horowitz's FrontPage Magazine claims Baghdadi, who was once held by US forces in Iraq, was released "on Obama's watch." And RedState.com says Baghdadi was let go under the Obama administration's "policy of releasing terrorists." But they have it wrong: It was an agreement signed by President George W. Bush in 2008 that led to Baghdadi's release in 2009.

In 2005, US military forces captured Baghdadi. (There are not many public details about his capture or his role then in the ongoing insurgency.) He was held in a US-run detention camp in southern Iraq called Camp Bucca, where he remained for several years.

In 2008, while reducing the numbers of US troops in the country, Bush signed an agreement with the Iraqi government that mandated that all detainees be handed over to Iraqi forces. In accordance with this agreement, Baghdadi was transferred to Iraqi custody in 2009, and by 2010, the Iraqi government (for a reason not explained publicly) had set him free. That same year, Baghdadi assumed leadership of ISIS. He has since been dubbed "the new bin Laden."

It's not as if Bush could have prevented Baghdadi's release by maintaining control over detainees—in part because his administration had so screwed up on this front. (See Abu Ghraib.) At the time, "the United States' detainee programs had become a black eye," says Patrick Johnston, an expert on Iraqi insurgent groups at the RAND Corporation. US-run detention facilities were overcrowded; some prisoners were tortured. Continuing a large US-controlled detainee program "was a political nonstarter," he adds.

THE REST:

http://www.motherjon...ase-george-bush



From a previous post of mine: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025960968

[Gothmog]

59. W should have stayed in his hole

W has no grounds for attacking President Obama

[Botany]

60. The White House, "It was Bush who actually set the stage for the Islamic State by invading Iraq."

[allan01]

61. my first k and r for any article here :)

i blame the shrub. cheney. dick army . rove and the koch cult and i epically blame the supreme court for stealing the election from the true winner . if gore was in this shit wouldn't have happened . i agree with one of the posters , bring him up on war crimes charges . on edit : i also blame saudi arabia as well.

[Botany]

65. Don't forget that w wouldn't have been in the White House w/out bother Jeb's help

allan01

[wordpix]

64. "a strategic blunder" say those of the BigOil WeaponsDealer ilk

The O "blunder" hurt the neocon profit machine a bit.

[MoonRiver]

66. Hell yeah!

Demented, war monger, dimson has ZERO credibility when it come to foreign affairs. If there were any real justice in this country, he would be in prison right now.

[hanon]

67. I thought Bush would remain silent for the rest of his life

though it was a closed meeting

[calimary]

77. Welcome to DU, hanon!

Glad you're here! I wish he'd just STFU. Why do we need to hear ANYTHING from that bastard? Except what he might say for himself at a war crimes tribunal.

He's one of those people about whom I'd say - "if I want any shit outta you, I'll squeeze your head."

[BeatleBoot]

69. Bush and Maliki signed the U.S. - Iraq Status of Forces Agreement which

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.%E2%80%93Iraq_Status_of_Forces_Agreement

which stipulated the U.S. exit from Iraq by December 31, 2011.

[lame54]

70. Plus - we left on Bush's time-line

[SunSeeker]

75. Blamimg Obama for ISIL is like blaming the fireman for the fire.

Bush was the fucking arsonist. Bush should be in jail.

[HassleCat]

76. Low Profile

This gives us a clue as to how timid GW Bush is about appearing in public and making such statements. He only makes such remarks when he thinks he's safely tucked away in a crowd of sympathetic listeners. Of course, he should know from the Earl Butz incident that no remark stays a secret. Ask Mitt Romney about the 47 percent. Bush knows most people regard him as responsible for a complete disaster in Iraq, and we know he manufactured evidence to be a "wartime president," which was his big dream.

[red dog 1]

80. K&R...Thanks for posting, babylonsister

"it's the 'principle' reason that President Obama is sitting in the Oval Office right now."??

Should read:"it's the 'principal' reason that President Obama is sitting in the Oval Office right now"

I can't believe that Reuters used the wrong word;
(It may have been Yahoo's error)