Bloomberg on the Iraq war: some disturbing hints

[Truth2Tell]

Buried in a June 23 New York Times piece on Mike Bloomberg receiving a charity award was some interesting reporting on where the mayor stands on the war. Nothing like a nice ground zero photo shoot with Pickles to highlight the patriotic bona fides.

A Mayor Often Ill at Ease, and Usually Muted on Iraq
By Jim Dwyer
June 23, 2007

…In May 2004, a year after the invasion, Mr. Bloomberg served as host to Laura Bush, who had come to New York in an effort to rally support for the war effort. Mrs. Bush visited a memorial for Sept. 11th victims. Standing next to Mrs. Bush, with the Statue of Liberty in the background, Mr. Bloomberg, right, suggested that New Yorkers could find justification for the war at the World Trade Center site, even though no Iraqi is known to have had a hand in the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Don’t forget that the war started not very many blocks from here," he said that day in 2004.

- snip-

… In his speech, Mr. Bloomberg remarked on the sacrifice of soldiers and what he implied was the ingratitude of people opposed to the war.

"We shouldn’t forget that we have young men and women overseas fighting and dying, sadly, so that we can protest," he said. "I sometimes think young protesters don’t realize that their right to protest is not something that they would have elsewhere, and it’s a right that has to be fought for continuously."

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/06/23/nyregion/23about.html?_r=2&oref=regi&ocid=81&incamp=ts:chall_article_trial&headline=A+Mayor+Often+Ill+at+Ease,+and+Usually+Muted+on+Iraq&oref=slogin

The article also quotes Bloomberg aides as saying the mayor has been deliberately silent on the war to date because to say anything (read: to take a position) “would be a form of grandstanding for which he has no taste.”

Or maybe it would alienate some potential voters?

[TwilightGardener]

1. If he runs with Hagel, then he wants the occupation to end.

[Truth2Tell]

4. Maybe he does

but only because it's been "poorly executed."

He's anti-Iraq war in the same way James Baker is anti-Iraq war. They like wars, they just want to win them.

[TwilightGardener]

5. He once mused that the Iraqi insurgent groups were sort of

like our Revolutionary War "insurgents", in terms of resenting and trying to get rid of the occupiers. He caught some flack for that, but I appreciated the honesty, because I see it the same way. My guess is his views on Iraq have "evolved", same as Edwards, Biden and Hillary.

[Cassandra]

2. Given Bloomberg's distaste for the right of assembly...

This:
"I sometimes think young protesters don’t realize that their right to protest is not something that they would have elsewhere, and it’s a right that has to be fought for continuously."

is pretty ridiculous.

[fascisthunter]

3. He's Invested in the War Machine Too

all the elite are. Our troops will not be leaving Iraq. And WE will pay for it all, not the elite.

[jasmine621]

6. Bloomberg is just a neocon-PNACer

He is set to play spoiler to HC and BO.

[Truth2Tell]

7. Bingo. nt

[Cha]

8. Sorry, that' s just bullshit propoganda

coming from bloomberg back in '04 and he wouldn't even give us a permit to March on Feb15, 2003~ Everytime I think I can handle bloomberg something like this comes up.

[Pathwalker]

9. He's just a Nader wannabe.