AP: "Bush uses 9/11 to argue for Iraq war "

[leftchick]

I missed this last night thank gawd....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060912/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

WASHINGTON - President Bush is invoking the memory of the Sept. 11 victims killed five years ago to argue for a continued military campaign in Iraq before a skeptical American public, drawing protests from Democrats who say he has politicized a national day of mourning.

In a prime-time speech broadcast on Monday's anniversary of the terror attacks, the president described a brutal enemy still determined to kill Americans, perhaps with weapons of mass destruction if they get the chance.

"If we do not defeat these enemies now, we will leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons," Bush said. "We are in a war that will set the course for this new century and determine the destiny of millions across the world."

<snip>

"The president should be ashamed of using a national day of mourning to commandeer the airwaves to give a speech that was designed not to unite the country and commemorate the fallen but to seek support for a war in Iraq that he has admitted had nothing to do with 9/11," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., said in a statement. "There will be time to debate this president's policies in Iraq. September 11th is not that time."

[shadowknows69]

1. I was openly yelling at my TV for 20 minutes

I don't know why I subject myself to such stress. I laughed when he repeated the mantra of "if we leave Iraq, they'll follow us here", yeah ok Georgie, they'll just load up their navy and roll right into port with us. :eyes:

[magellan]

2. I didn't see it either and will not read more than you've excerpted

It was always too much to hope that he'd surprise everyone and give a speech like he actually belonged in the WH...because he doesn't.

[NMDemDist2]

3. I see Riverbend's link in your sigline

and she hasn't posted in over a month

I hope she and her family are ok

[magellan]

4. Me too. I checked again earlier tonight and no change.

It has a lot of folks very worried. I also checked Raed's blog (Raed in the Middle) as I believe they correspond, but no mention of her. The very best to hope for is that she and her family finally decided to get the hell out of Dodge.

Be well, River, wherever you are!

[malaise]

5. Sadly

Kennedy is correct, but he and other Dems should be reminding everyone that Bush has put the US in an invidious and embarrassing situation by violating International law. This is not merely about lying to the American people.

There is no alternative but to Impeach Bush and his goons. You do not go to war over a 'Clash of Civilization' because you want to loot the resources of a region of the world. That is fugging colonialism/imperialism.

[Dogmudgeon]

6. The pallid speechifying of a cruel little man.

I expected it to be a load of self-serving politicking, and it was. It was also a sloppy speech, even by the "soft bigotry of low expectations" I've come to have developed. In other words -- it was even a bad speech by Bush's usual standards of mediocrity and ignorance.

You'd think that 9/11 of any year would be used to honor the dead, but a whole bunch of Bush's statements began with "I". He went light on the accusations of Democratic treason, but there was so much self-congratulation that I'm surprised that none of the pundits have yet picked up on it. (Well, it's still only seven in the morning on the East coast.)

If he had simply repeated "Happy 9-11, Saddam's our real enemy, I'm a great War Prez'nit, Vote Republican," he could have presented the speech as a station break and said the same thing.

--p!

[B Calm]

7. It's sickening how Bush and the neo-cons are politicizing 9-11! A day

of mourning!

[Lerkfish]

8. why not? its been their golden ticket to absolute power, tramping on the

corpses of americans in their rush to fascism.

I truly hope there is a hell, and I hope I get to witness them being put there.

[AndyA]

9. What America saw in Bush's speech last night

On the 5th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, America saw a desperate man attempting once again to sell his war in Iraq by using terror. We have substantial, documented, unquestionable evidence that shows Saddam Hussein had NOTHING to do with the terrorist attacks on 9/11. He wasn't harboring them, aiding them, or anything else. He didn't have WMDs. In fact, he was barely in control of his country. Large sections of it were not under his rule at all.

Saddam Hussein was a mean, pathetic, evil man, but not a threat to the U.S.

But we've spent billions of dollars fighting the war on terror in Iraq. Removing an evil dictator, yes, but one that was keeping his country more or less under control.

The American people did not want to hear another advertisement for the war in Iraq last night. They wanted to hear about what has been done since 9/11 to ensure such a thing can never happen again. What we got was a preview from Keith Olberman of a hole in the ground. No memorial, no building. A hole. And we all know that real steps to provide protection have not been forthcoming. Everything done to this point is cosmetic, with little real value.

We have our belongings searched before they are put on planes, we are almost strip searched before being allowed onboard, but below in the cargo hold is uninspected cargo from who knows where, with who knows what in it. We are not safer. And it's only a matter of time. Our borders are not safe. Neither are our nuclear facilities, power plants, or critical infrastructure. We are not safer today.

And that's also what we have in the soul of America: a hole. An empty spot from 6 years of ineffective, uncaring, inadequate leadership. We've been lied to, spied on, had our rights and liberties taken away from us, and been treated with discrimination so the rich people can keep more of their money.

We need new leadership, and to get it we must start with a Democratic controlled Congress in November. Followed by investigations into the Bush Administration and their activities since they took office. This will likely be followed by impeachment.

Then America can start to rebuild.

[sofa king]

10. What I saw of last night's speech.

Last night I went to a bar just a couple of blocks away from the U.S. Capitol to watch the Washington-Minnesota game. There were lots of people there, including a nearby table of obvious congressional staffers who were rooting for Minnesota. One of them had an elephant pin on his jacket.

During a commercial break at some point during the game, I looked behind me at a bank of televisions and there, in a lonely corner, was the President, live on Fox News.

"Look at that asshole," I said in perhaps a too-loud voice. "He's rattling off the same 'septemberleventheyerak' bullshit, only not a single person in this bar is watching him." As I said it, the closed captioning on the screen really was saying "9/11... blah blah... Iraq...."

"His entire core audience has been watching football instead of him," said a friend of mine. "ABC probably lost viewers for life after they turned on Monday Night Football and instead got stuck with that fantasy docudrama."

"The well is dry," said a third.

Then the game came back to life and I turned back to the plasma screen. The poor Minnesota staffers must have heard us though, because they were still staring forlornly at that single tiny TV, while the captioning kept saying "terror, 9/11, terror, Iraq." Preaching to the choir.

(Still, they left the bar happy after Washington missed a field goal to tie.)

[npincus]

11. a conservative friend (registered Independent) was PISSED off

I can't stand watching Shit-face, myself. The only thing I want to watch is * and Darth spontaneously combust. Then I will get the marshmallows.