15 lies Bush told in the first debate

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

1. "10 million people had registered to vote in Afhganistan."

Human Rights said that figure was inaccurate because of the multiple registrations of many voters.

2. "Direct talks with N. Korea would end joint diplomacy efforts"

Each of the four countries in the talks has held direct talks with North Korea, including the Bush administration.

3. "Libya was disarmed and Pakistan nuclear smuggling ring has been brought to justice."

Many experts credit diplomacy started in the Clinton administration for persuading Libya to cooperate. Khan was pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf, and not a single person involved in his network has been prosecuted anywhere.

4. "Spending on curbing nuclear proliferation increased by 35%."

In his first budget, he proposed a 13 percent cut and much of the increases since then have been added by Congress.

5. "Saddam had no intention of disarming."

There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to "disarm".

6. "You forgot Poland!"

Except for a few commandos, Polish troops were not part of the original ground invasion.

7. "Mished Messages!"

Kerry supported a different version of the bill with the $67 billion for the troops but without the administration's $20 billion request for reconstruction.

8. "We're spending reconstruction money in Iraq. That's progress."

Out of the total of $18 billion, as of Sept. 24, only $1.2 billion in reconstruction money had actually been spent so far.

9. "100,000 troops and other Iraqi security personnel have been trained."

Many trainees have received nothing more than a three-week course in police procedures, only 8,000 received a full eight-week course of training.

10. "Kerry says he'll withdraw the troops in 6 months."

Kerry actually said was that he believed he could "significantly reduce" US troop levels in Iraq within six months of taking office.

11. "75% of al Qaeda leaders have been brought to justice."

International Institute for Strategic Studies reported the occupation of Iraq has helped al Qaeda recruit more members--18,000 potential operatives in more than 60 countries.

12. "Bush put troops in Iraq because the enemy attacked us."

No evidence indicates Iraq cooperated with al-Qaida in developing or carrying out any attacks against the United States.

13. "We'll plan carefully for a war in Iraq."

The Bush administration ignored a huge State Department "Future of Iraq" project, ignored intelligence warnings that the country could descend into chaos and failed to include enough troops to secure the country's borders, nuclear plants and ammunition dumps; and the only government building in Baghdad that was guarded by American troops after the city fell was the oil ministry.

14. Kerry keeps changing his positions on Iraq.

Kerry never backed away from his vote authorizing the war and he's always said that Bush should have sought more international help.

15. The enemy (Saddam) attacked us.

Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us.

http://www.bushwatch.net/#inside\

[RunByDesign]

I've said it before and i'll say it again...the ChimpenFurher is nothing more than a patholical liar and a mass murderer.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

I've said it before and i'll say it again...the ChimpenFurher is nothing more than a patholical liar and a mass murderer.

LOL

You've got that right, man.

BTW, another lie the boy king told last night was that Kerry "looked at the same intelligence I did."

Total BS.

Kerry wasn't a member of the intelligence committee--he was looking at the same intel reports the WH was feeding the media. And no one ever gets intel that's as good as the intel the president receives.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

It would be interesting to see ANY comments from Bush supporters on these points.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

It would be interesting to see ANY comments from Bush supporters on these points.

Yep.

For me, this is another smoking gun:


The Chimp doesn't give a fig about genuine threats like nuclear (sorry, NOOK-yu-lar) terrorism. As opposed to straw-man scapegoats like Saddam who are inconveniently parked on top of oil reserves.

Musharraf pardons the thug who was shipping nuke parts and know-how to dirty regimes around the world and Chimp just shrugs. Anyone genuinely striving to prevent the nightmare of nuclear terrorism would have DEMANDED his head.

Of course, anyone seriously concerned about nuclear proliferation wouldn't have outed a CIA covert operator working on such a task to score cheap political points.

It's almost like they want to lose, so it will give them more excuse to grab more power. The nonchalant reaction of Bush and Rumsfeld, among others, on the morning of 9/11 remains inexplicable.

[Exile_In_SJ]

check out the 16 lies told by Kerry thread.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

check out the 16 lies told by Kerry thread.

Why bother?

You can get the same disinfo and right-wing spin Exile from Sound Judgment posts by tuning in to Rush Limbaugh or Faux News.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

America clearly sees at last that the Emperor is naked

http://www.moderateindependent.com/v2i19chumpcheck.htm

How bad was it for Bush?

So bad that FOX News' website didn't even run any poll. So bad that all Matt Drudge could try and boast about on his website was that some Democrat called it a draw. So bad that even Bush's people could only try to say, Yeah, he lost, but so what.

Other media outlets have been telling you this election would be close and that the debates might be even as well.

We hate to say it (not that much) but we told them so.

Bush got shellacked so badly it was astounding. He was like a wounded animal desperate for a place to hide but not able to find one.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Bush debate claim reality check

The Claim:

The difficulties facing the U.S. in Iraq are a product of foreign terrorists showing up to fight the America there.

Reality Check:

The U.S. military on the ground says that the overwhelming majority of the insurgents fighting the U.S. in Iraq are Iraqis, not foreigners.

The Claim:

Saddam Hussein "had no intention of disarming and was systematically deceiving inspectors."

Reality Check:

The fact that no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, and the U.S. inspection team has concluded that no such stockpiles existed when the war began, suggests that Saddam Hussein had, in fact, disarmed.

The Claim:

"The A.Q. Khan network has been brought to justice." (Khan is the Pakistani nuclear scientist who shipped nuclear weapons technology to North Korea, Iran, Libya and possibly other states.)

Reality Check:

Observers generally concur that there's no way Khan could have acted without the authorization and support of Pakistan's military leadership, yet the U.S. accepted an outcome in which Khan received a slap on the wrist and wasn't even made available for questioning by U.S. officials, nor was any obvious attempt made to hold his superiors accountable — perhaps because of Pakistan's crucial role in hunting al-Qaeda.

The Claim:

President Bush says he tried diplomacy in Iraq, and went to war only when it failed.

Reality Check:

Numerous accounts from within the U.S. and allied governments suggest the Bush Administration had decided to invade Iraq even before it went to the UN in the fall of 2002, and had gone back to the international body only under pressure from moderates in its own ranks and from Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair. The termination of the UN inspection process had nothing to do with its progress; it was based primarily on the window of opportunity for an invasion presented by the seasonal calendar.

The Claim:

Saddam Hussein would have grown stronger had the invasion not occurred.

Reality Check:

The decrepit state of the Iraqi military, its negligible pursuit of prohibited weapons, and the widespread internal rot of the regime that emerged after it collapsed showed that, in fact, containment had succeeded in weakening Saddam Hussein — although an enormous cost to Iraq's civilian population.

The Claim:

Bilateral talks with North Korea would be a fatal mistake that would precipitate the collapse of the six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Reality Check:

Some of the key parties to those talks, including China, Russia and South Korea, are in favor of the U.S. talking directly to North Korea in order to provide Pyongyang with security guarantees that would improve the prospects for success in the six-party process.

The Claim:

Osama bin Laden is isolated, and 75 percent of his people have been brought to justice.

Reality Check:

Bin Laden may have physically sequestered himself, but he remains politically considerably more popular than President Bush in most of the Arab world. And despite considerable success by U.S. intelligence and allies in Europe, the Middle East and Pakistan in rounding up Qaeda operatives, allied intelligence services concur that al-Qaeda's ranks have swelled a lot faster than they've been denuded, particularly since the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The Claim:

A free Iraq will help secure Israel.

Reality Check:

The bulk of Iraq's Arab majority, both Sunni and Shiite, hold the same hostile view of Israel as their brethren throughout the Arab world. While elements of one particular faction of the formerly exiled opposition (Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress) have suggested that ties with Israel could be established, there's no evidence to support the claim that an Iraqi government reflective of the popular will would be any warmer toward Israel than any of its neighbors.

The Claim:

We have 100,000 Iraqi troops trained now.

Reality Check:

There are around 100,000 people currently recruited to various Iraqi security forces, although the number who've been fully trained is closer to 20,000. And the number on whom U.S. commanders believe they can currently rely in frontline combat situations against the insurgencies is thought to currently number no more than 5,000.

The Claim:

We have 30 nations in our coalition; our coalition is strong.

Reality Check:

There isn't a single Arab country in the coalition, in contrast to the wide Arab participation in the Gulf War. And the U.S. and Britain between them provided more than 90 percent of the troops. Moreover, eight of the countries that initially joined the U.S. have since pulled out their soldiers, and more are expected to follow. Efforts to persuade Muslim countries to send troops have foundered.

Copyright © 2004 Time Inc.

http://www.time.com/time/election2004/article/0,18471,703924,00.html

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Bush house of cards teetering...

As a result of the American military," President Bush declared last week, "the Taliban is no longer in existence."

It's unclear whether Mr. Bush misspoke, or whether he really is that clueless. But his claim was in keeping with his re-election strategy, demonstrated once again in last night's debate: a president who has done immense damage to America's position in the world hopes to brazen it out by claiming that failure is success.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/01/opinion/01krugman.html

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Do I hear twenty?

Misleader-In-Chief

Bush Made 20 Misleading Statements In Last Night’s Debate

#1) BUSH:

“Of course, we're after Saddam Hussein — I mean, bin Laden. He's isolated. Seventy-five percent of his people have been brought to justice.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: 19 of The Top 22 al Qaeda Operatives Remain at Large. “Efforts to ensnare the original list of Al Qaeda's most-wanted men are also going slowly. Of 22 top terrorists listed by America in October 2001, only three have been captured or killed…” [Economist, 8/14/04]

FACT: Bush Claims To Have Wiped Out 3/4 Of Al Qaeda, Yet The Organization Is Resurging And Morphing. Despite Bush’s claims over the past several months that “much of Al Qaeda’s leadership has been killed or captured,” new evidence from Al Qaeda double-agent Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan’s computer, seized in Pakistan, shows that a “new generation of operatives…[appears] to be filling the vacuum created when leaders were killed or captured.” According to intelligence analysts, “Al Qaeda’s upper ranks are being filled by lower-ranking members and more recent recruits.” Al Qaeda is “more resilient than was previously understood and has sought to find replacements for operational commanders like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Walid Muhammad Salih bin Attash, known as Khallad, all of whom have been captured.” Although several major leaders have been captured, “the new operatives appear as committed to striking the U.S.” [Bush Remarks, 9/14/04; New York Times, 8/10/04; Wall Street Journal, 8/16/04]

#2) BUSH:

“We're spending reconstruction money.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Only $1.1. Billion of Reconstruction Funding Has Been Spent: According to U.S. officials, only $1.1 billion of the $18 billion reconstruction package authorized by Congress has been spent - and half of that was for security costs. [Washington Post, 9/15/04; Associated Press, 8/30/04; U.S. News & World Report, 9/20/04]

#3) BUSH:

“Had the honor of visiting with Prime Minister Allawi. He's a strong, courageous leader. He believes in the freedom of the Iraqi people. He doesn't want U.S. Leadership, however, to send mixed signals, to not stand with the Iraqi people. He believes, like I believe, that the Iraqis are ready to fight for their own freedom. They just need the help to be trained…. we've got 100,000 trained now.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Interim Prime Minister Allawi Proves Bush Is Exaggerating Number of Trained Iraqi Forces. Allawi: “The training of Iraqi security forces is moving forward briskly and effectively. The Iraqi government now commands almost 50,000 armed and combat-ready Iraqis.” [Allawi, Address to Joint Session of Congress, 9/23/04]

#4) BUSH:

“We'll give you all the equipment you need, and we'll get you home as soon as the mission's done, because this is a vital mission.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Soldiers Lacked Armored Vehicles, Still Buying Their Own Equipment as Late as This Year. In late March 2004, the AP reported, “Soldiers headed for Iraq are still buying their own body armor - and in many cases, their families are buying it for them - despite assurances from the military that the gear will be in hand before they're in harm's way. The Portland Press Herald wrote that “In early March, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, questioned Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee about the shortage of body armor and fortified Humvees for troops serving in Iraq. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said after a visit to Iraq in mid-June that U.S. forces still need better armored equipment. Of the 15,000 Humvees in Iraq, about 1,500 to 2,000 are armored, according to the Army.” [Associated Press, 3/26/04; Portland Press Herald, 7/2/04]

#5) BUSH:

“Japan will have a summit for the donors, $14 billion pledged. And Prime Minister Koizumi is going to call countries to account to get them to contribute.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Bush Relying on Japanese Diplomacy and Credibility to Get Money Already Pledged Last Year in Madrid: “In addition, a conference of Iraqi donors is set for October in Tokyo, with administration officials hoping for more success than it had at one in Madrid a year ago. While $13 billion was pledged at the time, only about $1 billion materialized, in part because of reluctance to transfer money when security in Iraq is so poor.” [New York Times, 9/25/04]

#6) BUSH:

“We convinced Libya to disarm.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Libya's Decision To Disarm Preceded The Bush Administration And War In Iraq. According to Tony Blair, Libya first approached the US and Britain regarding its weapons question as the Iraq war approached. Blair said, “Libya came to us in March [2003] following successful negotiations on Lockerbie to see if it could resolve its weapons of mass destruction issue in a similarly cooperative manner.” The son of Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi dismissed any link in his father's decision to the war in Iraq or the capture of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Saif Al-Islam Gadhafi told CNN that “the capture of Saddam or the invasion of Iraq is irrelevant” to Libya's announcement. Joseph Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment believes that Libya's decision “goes back over 10 years of international pressure on the Qaddafi regime…[the] whole move precedes the Bush administration and precedes the war in Iraq.” [Washington Times, 12/20/03; CNN.com, 12/20/03]

#7) BUSH:

“NATO is helping now [in Iraq].” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Today there are only 40 NATO trainers in Iraq. [AP, 9/22/04]

#8) BUSH:

“If America shows uncertainty or weakness in this decade the world will drift toward tragedy.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Bush and Rumsfeld Send Mixed Messages In Winning the War on Terror.

Bush says we can’t win the war on terror: When asked ‘Can we win?’ the war on terror, Bush said, “I don’t think you can win it.” [New York Times, 8/31/04]

Rumsfeld doubts the U.S. has a long term plan to win the War on Terror. “With respect to global terrorism, the record since September 11th seems to be … We are having mixed results with Al Qaida… Today, we lack metrics to know if we are winning or losing the global war on terror. Are we capturing, killing or deterring and dissuading more terrorists every day than the madrassas and the radical clerics are recruiting, training and deploying against us?.” [Internal DoD Memo, “Global War on Terrorism,” Rumsfeld, 10/16/03; Reprinted in USA Today, 10/22/03]

#9) BUSH:

“My opponent looked at the same intelligence I looked at and declared in 2002 that Saddam Hussein was a grave threat.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: White House Manipulated Public Iraq Threat Assessment to Mislead Nation Into War. “The 90-page, classified [National Intelligence Estimate] was deemed insufficient for a Congress deliberating on war or peace. Legislators needed to refer to a public document [called a White Paper], one that the American people themselves could read in order to decide whether Saddam posed an imminent threat…Unfortunately, the White Paper not only condensed but also distorted and manipulated the intelligence in the NIE to paint an even worse threat…Cautious evaluations were converted into assertions of fact, and conclusions were revised, not merely abridged, in order to make the strongest possible case for war.” [Vanity Fair, 5/2004, p. 281]

#10) BUSH:

“We have 1,000 extra border patrol on the southern border, more than 1,000 on the northern border.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Bush Wrong on Border Patrol Officers. Based on Customs and Border Protection (DHS) staff briefing on August 16, 2004 on the FY2005 budget request and memos from DHS on September 4, 2004, Border Patrol increased from FY 2001 at 9,821 agents to 10,839 as of September 2004. There are 989 agents on the northern border and 9,850 on the Southern border. In reality, Border Patrol has lost 15 positions - not gained 2000 as Bush asserted. Border Patrol officers have been moved from the Southern Border to the Northern Border under the Patriot Act. [House Select Committee on Homeland Security Ameica at Risk 2/04; Office of Congressional Affairs US Customs and Border Protection; DHS 9/4/04]

#11) BUSH:

“We'll be implementing a missile defense system relatively quickly, and that is another way to help deal with the threats that we face in the 21st century. My opponent is opposed to missile defenses.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: John Kerry Supports Deploying a Missile Defense System That Works. But President Bush is relying on an unproven system that cannot protect the nation from the most imminent dangers we face. The GAO found in April 2004, “as a result of testing shortfalls and the limited time available to test the BMDS being fielded, system effectiveness will be largely unproven when the initial capability goes on alert at the end of September 2004.” In fact, the system has only been tested eight times, most recently in December 2002 - a failed test. Since President Bush announced his intent to deploy in 2004, all subsequent tests have been delayed or cancelled-most recently until November 2004, after the elections. The Pentagon's own Chief Weapons inspector, Thomas Christie, says said he “will not be able to provide a confident assessment of the system's viability ahead of the planned deployment” due to an absence of realistic flight testing. Christie estimates that the system can only hit its target about 20% of the time. [GAO, “Missile Defense: Actions Needed to Enhance Testing and Accountability,” 4/04, pg. 4.; Aviation Week & Space Technology , 9/20/04; The Washington Post, 9/14/04]

#12) BUSH:

“We've allocated $7 billion over the next months for reconstruction efforts. And we're making progress there.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Iraqis Won’t See Reconstruction Money For At Least A Year. “Despite President Bush's promise to spend $9 billion on reconstruction contracts in Iraq in coming months, administration and congressional officials said on Thursday it could take more than a year to pay out that much money.” [Reuters, 9/30/04]

#13) BUSH:
On funding for First Responders: “We are doing our duty to provide the funding.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Bush Has Cut Funding For First Responders. Bush Cuts Funding for State and Local Homeland Security Grants by $800 Million and training funding in half. Bush cut funding to the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Domestic Preparedness, which supplies a variety of first-responder grants to state and local governments, by $800 million, to $3.6 billion in 2005 from $4.4 billion in 2004. Bush cut state and local grant funding for first responder training, exercise, and technical assistance by nearly half, from $320 million in 2004 to $178 million in 2005. [Department of Homeland Security, 2005 Budget in Brief, www.dhs.gov; www.omb.gov]

FACT: Bush Cut Resources for Firefighters. George Bush cut grants for equipment and personnel to local fire departments by $246 million in his 2005 budget. According to the International Association of Firefighters, “The FIRE Act grant program has received $5 billion worth of requests,” and “has awarded grants totaling just 10% of that need.” Kevin O'Connor of the International Association of Firefighters said, “This [2005] budget is profoundly disappointing to first responders … It's a continuation of the president's lack of commitment to first responders in general and firefighters in particular.” [www.dhs.gov; www.iaff.org; UPI, 2/2/04; www.cfr.org]

Bush Consistently Cut COPS Program. Bush proposed cuts in the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program in 2002, 2003, and 2004. Bush’s 2005 budget cuts the program by 87 percent. And, according to a secret OMB memo, Bush and Ashcroft plan to cut the COPS program by $43 million in 2006 and freeze funding at that level through 2009. [House Budget Committee Democratic Caucus, 2/6/04]

#14) BUSH:

“There will be elections in January.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Bush Administration Sending Mixed Messages On Iraqi Elections.

Rumsfeld Said Elections Will Be Denied To Some Iraqis. Rumsfeld: “If there were to be an area where the extremists focused during the election period, and an election was not possible in that area at that time, so be it. You have the rest of the election and you go on. Life’s not perfect,” Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee. [AP, 9/23/04]

Powell: “It doesn't mean that everybody got to vote on that particular day. What's our turnout on any particular day for a variety of reasons? So, we don't need a 100-percent turnout of every single citizen.” [Fox News Sunday, 9/26/04]

#15) BUSH:

“My administration worked with the Congress to create the Department of Homeland Security so we could better coordinate our borders and ports.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: White House Opposed Creation of Department of Homeland Security. In October 2001, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush opposed creating Office of Homeland Security position for Ridge. “[T]he president has suggested to members of Congress that they do not need to make this a statutory post, that he [Ridge] does not need Cabinet rank, for example, there does not need to be a Cabinet-level Office of Homeland Security because there is such overlap among the various agencies, because every agency of the government has security concerns,” Fleischer said. [White House Press Briefing, 10/24/01]

#16) BUSH:

“And by the way, we've also changed the culture of the FBI to have counterterrorism as its number one priority. We're communicating better.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Many Al Qaeda Recordings Not Being Transcribed. “Audio recordings that relate to Al Qaeda investigations are supposed to be reviewed within 12 hours of interception under F.B.I. policy. But the report found that deadline was missed in 36 percent of nearly 900 cases that the inspector general reviewed. In 50 Al Qaeda cases, it took at least a month for the F.B.I. to translate material. The F.B.I. ‘has not prioritized its workload nationwide to ensure a zero backlog in the F.B.I.'s highest priority cases - counterterrorism cases and, in particular, Al Qaeda cases,’ the report found.” [NYT, 9/28/04]

#17) BUSH:

“Well, actually, he forgot Poland.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Actually, Polish Troops Were Not Part Of The Initial Invasion Of Iraq. "Except for a few commandos, Polish troops were not part of the original ground invasion." [Washington Post, 10/1/04]

FACT: President Of Poland Says He Was Misled About WMD In Iraq. Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski told a group of European reporters “But naturally I also feel uncomfortable due to the fact that we were misled with the information on weapons of mass destruction.” [CBS News.com, 3/18/04]

#18) BUSH:

“And the Taliban, no longer in power; 10 million people have registered to vote in Afghanistan in the upcoming presidential election.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Bush Exaggerates the Number of Registered Voters. “Human Rights Watch this week said that figure was inaccurate because of the multiple registrations of many voters. In a lengthy report, the respected organization also documented how human rights abuses are fueling a pervasive atmosphere of repression and fear in many parts of the country, with voters in those areas having little faith in the secrecy of the balloting and often facing threats and bribes from militia factions.” [Wash Post, 10/1/04]

#19) BUSH:

“The minute we have bilateral talks the six-party talks will unwind.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Six Party Talks Have Stalled Under Bush’s Policies. The Bush administration has acknowledged that the six party talks “will not resume this month despite North Korean commitments to do so.” [Associated Press, 9/28/04]

#20) BUSH:

“Actually, we've increased funding for dealing with nuclear proliferation about 35 percent since I've been the President.” [Bush, First Presidential Debate, 9/30/04]

FACT: Spending To Secure Soviet Stockpiles Down Under Bush. Funding needs to secure stockpiles in the Former Soviet Union were clear at the outset of the Bush Administration, yet in real terms Bush has requested less money on average than the Clinton Administration did in its last year in office - despite a campaign pledge in 2000 to fund Nunn-Lugar. [Bunn and Weir, Securing the Bomb, Arms Control Today, 3/2004]

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

BUSH vs. REALITY

BUSH: Mixed messages are bad for our troops, efforts in war on terror.

REALITY

Mixed Messages on Winning the War on Terror

"Can't Win The War On Terror" Asked "Can we win [the war on terror]?" Bush said, "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the - those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world." [NBC, "The Today Show," 8/30/04]

Mixed Messages on Osama Bin Laden

QUESTION: Do you want bin Laden dead?

BUSH: I want justice. And there's an old poster out west, that I recall, that said, "Wanted, Dead or Alive." [Bush Remarks, 9/17/01, emphasis added]

BUSH: "And [Osama Bin Laden is] just – he's a person who has now been marginalized. His network is — his host government has been destroyed. He's the ultimate parasite who found weakness, exploited it, and met his match…So I don't know where he is. Nor — you know, I just don't spend that much time on him really, to be honest with you. I…I truly am not that concerned about him." [Bush Remarks, 3/13/02]

Mixed Messages on Protecting the Homeland

Bush Thought Homeland Security Cabinet Position Was "Just Not Necessary" And Blocked Its Creation. In October 2001, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush opposed creating Office of Homeland Security position for Ridge. "[T]he president has suggested to members of Congress that they do not need to make this a statutory post, that he [Ridge] does not need Cabinet rank, for example, there does not need to be a Cabinet-level Office of Homeland Security is because there is such overlap among the various agencies, because every agency of the government has security concerns," Fleischer said. [White House Press Briefing, 10/24/01]

BUSH vs. REALITY

Bush Rhetoric: he "Hopes" His Policy in North Korea Works

While Bush Failed to Have a Plan, Kerry Will Make it A Priority To End Nuclear Weapons Programs In North Korea, Kerry will make it a priority to end nuclear weapons programs in states like North Korea and Iran. As President, Kerry will continue the six party negotiations, but will also be prepared to talk directly with North Korea. John Kerry would adopt a comprehensive approach based on the hard realities that confront us. While Kerry would maintain all options, including military ones, he would be willing to negotiate on a range of issues of concern to both parties, including North Korea’s concerns for its security and economic development. [NYT, 9/12/04], [Washington Post, 7/9/04] [Washington Post, 8/6/04]

North Korean Nuclear Capability Has Quadrupled Under Bush’s Watch While He Sat By and Failed to Do Anything. The Bush administration's erratic handling of the North Korean nuclear crisis has served only to create confusion and put North Korea's despotic leader, Kim Jong Il, in the driver's seat. Bush initially said he would "not tolerate nuclear weapons in North Korea," yet since he took office, North Korea’s nuclear capability has "quadrupled," with U.S. intelligence services estimating that Pyongyang now has fuel for up to eight nuclear weapons. According to Bush Administration officials, "The United States has determined that North Korea is working on new ballistic missile systems designed to deliver nuclear warheads and that it is testing the technology by proxy in Iran." [ABC, "This Week, 9/12/04; Christian Science Monitor, 9/15/04; Associated Press, 8/5/04; NYT, 9/12/04]

Former Bush Special Envoy to North Korea Said Bush Lacked An Effective Strategy To Deal With North Korea. "Charles Pritchard, formerly Secretary of State Colin Powell's top official dealing with North Korea, has warned for months that "the White House lacks an effective strategy to dissuade North Korea from building up its nuclear arms." Under Bush's watch, "North Korea's nuclear arsenal, which was once thought to number one or two weapons, appears to be growing substantially." According to Pritchard, the situation has deteriorated because "the administration has neither offered much of a carrot nor wielded a stick." The administration has refused to engage North Korea in direct negotiations or "put the North Koreans on notice that further developments will trigger economic sanctions or perhaps even military actions." [United Press International, 9/21/04]

BUSH vs. REALITY

BUSH
Said Iraq wasn't a diversion from the War on Terror

REALITY:

BUSH DIVERTED FROM WAR ON TERROR
The rush to war in Iraq took the pressure off of Bin Laden and al Qaeda. In 2002, troops from the 5th Special Forces Group who specialize in the Middle East were pulled out of the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to prepare for their next assignment: Iraq. The CIA, meanwhile, was stretched badly in its capacity to collect, translate and analyze information coming from Afghanistan. US Intelligence officials said that as much as half of the intelligence and special forces assets in Afghanistan and Pakistan were diverted to support the war in Iraq. [USA Today, 3/29/04; KnightRidder, 9/5/03]

AND BECAUSE HE DIDN'T PLAN
Secret Joint Chiefs Report: Pentagon Planners Were Not Given Enough Time. In August 2003, the Joint Chiefs of Staff prepared a secret report assessing the post-war planning for Iraq. The report blamed "setbacks in Iraq on a flawed and rushed war-planning process." It also said "planners were not given enough time" to plan for reconstruction. [Washington Times, 9/3/03, emphasis added]

WE ARE NOW BOGGED DOWN IN IRAQ
Security in Iraq Has Continually Deteriorated. On average, U.S. forces are now being attacked well over 60 times per day. This is a 20% increase from the three months before the transfer of sovereignty. Each month since June has seen a higher death toll for American soldiers: 42 were killed in June, 54 were killed in July, 66 were killed in August, and already, more than 77 have been killed in September. In the initial invasion of Iraq, 138 American soldiers were killed; since the handover, over 239 have been killed. [Los Angeles Times, 8/31/04; Reuters, 9/3/04; Brookings Institution, "Iraq Index," 9/29/04]

[watermock]

9 Posts out of 12.

I think he's convinced himself.

[watermock]

North Korean Nuclear Capability Has Quadrupled Under Bush’s Watch While He Sat By and Failed to Do Anything. The Bush administration's erratic handling of the North Korean nuclear crisis has served only to create confusion and put North Korea's despotic leader, Kim Jong Il, in the driver's seat. Bush initially said he would "not tolerate nuclear weapons in North Korea," yet since he took office, North Korea’s nuclear capability has "quadrupled," with U.S. intelligence services estimating that Pyongyang now has fuel for up to eight nuclear weapons. According to Bush Administration officials, "The United States has determined that North Korea is working on new ballistic missile systems designed to deliver nuclear warheads and that it is testing the technology by proxy in Iran." [ABC, "This Week, 9/12/04; Christian Science Monitor, 9/15/04; Associated Press, 8/5/04; NYT, 9/12/04]

This is so classic. Obviously your not going to bring up the Clinton understanding. The fact of the matter is that N. Korea is Chinas attack dog, and has been for over 50 years.

If you might have a brain you would remember the Clinton "agreement" where we were to send oil and food in their guarantee not to build nuclear weapons. By the time Bush even took office, N. Korea was allready telling us to **** off and shipping scuds to Iraq.

What do you want to do? Bomb China's surrogate biatch?

North Korea IS China. They just don't want to admit it. You want Bush to declare war on 1.3 billion Chinese under communist control?

There isn't anything to do! Want us to threaten Wal-Mart?

We can cut off their imports. Clinton is the one who sold China the supercomputers that gave them MIRV technology to deliver ICBM's in small packages with orbital velocity and accuracy.

This was done for a campaign contribution. You should be hit with an aluminum baseball bat your such an idiot.

[watermock]

Where do you think Scud missles come from you dimwit?

[broncogary]

[b]Human Rights said that figure was inaccurate because of the multiple registrations of many voters.

http://www.bushwatch.net/#inside\

There must be a lot of Democrats in Afghanistan! Nnyah!

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

That was as weak as, well, Bush's debate performance. :D

[errand]

LABF...did you get that e-mail from Terry McAuliffe? USA Today said he sent one to all registered Dems whose e-mail addresses the DNC had on record

You know, the one where he stated that in '00 Gore won the debates, but Bush won the spin afterwards? He then basically ordered Dems to vote on the on-line, .com polls, send letters to their newspaper editors claiming Kerry won the debate, and to call all the talk shows they can, again claiming Kerry won.

Seems like they followed his marching orders like the goosesteppers they are.....Kerry won virtually every .com immediate poll, the newspaper editorials are flooded with "Kerry's non-specific arguments were better" letters from Nigel and Evette, and talk shows are bombarded with libs gleefully claiming victory......the one problem they have, is that the network's other polls showed more people leaning towards Bush before (50-46)...and after the debate (51-47)

So Kerry won the debate, and yet he still trails Bush by at least 4 points.......how does that happen, LABF?

[errand]

WE ARE NOW BOGGED DOWN IN IRAQ
Security in Iraq Has Continually Deteriorated. On average, U.S. forces are now being attacked well over 60 times per day. This is a 20% increase from the three months before the transfer of sovereignty. Each month since June has seen a higher death toll for American soldiers: 42 were killed in June, 54 were killed in July, 66 were killed in August, and already, more than 77 have been killed in September. In the initial invasion of Iraq, 138 American soldiers were killed; since the handover, over 239 have been killed. [Los Angeles Times, 8/31/04; Reuters, 9/3/04; Brookings Institution, "Iraq Index," 9/29/04]


...and yet, John Kerry claims he can get other nations like France and Germany to send their troops into this alleged quagmire of death and destruction, so we can pull ours out?

[errand]

That was as weak as, well, Bush's debate performance. :D

.....guess he didn't pass that global test Kerry spoke about, huh?

[baja]

Global test sure was a poor choice of words.

[errand]

Global test sure was a poor choice of words.

...and that's why despite allegedly winning this debate, Kerry will not be the person sitting in White House come Jan 20th, 2005

This man will sell our sovereignty to the UN...plain and simple, he supports the world court, and he numerously has stated that he'd have continued to use the UN to deal with Iraq....oddly enough though he wouldn't use them in dealing with what he labeled the real threat in north Korea. He'd go it alone there.

[baja]

I watched the debate and that was not what he was saying and only when you take it out of context can it be made to appear so. As an example the Gulf War conducted by George I was understood as necessary by most of the free world while George II's war was conducted on the threat of eminent danger to the US. Trouble is that danger was not there. Had it been proved real the 50% of Americans that are calling for George's political head would be cheering his decisive action during a time of clear and present danger as would all the dissenting countries. Things could be very different today had we exhausted all avenues prior to attack which is Kerry's point.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Tom Friedman wakes up: "Bush a failure in Iraq--period"

Gee Tom, did you finally get down to the detox center and get all the Kool Aid out of your system? Fine--we all want noble and great things for Iraqis, as we do for everyone, but you're just realizing that Bush might have another agenda? What's your salary?

About time...

"Sorry, I've been away writing a book. I'm back, so let's get right down to business: We're in trouble in Iraq.

I don't know what is salvageable there anymore. I hope it is something decent and I am certain we have to try our best to bring about elections and rebuild the Iraqi Army to give every chance for decency to emerge there. But here is the cold, hard truth: This war has been hugely mismanaged by this administration, in the face of clear advice to the contrary at every stage, and as a result the range of decent outcomes in Iraq has been narrowed and the tools we have to bring even those about are more limited than ever.

Being away has not changed my belief one iota in the importance of producing a decent outcome in Iraq, to help move the Arab-Muslim world off its steady slide toward increased authoritarianism, unemployment, overpopulation, suicidal terrorism and religious obscurantism. But my time off has clarified for me, even more, that this Bush team can't get us there, and may have so messed things up that no one can. Why? Because each time the Bush team had to choose between doing the right thing in the war on terrorism or siding with its political base and ideology, it chose its base and ideology."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/opinion/03friedman.html

Some kids sure are slow on the uptake...

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Lying us to war: How the White House embraced disputed arms intelligence

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/international/middleeast/03tube.html

In 2002, at a crucial juncture on the path to war, senior members of the Bush administration gave a series of speeches and interviews in which they asserted that Saddam Hussein was rebuilding his nuclear weapons program. Speaking to a group of Wyoming Republicans in September, Vice President Dick Cheney said the United States now had "irrefutable evidence" - thousands of tubes made of high-strength aluminum, tubes that the Bush administration said were destined for clandestine Iraqi uranium centrifuges, before some were seized at the behest of the United States.

Those tubes became a critical exhibit in the administration's brief against Iraq. As the only physical evidence the United States could brandish of Mr. Hussein's revived nuclear ambitions, they gave credibility to the apocalyptic imagery invoked by President Bush and his advisers. The tubes were "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs," Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, explained on CNN on Sept. 8, 2002. "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."

But almost a year before, Ms. Rice's staff had been told that the government's foremost nuclear experts seriously doubted that the tubes were for nuclear weapons, according to four officials at the Central Intelligence Agency and two senior administration officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity. The experts, at the Energy Department, believed the tubes were likely intended for small artillery rockets.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

http://www.bartcop.com/sub-smirk.jpg

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

US government site shows that NK made most of its plutonium during Reagan/Bush 41 era




Lacking its own supplies of traditional energy resources like oil or coal, North Korea turned to nuclear power generation and by the mid-1980s, had at least four nuclear power complexes in operation. However, North Korea's reactors, built with the assistance of China and the Soviet Union, were disclosed to be "graphite-moderated" reactors, a type capable of producing weapons grade plutonium.

This fact spurred the interest of U.S. intelligence forces who determined that North Korea's largest nuclear facility at Yongbyon, along with three smaller facilities, were indeed producing plutonium. By 1985 U.S. defense experts estimated that the newly discovered North Korean nuclear program had already generated enough plutonium for two nuclear weapons and was poised to rapidly expand production. In addition, intelligence showed the N. Koreans to be quickly developing their ballistic missile weapons delivery systems.From 1985 to 1992, N. Korea "bought time" for its nuclear weapons program by entering into a series of international diplomatic agreements under which it promised to "deweaponize" its reactors and halt further production of plutonium.

By 1994, however, N. Korea had violated the terms of most of the non-proliferation agreements and simply withdrawn from the rest. By refusing in 1993 to disclose to international arms control agencies how much plutonium it had produced, N. Korea virtually admitted that its nuclear weapons program had continued unchecked.

When in June of 1994 the Unites States, S. Korea and several allied nations succeeded in getting the U.N. Security Council to evoke sanctions against them, the N. Koreans declared the sanctions an "act of war" and threatened to turn South Korea into "a sea of fire."

Clinton Negotiates the 'Agreed Framework'
Believing a diplomatic solution still possible, former President Clinton forged an agreement with N. Korean President Kim Il-sung that the North would temporarily halt its nuclear weapons program and return to non-proliferation negotiations in Geneva. The now-violated agreement, signed on Oct. 21, 1994 became known as the "Agreed Framework."

Key components of the 1994 Agreed Framework included:

* The U.S. and N. Korea would cooperate in fully replacing N. Korea's graphite-moderated reactors with light-water reactors (not capable of plutonium production) by 2003. Graphite-moderated reactors were to be shut down until converted.

* To offset energy lost due to the powering down of N. Korea's graphite-moderated reactors, the United States agreed to supply N. Korea with up to 500,000 tons of heavy oil for heating and electricity production annually, until all reactors had been converted.

* N. Korea agreed to return to compliance with all international nuclear non-proliferation agreements and to eventually stabilize, store and dispose of all spent nuclear fuel already produced.

* Both the U.S. and N. Korea would work to achieve full normalization of political and economic relations.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aankorea.htm

(in fact all the plutonium for the 8 nukes that NK is believed to have came from the stockpiles that resulted from those reactors.)

If you remember (of course you do) in 2002 NK was discovered to have procured some new technology from Pakistan on creating small amounts of plutonium in secret, but after 5 years it hadn't been able to make enough for even one nuke that way.

All the new nukes were created after they threw out the UN Nuclear inspectors in frustration with the Bush administration which refused to negotiate with the respresentatives of the country and created from the plutonium rods created much earlier.

There is a lot of propaganda in this piece too, calling Clinton responsible for the North Korean nukes. Now every rightwing pundit is taking up that big lie and people don't even remember that the news covered this step by step over the last couple years as NK threw out the inspectors, broke the locks and started collecting plutonium for arms from fuel created during the Reagan Bush years.

In the usual Bush administration way, their own facts don't stack up against their assertions.