While debris from collapsing financial institutions continue to fall during the final days of the Bush Administration, the President has found something he considers a "success" — the Iraq war.
In an interview played on Japanese TV this week, a "very pleased" Bush said:
I think the decision to remove Saddam Hussein was right. . . . We are bringing troops home because of the success in Iraq. But Iraq is not yet completely safe. So there will be a US presence for a while there at the request of the Iraqi government. The United States is willing to continue to help. Most countries there within a very broad coalition have come home but we want to help this government.
Since the war began, more than 4,200 US soldiers have died, along with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. And don't forget the monetary cost. At the five-year anniversary, the cost of the Iraq war topped $600 billion — perhaps Bush forgot his original prediction that the war would cost only $60 billion. Despite the human and financial cost, do you think the Iraq war will ultimately be a success?
Dimensione Danza
Tula
mytheresa
Of course he thinks so. All the people he had planned to get rich(er) off of The War in Iraq did.
1
Of course he would. I just have to keep thinking, "Only a couple more months and I no
longer have to hear this man speak as President of the US."
2wow liberty your "reporting" on Bush's "success" was really "snarky" and i for one am sick of the 'bashing bush before he leaves' policy on citizensugar.
3but i guess you have to spew all the poison out before the incoming savior gets there, wouldnt want to be negative while he is office.
of course that demented idiot would think it was a success, i hope he thinks all these children that lost their mommies and daddies to this sick and frivolous war was a success, and I'm talking about Iraq that had nothing to do with Osama, what a sick f*ck
4I don't know if the Iraq war isn't over... and I don't know if it'll ever be a success. I'm afraid it's going to be another Vietnam on the 'win or loose' front. I do think Saddam Hussien was a threat... or rather had the potential to be a threat. But I do think he was a scape goat for not being able to find Bin Laden.
I'm still torn about the whole Iraq war thing...
5BushDOS: I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.
6I think it's hard to call something a "success" when it isn't exactly over.
7I gotta agree with CG on this one... "debris from fallen financial institutions" and Iraq in the same post? Really? It's difficult to want to even post here anymore. I get the feeling that people don't even care if their comments are constructive. Chatty Kathy: pull my string and I'll repeat the same thing over and over.
1. The financial meltdown was not SOLELY Bush's or the GOP's fault.
82. The surge is working. There are many positive things happening in Iraq, especially for women - which I think would get aleast a nod on THIS board. So success - yes.
3. Obama is planning on spending more than $600b and he isn't even in office yet.
No one's forcing anyone to post here, so...I don't see the problem.
9Maybe if there was a clarification on what he meant by success, it would be more understandable. But it's still going on, lives are still being lost, money's still being spent like water, and hell yes a lot of good things are happening with women in Iraq, thanks also in a large part to a lot of women-centric organizations who are doing so many great things. So I don't know, to me, still seems a bit premature to go ahead and call it a success. Maybe something that's still 'in progress', but eh.
10CG if Bush continues to destroy the environment with his last minute rules and say ridiculous things such as the war in Iraq is a success then we can talk about. You call it bashing I call discussing his utter stupidity!
11Better get it all in, you dont have many days left to demonize him. tick tock
12CG, I'm right there with you - I'm tired of all the Bush bashing. He is the current President of the US and deserves some respect. If anyone said anything like this about Obama, they'd probably have to duck for cover!
13dems talk about conservatives being angry, but look at those liberals go....
14I've never seen so many hateful people. I think you all need to take a deep look into what's in your hearts and find out why there is so much hate in there. I don't want to hear all the bad stuff about Bush, I've heard that plenty... but really why are you hateful people. Taking a stance is one thing but spouting off things such as utter stupidity, sick f*ck, demented idiot.
Self Reflection, it's a powerful thing.
This isn't about the environment librarian, get over it
15Hainan, I've seen you wish AIDS upon a child via a contact-sports related injury on the thread about the girl who was teased for being HIV-positive, so save your "LIBERALS ARE SO FULL OF HATE!" rhetoric for someone who cares.
16Self-Reflection--it's a powerful thing!
17The last time Bush declared success in Iraq, US soldiers began dropping like flies. With a C average in Yale, Bush's definition of success is very low, so this is not surprising. The liberation of Iraqi woman is owed in small part to the fall of Sadam and in large part to humanitarian efforts by private organizations, like Em said. And it easy for us to declare success when mortars aren't flying over our roofs and machine gun fire isn't keeping our children awake at night, and our biggest city isn't in pieces.
And some of you say that this financial crisis isn't all of Bush's or the GOP's responsibility, but the trillions of dollars that this war will cost sure as hell is. It is not helping out the financial crisis.
18LOL em wow!! anyway what planet is GB on cos i want to be on it with him. I guess our definitions of success are all different.my definition of a successful war is one where there is a winner, a loser, a ceasefire and a rebuilding of the lives of the people that are shattered, where they have access to education, running water, electricity, healthcare and aren't afraid to walk across a road for fear of a bombing or being kidnapped. But again success is relative.
19FYI - it was Liberty you used the s-word (success). Bush just stated that he was 'very pleased' with how things are currently working in Iraq.
I believe this post was intended to be deliberately baiting, and it has certainly succeeded. I've noticed that many of posts are using stronger language these days, and I am starting to think that the commenters are taking their cues from the Citizen and Liberty, rather than having reasonable discussions.
I continue to comment because as a member and poster, I would like to see this board revert back to it's old ways of evenhanded reporting.
20Yes - many of the successes are due to ngo's, but they would not have been their without our military presence.
There are also many, many peaceful areas of Iraq, but we tend not to hear about them. I believe that is why many of the posters are erroneously stating that the whole coutnry is in shambles.
21I don't know if there has ever been even handed reporting on here but at least back when there was a conservative posting as Citizen things felt a little more even handed. I don't know who is posting as Citizen now but as far as I can tell, the reporting these days is pretty one-sided. And unless I missed it, and I probably did, did anyone from sugar come out and tell the posters that Citizen is not Citizen anymore? Can anyone shed some light on that for me? Thanks.
22"And some of you say that this financial crisis isn't all of Bush's or the GOP's responsibility, but the trillions of dollars that this war will cost sure as hell is. It is not helping out the financial crisis."
There has been no great movement or plan in the Democratic Party to cut military spending. The Democrats have been in Congressional power for 2 years have have done nothing about it. Even Obama has scaled back on his campaign promises to pull troops out quickly. At the very least, Obama wants to move troops around, but that will not cut spending.
You may not agree with the reason why we invaded Iraq, but that has nothing to do with the current financial situation.
23piper-
Some posters have commented that the original Citizen left (or was removed) a short while before the election.
I'll agree that the Citizen posts now seem wuite different in nature.
That is all I know.
24Citizen was removed??? Oooh I smell a conspiracy theory in the air.
25Iraq overall has been a success. The surge is working, Al Qaeda has been decimated in Iraq. Saddam is dead. We are on the verge of getting out of there and leaving another moderate democracy in that region which is a big thing. I don't agree that nation building is a good thing, and we can reasonably argue that it was a mistake to go in, the outcome seems to be pretty promising.
The biggest failure of Iraq had nothing to do with Bush. The biggest failure of the Iraq war is the failure of the American people to have a backbone in a hard fight. The going got tough and the left and center-left caved. The Bush administration's backbone and willingness to see that struggle through without quitting has made alot of Americans look foolish.
26Moderate democracies don't work when there is always a danger of them getting killed, eventually someone will get them and then it's back to square one. That stuff works in places where there isn't tribal conflict, religious conflict and other factors.
27I heard it through the grapevine too but I was wondering if anyone from sugar ever bothered to inform the posters about it. Because this was suppose to be a moderate site, at least that was what it was billed a while back ago. Liberty was liberal and Citizen was conservative. So unless the people at sugar want this to be a liberal love site, they need to step up and let the posters know what is going on.
28people use those words, because there are lot of people that are angry to have to explain to their children that mommy or daddy wont be coming home because they were in a war, and yes you go in knowing there might be that possibility and i am fine with losing a loved one in a war that involved Afghanistan but not Iraq so he deserves to called every name in the book, btw i have no loved ones or lost anyone in any of the wars, but i have heard stories from friends that have lost someone
29Is it a success now? How can anyone be 'very pleased' with a war and its progress? Its a horrible horrible thing focused upon innocent civilians.
30Until we are on the other side of that war we will never fully understand i guess. I would love to speak to Iraqi citizens and hear where they stand and how they feel about this war.
31I would not be opposed to spending in Afghanistan to ensure as much as possible that terrorists do not flourish. But I feel that our going into Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism and therefore was a collosal waste of money and resources that could have been used elsewhere.
32I don't go for conspiracies here or elsewhere. If there are more liberal posts, or Bush bashing which I think can be bi-partisan, its because it gets hits. With the downturn in the GOP and ultra conservatism lately I would think that conservative posts just aren't pulling in the hits.
What about the post about Jindal? Conservatives on this site weren't jumping on that one to comment IMO.
33I don't go for conspracies either. As a loyal poster of Citzen I think its a little disrespectful to the all of the posters that sugar has not disclosed that Citizen is not Citizen anymore. That's just my opinion. No conspiracy. If Citizen and Liberty are both libs, I'd like to know that. Not because I think its a conspiracy but because we were led to believe that Citizen was conservative and if that's not the case, then I want to know. That's all. No conspiracy.
34Agreed piper.
I just to add that I haven't seen one conservative poster (and I could be wrong because I can't read every post) allege that there is some sort of conspiracy to kill conservative discussion on this board.
35"But I feel that our going into Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism and therefore was a collosal waste of money and resources that could have been used elsewhere."
I disagree. The fact that Hussein was a horrible dictator (a la Hilter) and no longer blesse the world with his presence is more than enough reason for me.
Did we go in for different reasons: yes. Does that negate the fact that we unseated a meglomaniac from power: no.
3655 more days, cmon what else do you have.
Killer of mommy and daddy
environment killer
eats puppies.
bring it.
37Feelin' sassy, CG?
38>FYI - it was Liberty you used the s-word (success). Bush just stated that he was 'very pleased' with how things are currently working in Iraq.
I hate to even stick a toe in where it got ugly so quickly, but just fyi, Bush did use the word "success":
"People have been able to take their troops out of Iraq because Iraq is becoming successful. I'm very pleased with what is taking place there now," he said, adding there still is "a lot of work" to be done.
"We are bringing troops home because of the success in Iraq. But Iraq is not yet completely safe."
39Eats puppies with barbecue sauce no less. The animal.
40(That's not in this post, but from the linked article.)
41TS - good catch. Thanks.
42(As long as they aren't hypo-allergenic puppies or mutts, we should be fine.)
43Then you would be ok with going into North Korea and taking out Kim Jong Il? He is an 'a la Hitler' dictator is he not?
44diadem - Yes, I would be.
45"He is the current President of the US and deserves some respect."
He hasn't earned my respect. And seeing how we supposedly live in a democracy it is our right to criticize our president.
"Did we go in for different reasons: yes. Does that negate the fact that we unseated a meglomaniac from power: no."
What it really our place to go in and unseat him? I don't think so. Certainly not under the guise of false WMD's. Some might say Bush is a megalomaniac. Lying to the country and world to drum up support for taking down Sadam. Completely ignoring what was in everyone's best interest to serve his own desires.
46Suppose to be was it not what it.
47Diadem also Zimbabwe and Burma after all they are on the last 5 outposts of tyranny lists and they are beign run by brutal dictators who are even worse than Saddam.
48To arrive at success is great and I hope we do. However, destination is not the issue it was the journey that was a disaster. We all know where we want to end up and again I hope we are successful.
49Damn, conservatives can dish it out, but they sure can't take it.
50You guys still blame Clinton for stuff, then get upset when anyone points out that your sitting president can and should be held responsible for $h*t that happened during his presidency.
Try being realistic and look what this presidency has done to your own party before you start attacking us (and a couple weeks ago, most of you said you didn't regret voting for Bush and would do it again - so please don't pull out that lame "he's not a real republican" crap - you went along with him all the way to September.)
Meanwhile, I will hold him responsible for an illegal war, torture, shredding the Constitution, deadly lack of leadership during Katrina and serious lack of leadership that led to the country's worst economic crisis since the depression
Bush sucked.
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