yeah... it's the Posted on 09/18/2005 2:48:44 PM PDT by wallcrawlr
Former US president Bill Clinton sharply criticised George W. Bush for the Iraq War and the handling of Hurricane Katrina, and voiced alarm at the swelling US budget deficit.
Breaking with tradition under which US presidents mute criticisms of their successors, Clinton said the Bush administration had decided to invade Iraq "virtually alone and before UN inspections were completed, with no real urgency, no evidence that there were weapons of mass destruction."
The Iraq war diverted US attention from the war on terrorism "and undermined the support that we might have had," Bush said in an interview with an ABC's "This Week" programme.
Clinton said there had been a "heroic but so far unsuccessful" effort to put together an constitution that would be universally supported in Iraq.
The US strategy of trying to develop the Iraqi military and police so that they can cope without US support "I think is the best strategy. The problem is we may not have, in the short run, enough troops to do that," said Clinton.
On Hurricane Katrina, Clinton faulted the authorities' failure to evacuate New Orleans ahead of the storm's strike on August 29.
People with cars were able to heed the evacuation order, but many of those who were poor, disabled or elderly were left behind.
"If we really wanted to do it right, we would have had lots of buses lined up to take them out," Clinton.
He agreed that some responsibility for this lay with the local and state authorities, but pointed the finger, without naming him, at the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
FEMA boss Michael Brown quit in response to criticism of his handling of the Katrina disaster. He was viewed as a political appointee with no experience of disaster management or dealing with government officials.
"When James Lee Witt ran FEMA, because he had been both a local official and a federal official, he was always there early, and we always thought about that," Clinton said, referring to FEMA's head during his 1993-2001 presidency.
"But both of us came out of environments with a disproportionate number of poor people."
On the US budget, Clinton warned that the federal deficit may be coming untenable, driven by foreign wars, the post-hurricane recovery programme and tax cuts that benefitted just the richest one percent of the US population, himself included.
"What Americans need to understand is that ... every single day of the year, our government goes into the market and borrows money from other countries to finance Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, and our tax cuts," he said.
"We have never done this before. Never in the history of our republic have we ever financed a conflict, military conflict, by borrowing money from somewhere else."
Clinton added: "We depend on Japan, China, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Korea primarily to basically loan us money every day of the year to cover my tax cut and these conflicts and Katrina. I don't think it makes any sense."
yeah... it's the BUMP
Bush is not a conservative. In the last ten years, that I can see, Zell Miller is more conservative than any pub now sitting.
My tagline says it all......
FMCDH(BITS)
Beautiful! Couldn't of said it better myself! Thank-You.
I too find Bush unimpressive. I voted for him twice, the first time eagerly the second time because I was scared of the alternative. He has cut taxes and possibly his court appointments will be good. However, his spending is out of control (big government) and it appears he thinks that our borders have nothing to do with our national security. He also did a horrible job at handling the aftermath of Katrina. I know most of the problems were due to the ineptitude of the local governments but a good leader when have known what was going on (just watch cable news) and could have applied the appropriate pressure to those officials. The press unfairly attacked Reagan but Bush leaves himself open as target unnecessarily. He is also a poor public speaker and is doing a horrible job of rallying the nation behind the troops that are fighting the war. I’m surprised at the number of people who support him on this site.
Can we all say PANDERING?
Has ANYONE in MSM ever asked the bent weenied one -- what the hell he accomplished in 8 years of PEACE and BOOMING economy?
NOTHING --
He got a blow job, ignored REPEATED attack against us, and we got screwed...
Semper Fi
There are enough people attacking him. FR doesn't need to add to it.
Billy Jeff Clinton and his minions in the media were bad-mouthing President Bush after 9-11 if you recall...."If this happened on my watch, I would've done *this*". Blowhard had his 8-years of continued failures to show us his legacy (Don't ask don't tell, WTC'93, Waco, Ruby Ridge, OkC, Stained Dress, Vince Foster, Ron Brown, appeasement of Jihadis, nuke secrets for campaign cash, NEED I GO ON?).
Don't forget that he has to attack the President because of the utter failure of a woman democrat governor to lead in a major crisis. All the rats are trying to make people forget that it was a stupid dem woman who failed to do her job.
Roger that....
Clinton is your typical leftist bitcher.....
Always quick to point out problems, but incapable of rational solutions...
Their base doesn't want to take the steps to escape poverty or ignorance....
Semper Fi
"w" keeps laying down with these snakes!!!!!! if only "bubba' had eaten a few more big macs!!!!.....hope daddy bush reads that......waiting to see if any republicans respond........doubt it......
I think Jimmah Carter trampled on it first. Only ex-Republican Presidents honor the tradition.
Thanks for the excellent analysis of this situation. As usual, Bush and Rove are playing chess while the Dems, including the Hildebeast and her "spouse", are playing checkers. If Bush were to respond to the Impeached Rapist's criticism, the media would jump on him with both feet for being "mean-spirited".
The snake acts like a snake and we are suprised?
No , but I dont wear blinders either.
I wonder where the rest of the GOP is when Clinton rattles off assertions that are so easily disproved.
Patooey!
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