Former US president Bill Clinton, pictured 17 September 2005, sharply criticised George W. Bush for the Iraq War and the handling of Hurricane Katrina, and voiced alarm at the swelling US budget deficit.(AFP/File/Hector Mata)
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."
I think you have "cut to the chase". Very informative post, as usual. ;0)
Pragmatist is behind the times....most leftists are now comvinced that Bush who they thought was a stupid dunce is really an evil genius
As to Clinton
I think is getting ready for Able Danger
Where's the QUISLING ALERT!?
"Finance tax cuts"...Clinton...your are and always will be a POS!
Relax.
Do some research and you will find that this will blow up in Clinton's face when more of the following comes out. Bush has not intention of helping Hellary:
This is how bad of a job James Lee Wittless was doing.
(Remember, when dems point the finger...its usually because they know they are to blame and it will come back on them. So they try and dodge by pulling the crap Clinton did)
From the AP-
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/17/D8CM64J80.html
Money Earmarked for Evacuation Redirected
"Asked why the congressional mandate was never fulfilled, Barry Scanlon, senior vice president in the consulting firm of former FEMA Director James Lee Witt, said he believes the agency did what it needed when it gave the money to the state.
"FEMA received an earmark which it processed through to the state as instructed by Congress," Scanlon said. Witt is now a private consultant to Gov. Kathleen Blanco, D-La., on the Katrina aftermath"
Former US president Bill Clinton, pictured 17 September 2005, sharply criticised George W. Bush for the Iraq War and the handling of Hurricane Katrina, and voiced alarm at the swelling US budget deficit.(AFP/File/Hector Mata)
I believe you are saying you don't agree with George Bush's comments concerning the Minuteman Project. Why not? Most likely because your beliefs are based on facts and you are being honest. George Bush most likely lacked wisdom when he made his comment. I don't know this with complete certainty. Therefore, when I said "a good and wise man" it was to make it clear that I didn't know his motives for making that comment because I can’t read his mind. By the way, I think he showed lack of wisdom in his handling of the Hurricane Katrina events although he did receive criticism he did not deserve.
"Obviously, Clinton is stiring the pot for his wifes future political ambitions. After all the nice treatment from Bush41 and Bush43, Clinton shows he is a classless a-hole."===============================
Did anyone expect anything less? Evertime Bush extends the hand of friendship to the Clintons - he draws back a stub.
The bastard. He did that. He cut the Army. I was in his Army. That rat bastard....
A little reality for Clinton....here is how bad a job James Lee Wittless was doing. (You know..the man who got a job because of political favors and lies for Clinton)
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/17/D8CM64J80.html
Money Earmarked for Evacuation Redirected (AP)
"Asked why the congressional mandate was never fulfilled, Barry Scanlon, senior vice president in the consulting firm of former FEMA Director James Lee Witt, said he believes the agency did what it needed when it gave the money to the state.
"FEMA received an earmark which it processed through to the state as instructed by Congress," Scanlon said. Witt is now a private consultant to Gov. Kathleen Blanco, D-La., on the Katrina aftermath. "
Full story-
As far back as eight years ago, Congress ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop a plan for evacuating New Orleans during a massive hurricane, but the money instead went to studying the causeway bridge that spans the city's Lake Pontchartrain, officials say.
The outcome provides one more example of the government's failure to prepare for a massive but foreseeable catastrophe, said the lawmaker who helped secure the money for FEMA to develop the evacuation plan.
"They never used it for the intended purpose," said former Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La. "The whole intent was to give them resources so they could plan an evacuation of New Orleans that anticipated that a very large number of people would never leave."
In Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, attention has focused on the inability of local and federal officials to evacuate or prepare for the large number of poor people, many of them minorities, who had no access to transportation and remained behind.
That possibility was one of the concerns that led Congress in 1997 to set aside $500,000 for FEMA to create "a comprehensive analysis and plan of all evacuation alternatives for the New Orleans metropolitan area."
Frustrated two years later that nothing materialized, Congress strengthened its directive. This time it ordered "an evacuation plan for a Category 3 or greater storm, a levee break, flood or other natural disaster for the New Orleans area."
The $500,000 that Congress appropriated for the evacuation plan went to a commission that studied future options for the 24-mile bridge over Lake Pontchartrain, FEMA spokesman Butch Kinerney said.
The hefty report produced by the Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission "primarily was not about evacuation," said Robert Lambert, the general manager for the bridge expressway. "In general it was an overview of all the things we need to do" for the causeway through 2016.
Lambert said he could not trace how or if FEMA money came to the commission. Nor could Shelby LaSalle, a causeway consulting engineer who worked on the plan.
LaSalle said it would be "ludicrous" to consider his report an evacuation plan, although it had a transportation evacuation section, dated Dec. 19, 1997. That part was tacked on mainly to promote the causeway for future designation as an official evacuation route, LaSalle said.
"We didn't do anything for FEMA," he added.
Asked why the congressional mandate was never fulfilled, Barry Scanlon, senior vice president in the consulting firm of former FEMA Director James Lee Witt, said he believes the agency did what it needed when it gave the money to the state.
"FEMA received an earmark which it processed through to the state as instructed by Congress," Scanlon said. Witt is now a private consultant to Gov. Kathleen Blanco, D-La., on the Katrina aftermath.
Tauzin said he, too, could never find out where the money went. "They gave it to the causeway commission? That's wacky," he said.
At the time eight years ago, the Louisiana delegation had plenty of political muscle to get the money. Then-Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., was chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, which controls the government's purse strings.
Livingston, now a lobbyist, said he could not explain what happened either, although he knew of other predictive hurricane studies over the years.
"Do I wish the study had been made? Sure, but now that's by the boards. We're doing the best we can right now to repair and rebuild," he said.
FEMA typically contracts its studies to private or government entities. Kinerney, the agency spokesman, said it appeared the money went through the Louisiana government. State emergency and transportation officials said they did not recall it.
After nothing came of its first directive, FEMA addressed the need for an evacuation plan "off and on" over the years, Kinerney said. Last year, the agency undertook the massive "Hurricane Pam" project that was supposed to create a comprehensive emergency plan for New Orleans.
That work was unfinished when Katrina struck, though its first phase involved an elaborate hurricane simulation that was eerily predictive of Katrina's disaster.
Asked about any earlier FEMA-funded plan, Mark Smith, spokesman for the state Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said, "To the best of our knowledge we can find no information on this."
Congress' 1999 language directed that FEMA consult with that state agency as well as the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.
FEMA's parent agency, the Homeland Security Department, did provide $75,000 to print 1 million evacuation maps that were distributed this year for the state's updated transportation evacuation blueprint, state transportation spokesman Mark Lambert said.
That plan used phased evacuation orders and reverse-flow traffic patterns to avoid the highway snarls New Orleans saw during Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
But that plan was designed for traffic management, not to provide transportation or contingencies for the infirm, elderly and poor who could not get out on their own, officials said.
BASTARDS!
BRAVA...great post!
He broke that tradition LONG ago.
It seems the Dems are really frustrated. PROBABLY BECAUSE THERE WILL BE A NEW CHIEF JUSTICE THIS WEEK...AND THE DEMS CAN'T STOP IT. ALSO...there was just a vote for government in Ashcanistan. So they want the media attention far away from the Dems failure to be obstructionists.
They are not winning any major battles in DC.
AND...CLINTON IS TRYING TO COVER HIS OWN A--! He appointed Witt, who set up the current strategies (AND DIVERTED FEDERAL FUNDS) for FEMA.
RELAX FOLKS......it will just get worse for the Dems.
Just wait until the Abel Danger stuff hits the fan! :-)
Aaaahh, Thank ya...thank ya very much
BTW....THE CLINTON MUSEUM AND WHORE HOUSE STILL LOOKES LIKE A SINGLE WIDE TRAILER!
The liberal press loves to quote the Sinkmeister when they can construe it as a "withering attack" on Bush.
Of course it looks like a trailer; what else would have suited trailer trash like Slick ?
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As for the vigilante comment............if you condemn him as unwise and a bad person because you don't agree with him (as you have done on this thread), you are revealing that you are lacking in wisdom and goodness yourself.
If you look at the whole of this man's presidency, you will see amazing, amazing accomplishments and strong leadership in the face of incredible challenges that would make most men crumble.
And yet, you are so petty that you take one comment and condemn him for it.
My only further comment is for you to examine your thought process and find out what's wrong with you to make you so shallow that you are so easily distracted from the greater truth of who this man is.
Your namesake would be ashamed of you.
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