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 did no such thing. Go back and read it again.
I was discussing DU WITH you, not accusing you of being part of it. Try to be accurate, OK?
And Bill Clinton is STILL the pervert between the two Bushes.
Thanx Professor! U made my DAY!!! I will not be leaving this site...I am addicted!!!! Can't be any more conservative than I am, but at least that bend u seem to have gone around hasn't got me yet, sir!
And your comment that the President is a lousy politician is based on ignorance. He's just a politician who believes in doing what's right, instead of being controlled by the polls.
Perhaps you like the way Bill Clinton handled politics better?
Watch and see what happens in 2006. President Bush is a party builder, and you will see more Republican gains in the House and Senate in the midterm elections, just like you did in 2002.
If you're not a troll, you need to calm down. We're winning.
(And if you ARE a troll, I can see why you're so agitated......cause you guys are losing BIG time.......hehe....)
You have Freepmail.
And I hope that your addiction to FR leads to some learning, and some much needed intellectual growth. Wisdom is clearly light years away for you, but if you get rid of the chip on your young shoulder, it may come eventually.....
Got it and replied.
Just read your homepage. I LOVE Animaniacs! They're FABU!!
A delusional world is when someone who hasn't learned anything from life, purports to know more than those who are 40 or 50 years his senior.
A delusional world is when someone has nothing to offer to a political forum, and lectures those who contribute daily with actual ideas and political activism.
Now please wait until you grow up a bit (that clearly might take you a while) before you post back to me. Your empty cockiness is most decidedly unimpressive, and a waste of my time.
Do you not have a life? Five thirty in the morning you are writing to me? How pitiful...I must really be bothering you.
By the way if I can add correctly from what you emailed last that would make you 100 years old sooooo....I guess I should be patient with the elderly, bet your children must have alot of patience.
Thanks for the evening laugh! HA! So much for the wise guy.
btw, my children were more mature at the age of 13 than you are now, dear......don't flatter yourself by thinking that your pathetic, childish tripe bothers me. It amuses me.
I only came back tonight to see how silly you were, and you didn't disappoint. 5:30!! LOL!
Like I said before, give yourself a few years to grow up before you post to me again. If I want another laugh, I'll check out a comic book....
OK........ Get a map of the United States out. Now look very carefully for a state named 'O-h-i-o.' (See how far it is from you?) Now............this part might be hard, but look at your map and try to find the little dotted lines that go vertically (oops.........I mean up and down) at different places on the map.
They are called "Time Zones." Everyone in the country isn't in YOUR Time Zone, as important as you are to the world. Some of us........actually MOST of us live in another Time Zone.
Ohio is in the Eastern Time Zone, so when it is 5:30 where you live, it is 8:30 in Ohio...... Your little clock on this post will say 5:00, but it is 8:00 where I live.......VERY far from you.
Understand it now? Good. End of lesson.
Moral of the story...........little boys who think they know it all turn into stupid old men.
(Oh.......and I've had second thoughts about my kids. Three out of four were more mature than you at the age of 6. Only the youngest was 13 before she was).
Bye now. ;)
U are a COMIC BOOK!!!!!! ...I'm still laughing....didn't know this site could be so much fun!!!! Thanks for the laughs!!!Can't ell u how much I have enjoyed it anymore...Thank u!!! Thank U!!!! Thank U!!!! Thank U!!! Thank U!!! Thank u!
I think you rate a Dumbest Newbie Phony Freeper award. You gotta be a DU spy (and a really lousy one, at that).
NO conservative, even a young newbie, is as dense as you are.....just waiting for you to get caught and zotted.
Keep laughing boy.........it's only a matter of time......
I am amused by you. Of course, you could be 12 or you could be 80, and you could have lied about everything you've said (why in the world would I trust you?). But you just signed on a few weeks ago, and your track record so far is pretty shabby.
(And I'm still laughing that you didn't know that Ohio was in a different time zone!)
Now excuse me, but I have a very busy life (some of which you have wasted with your inane charade).......four adult children, all mature and polite (unlike you).......two jobs, a church full of people I love, an incredible extended family, a husband who is the finest man on earth whom I adore, and loads of friends on this forum who know I am who I say I am (unlike you).
I'll try to wipe the slate clean with you, but I'll always wonder why a newbie like you would act like a complete jerk to someone whom you claim 'is on the same side.' (Sorry if I don't believe that either).
My not trusting you has to do with your behavior, not my 'sadness' or 'anger.' Why don't you start over, and act like a 50 year old grandfather (IF you are one), and not a Jr. High jerk?
PRAY. Amen....
Doesnt this A-hole ever shut up? He did such a great job (selling out the Country).
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