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BUSH CANDOR: DECISIONS HAVE MADE IRAQ MORE UNSTABLE
Drudge Report ^ | January 13, 2007 | Matt Drudge

Posted on 01/13/2007 11:15:33 AM PST by West Coast Conservative

The president concedes that his decisions have led to more instability in Iraq. President Bush made the admission in an exclusive interview with Scott Pelley at Camp David yesterday (12), his first interview since addressing the nation about Iraq. It will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, Jan. 14 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

The president says the current sectarian violence in Iraq, is a destabilizing factor that "could lead to attacks here in America" and must be controlled. He defended his decision to invade Iraq in the same way, saying Saddam was competing with Iran to get a nuclear weapon and making the region unstable. But when pressed by Pelley, Bush concedes that conditions in Iraq are much worse now.

Pelley: But wasn't it your administration that created the instability in Iraq? Bush: "Our administration took care of a source of instability in Iraq. Envision a world in which Saddam Hussein was rushing for a nuclear weapon to compete against Iran... He was a significant source of instability. Pelley: It's much more unstable now, Mr. President. Bush: Well, no question, decisions have made things unstable.

"I think history is going to look back and see a lot of ways we could have done things better. No question about it," says Bush.

Toppling Saddam was not a mistake, however. "My decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the correct decision in my judgment. We didn't find the weapons we thought we would find or the weapons everybody thought he had. But he was a significant source of instability," Bush tells Pelley. "We liberated that country from a tyrant. I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude and I believe most Iraqi's express that."

The execution of Saddam was mishandled, says the president, who saw only parts of it on the Internet because he didn't want to watch the dictator fall through the trap door. "I thought it was discouraging... It's important that that chapter of Iraqi history be closed. [But] They could have handled it a lot better."


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bush; iraq; saddam
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To: PSYCHO-FREEP
All opinions Coming from your fragmented group of cynical defeatist/protectionist fanatics, carries a credibility rating of minus 8. (We'll give you 2 positive points for predictability.)

How does my concern for the killing of Americans and government waste put me in a "fragmented group of cynical defeatist/protectionist fanatics" ?

141 posted on 01/13/2007 12:04:32 PM PST by The_Eaglet
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To: The_Eaglet; Peach
Do you really think President Bush should not apologize for the 3,000 Americans who died in Iraq and the deficit spending that occurred under his pen in the past 6 years?

Do you think that FDR should apologize for the 418,500 Americans that died in World War Two and the deficit spending that occurred under his pen?

If the Iraq War had never happened and if you were Commander-in-Chief in four years and Saddam then had nuclear weapons to control 70% of the world's know oil reserves, how would you deal with that?

Would you deal with it at all?

What would be the cost if you didn't deal with it?

What would be the cost if you did?

If the Allied Powers had attacked Nazi Germany as soon as Hitler renounced the Versailles Treaty in 1936, people like you would be asking, "Is Roosevelt going to apologize for the 3,000 Americans who died in Germany in 1936?"

142 posted on 01/13/2007 12:05:07 PM PST by Polybius
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To: The_Eaglet
...although I think Bush has some responsibility for the lax immigration enforcement which gave the suicide bombers a launching point from American soil...

I'm as willing to kick the President on his immigration stance as most (on the appropriate threads), but you do realize the he was in office for less than nine months before the attack? That most of the hijackers were in the country before the got elected? That thanks to Al Gore and the Democratic Party, President Bush did not get the opportunity to perform a proper transition from the previous administration? You do realize these things, right?

143 posted on 01/13/2007 12:05:11 PM PST by Doohickey (I am not unappeasable. YOU are just too easily appeased.)
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To: Mr. Mojo

I imagine we will eventually find that Bush regreats taking Powell's advise to go to the UN with a thin case about WMN, rather than taking the bull by the horns and saying our purpose was to remove Sadaam.


144 posted on 01/13/2007 12:05:43 PM PST by RobbyS ( CHIRHO)
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To: Your Nightmare
Didn't the first Gulf War have fewer casualties?

Yes it did, on our side anyway. Remember though that the invasion itself lasted 100 hours.

145 posted on 01/13/2007 12:06:17 PM PST by jazusamo (http://warchronicle.com/TheyAreNotKillers/DefendOurMarines.htm)
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To: Doohickey

It would increase my respect for the primary occupant of the White House.


146 posted on 01/13/2007 12:06:26 PM PST by The_Eaglet
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To: CedarDave

We know better. Watch what comes out when those troops head up by the Syrian border. Remember how hot it got when they were there before? It's not only because the that's one of the terror routes and Syria's harboring them.


147 posted on 01/13/2007 12:06:53 PM PST by AliVeritas (Stop Global Dhimming. Demand testicular fortitude from the hill. Call the crusade.)
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To: West Coast Conservative
I found the WMD's in Iraq

Document Details WMD Recovered In Iraq, Santorum Says
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1653337/posts

INTELLIGENCE: Why Iraq WMD Finds Were Kept Secret
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1654974/posts

148 posted on 01/13/2007 12:07:38 PM PST by vigilante2 (Thank you Troops)
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To: Dick Vomer

ROTFL! Right on.


149 posted on 01/13/2007 12:11:17 PM PST by jazusamo (http://warchronicle.com/TheyAreNotKillers/DefendOurMarines.htm)
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To: The_Eaglet

Really? I expect my leaders to admit to mistakes, but I don't expect them to apologize. Apologies are not solutions. I guess the military taught me that; I don't understand how anyone could think differently.


150 posted on 01/13/2007 12:11:34 PM PST by Doohickey (I am not unappeasable. YOU are just too easily appeased.)
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To: highball
I didn't say he was playing semantics but there have been a lot of decisions that have led to the violence including Zarqawi attacking the Golden Mosque. A good reporter would have followed up that question with something like,"mistakes you have made?" and not left it subject to interpretation but then again that may have been where the reporter wanted it. President Bush already said during his speech he had made mistakes and obviously there was an increase in the recent violence to what might have been had mistakes not been made.
151 posted on 01/13/2007 12:12:03 PM PST by tobyhill (The War on Terrorism is not for the weak.)
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To: FreeReign; The_Eaglet

You misunderstand The Eaglet... I believe he/she/it means when we are attacked do nothing, God forbid one life besides those on our soil is lost. You know... the way Carter and Clinton did. Nevermind those Americans lost all over the world in our embassies, the Cole, diplomats and other places re: terrorism. We should just stand down and wait for the UN to take care of it. s/


152 posted on 01/13/2007 12:13:03 PM PST by AliVeritas (Stop Global Dhimming. Demand testicular fortitude from the hill. Call the crusade.)
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To: Peach
....he's been unable to change how the administration handles its critics.

I've seen little flashes that they are learning...

For example, Bushs' recent comment that "To oppose everything and propose nothing is irresponsible" I'd credit to Snow and wish it had been an '06 campaign theme.

Agreed, however, that they're not learning fast enough and leave themselves too open to Leftspin opportunities like the one this thread cites.

153 posted on 01/13/2007 12:13:13 PM PST by GoldCountryRedneck ("Idiocy - Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers" - despair.com)
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To: West Coast Conservative

" "I thought it was discouraging... It's important that that chapter of Iraqi history be closed. [But] They could have handled it a lot better.""

Ya, like the Italians handled Mussolini.


154 posted on 01/13/2007 12:13:33 PM PST by lawdude (2006: The election"s we will live to die for!)
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To: The_Eaglet

Troll, your diatribes are getting OLD!!! Did I say OLD???!!!


155 posted on 01/13/2007 12:13:59 PM PST by jrooney ( Hold your cards close.)
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To: The_Eaglet

TSK! TSK!


156 posted on 01/13/2007 12:14:28 PM PST by F.J. Mitchell (Only cannibalistic Muslims eat pork.)
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To: MovementConservative

"Your point is taken. IMO one of the biggest mistakes Bush made was in insisting Islam is a religion of peace. Along with the US invasion force should have been 50,000 Christian missionaries. That's the way you change hearts and minds."

Instead our troops are instructed not to practice their religion openly. Can't offend the Muslims.


157 posted on 01/13/2007 12:15:23 PM PST by BW2221
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To: Stallone

"....yet he is an incompetent moron as depicted by the media."

He sure makes it easy for them.


158 posted on 01/13/2007 12:15:31 PM PST by TKDietz (")
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To: West Coast Conservative

Truman's decision made Hiroshima more radioactive.


159 posted on 01/13/2007 12:16:04 PM PST by doug from upland (Stopping Hillary should be a FreeRepublic Manhattan Project)
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To: Yo-Yo
Saddam had outsourced his nuclear program to Libya. Iraqi scientists, North Korean equipment and a hole in a Libyan mountain.
160 posted on 01/13/2007 12:16:23 PM PST by Blue State Insurgent (Those who know the truth need to speak out against these kinds of myths, and lies, and distortions..)
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