Fictitious Bush Quote

vanity | 5/27/03 | lasereye

[lasereye]

These two quotes are being posted together all over the internet:

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our Number one priority and we will not rest until we find him!"

-- George W. Bush, September 13, 2001

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and I really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."

-- George W. Bush, March 13, 2002

I did a search of the NY Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe archives and can't find the second one. It obviously reeks of a fabrication. Anybody know the origin? This is the first I've seen it, and obviously we would have heard of it by now if he'd said it in March 2002.

[lowbridge]

bump

[Howlin]

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our Number one priority and we will not rest until we find him!" -- George W. Bush, September 13, 2001

What is that quote from, do you know?

September 13th would have been two days after 9-11; did we know that soon? He spoke at to the nation o 9-15, but I don't rememeber any specific speeches or interviews where he might have said that before that address.

As for this quote:

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and I really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." -- George W. Bush, March 13, 2002

I never heard or read he said that.

[WOSG]

Bin laden is "marginalized" with hundreds of Al Qeada and talibn in camp x-ray, thousands more 6 feet under.
What's left of the network has been heavily compromised.
hundreds of arrests in europe, etc.


Is bin laden even alive???!?? Someone show me where and what proof!

[lasereye]

Actually I didn't look for the first quote. I was focusing on the second one since it would have been front page news if he had said that and I had no recollection of it. The first is probably fictitious too.

[lasereye]

I think it's even a stretch to say we've "gotten" the Taliban, or even to say the Taliban is "marginalized" at this point. They are still quite powerful in Afghanistan.

Provide some evidence for that.

[GoLightly]

I'm sure they are still looking for him, per the first quote. The fact that it's no longer the top priority due to changes in his circumstances are reflected by what he said more recently. It's not that Bush's position has changed, so much as Bin Laden's has. If you expend all of your energy to persue the irrelevant, you don't have the energy to persue what is important. Which is more important, form or function?

[Miss Marple]

I think the first quote was debinked in a thread earlier this year. It seems like this comes up every so often.

There was nothing said about OBL in public until after the National Cathedral service. The only public comment he made on September 13 was the press opportunity from the Oval Office, in which he famously teared up and said he didn't think about himself, but thought about the moms and dads, the children..."I'm a loving guy, but I've got a job to do."

[Howlin]

I knew you'd remember.

[Howlin]

I actually believe I have heard him say something close to that, but not in a speech; for some reason, I'm thinking it was in one of those "what Bush did on 9-11" shows, like on CBS, you know?

[Miss Marple]

Not only do I remember, but to make sure I went and looked at the Woodward book and also my magazine "George W. Bush..The Making of a Wartime President".

I have lots of newspapers as well. I bet I have as big a box of Bush stuff as your mother!!

[Petronski]

A certain ass-freak from 'the other site' who shall remain nameless has been circulating these quotes around the internet for a year or more now.

It is a fraud...a fraud worthy of Michael Moore or Jayson Blair.

[Dr. Frank fan]

Bush did give a definite impression right after 9/11 that Bin Laden would be hunted down and caught ASAP. Since that has yet to happen,

You mean, "Since that has never been announced as having happened...."

It is my opinion that the administration has made a conscious decision not to reveal the status/fate of these big Enemies even if they are caught or killed, whether Osama, Taliban's Mullah Omar, or Saddam. That's just my opinion, though.

[7thson]

Did we ever find Martin Bormann? Adolf Eichmann was missing for 15 years. Joseph Mengela(sp) was in hiding for decades. It would be nice to find these people. But the Saddam government is no more. What are the chances of him popping up in Iraq some years from now and retaking control?

[Hatteras]

I do remember W saying on a TV interview when asked if Osama's dead or alive, "Well, I don't see him leading any parades."

I think that the President and others within the intelligence community believe OBL is still dead. The continuing "search" is just to make sure all bases are covered.

[GraniteStateConservative]

OBL didn't even come up with the idea for 9/11. He's an important figure, yes, but he should not be the focus.

[MJY1288]

Every word uttered in public by the president is published on the White House website, you can check for them HERE, I already did and they dont exist

[Howlin]

I agree with you; after all, if we had killed him the first night, think of all the liberals/anti-Americans screaming "We got him; stop it now!"

[CJ Wolf]

The first quote must be suspect as well. Sept 13th...

JIM LEHRER: In general, Mr. Secretary, how close are we to knowing who was responsible and how they did it?

COLIN POWELL: I think the evidence is building rapidly now, and the FBI, and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies have done a terrific job in just a short period of time, and I think in the not-too-distant future we will have enough confidence in what we have gathered, the information and evidence we have gathered to make a definitive judgment and then a definitive statement as to who we believe is responsible.

[The Old Hoosier]

Just did a Nexis search, and both quotes are certainly false. The second one did have some slight resemblance to what he said in reality on March 13--note one of the above-posted press conferences--but it is exaggerated and falsified and taken totally out of context.

The first quote, on the other hand, is definitely fabricated out of whole cloth. Only two gullible journalists have written about these quotes, and then three letter-to-the-editor writers.

[William McKinley]

The first quotation is completely fabricated.