People say Bush should not apologize

I just finished listening to Bill O'Reilly on the Radio Factor and the issue was about if Bush should admit that there was an intelligence lag about WMD's in Iraq.

Every single caller said Bush should not have to because they believe we will find the evidence within a year. Can you believe this?

Can I believe that evidence may be found? Sure.

Do I believe that the President should apologize when it still is not clear (and you know sure as # the media would be all over it if it was) the extent of the screw-up, or if the weapons were there? No.

If it becomes clear that it was a major Intel FUBARing from every Intelligence agency in the world, then yes, we deserve an apology. But not before.

[Edited on 29-1-2004 by Esoterica]

IMHO, I would think it would be a very wise and smart political maneuver to apologize for the sake of the intelligence services. Again, this is politics after all.



regards
seekerof

[Edited on 29-1-2004 by Seekerof]

Regardless of the fact that there may or may not WMDs, I think Bush did the right thing because Saddam posed a possible threat to America, and also because his regieme was so evil and corrupt.

I'd support the same thing with Castro, but he doesn't really pose a threat to America anymore.

I think he should personaly go an appoligize to all those families in Iraq whose children died.

Deep

No apology needed until things like whats in this link are cleared up.

www.alertnet.org...

SOFIA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Iraq's foreign minister said on Thursday Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, which inspectors have failed to find, were carefully hidden but Hoshiyar Zebari said he was confident they could be discovered.

Originally posted by Phoenix
No apology needed until things like whats in this link are cleared up.

www.alertnet.org...

SOFIA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Iraq's foreign minister said on Thursday Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, which inspectors have failed to find, were carefully hidden but Hoshiyar Zebari said he was confident they could be discovered.

Wow. Two people of two opposing forces to Saddams people are claiming the existence of WMDs. I am very impressed, really looks like we will see something soon!

Though Bush should not apologize till now, that would be a political and PR waterloo. Even I don't think they will find some it would be stupid and politically incorrect to admit that there are no and it was a lack of intelligence.

But he should apologize to the soldiers who fight in Iraq for commenting that Saddam was no imminent threat. Wondering why Bush-supporters didn't answered in that thread

It will never happen. He is too stubern to admit that he was wrong about anything. That and it would be political suicide.

IMO regardless if we find WMD's or not Bush should admit that there was an intelligence lag about the WMD's when we into Iraq. Why? I'm going with what Kay said. At first I believed that we would find WMD's but now I've waited long enough and I have still not heard anything about WMD's. I mean how much longer can we wait? Until the public starts to loose it's nerve on the issue?

I think the CIA misled Bush and that Bush should admit that the CIA made a mistake. But he's not going to. Why? It will make him look bad before the next election. I think he's concerned more about his reputation than anything else.

I find it hard to believe that Kay is completely wrong. The Bushies wanna keep wasting our money on this search because they don't wanna admit that they jaded the reports. They took what they needed by turning assumptions into facts. They made it seem as though Saddam was working hand in hand with Bin Laden (not true) and he had these stock piles of WMD that could be smuggled into the US (not true). They said the threat was "grave" and "gathering" (not true). They said it wasn't a question of if--but--when (not true). They said containment didn't work (not true). They said inspections wouldn't work (not true). They said Saddam was lying when he said he had no WMD (not true).

Bush shouldn't apologize. There is no reason for him to tell the truth all of a sudden. Only people interested in the truth are those that didn't want to go to war and those folk will never vote for Bush anyway. Nothing matters politically for Bush. He could take a dookey on the whitehouse lawn and folk will say "well, he really had to go. he couldn't hold it any longer. did you see him on 9-11, though? What a great leader!".

[Edited on 29-1-2004 by Saphronia]

I don't know if he should apologize but if he does I think some of the blame should be placed on those that have, in the past, done so much to limit the strength and ability of our intelligence services. Looks like cuts and changes in the way our intelligence services operate bit us in the ass on 9/11, and now.

I also think Kay's findings are being overly politicized. Some people are using pieces of it for political purposes while leaving out the part that he believes Iraq is a bigger threat than we imagined. And, didn't even he mention evidence that Iraq shipped weapons to Syria? But - I guess since those two points don't fit everyones agenda...

and, what happens if weapons do turn up? I mean, it hasn't been that long and it's a large country. I also think Saddam went to great lengths to conceal these weapons. Are certain folks going to line up and apologize to the president?

Bush doesn't need to apologize for something he knows will eventually be found.

quoting Colin Quinn...."He has the receipts!"

The only reason why we haven't found the WMD"S yet, is because we really forgot where we hid them.

sandy deserts all seem to look the same after a while.

Originally posted by ZeroDeep
I think he should personaly go an appoligize to all those families in Iraq whose children died.

Deep

He shoudl also apologize to those children who starved to death because the US let the UN hold it's sanctions and didn't kick Husseins ass out of there years ago.

Originally posted by LoganCale
Regardless of the fact that there may or may not WMDs, I think Bush did the right thing because Saddam posed a possible threat to America, and also because his regieme was so evil and corrupt.

I'd support the same thing with Castro, but he doesn't really pose a threat to America anymore.

What threat to America. Iraq never possessed any missles with IC capabilities. Also, him being evil and corrupt, isn't our problem. He did bad things to the Iraqi people sure, but none of those Iraqis were Americans. What's the point of being a sovereign nation if another nation gets to dictate policy in your nation? Iraq should be able to do whatever it wants with the Iraqis without us interffering. It's their country.
Hell yea Bush should apologize. He lied, thousands died and it's going to continue as long as he can get away with it.

Well, I think the Kay report proves Bush DIDN'T lie. He had intelligence, which at this point appears to be flawed, and he acted on it.

So - tell me how he lied? And, I never heard anything about ICBMs (but, he did have missiles that were banned - such was that seersucker that nailed a Kuwait mall last march)

Well, I gave Bush and his administration long enough to find evidence of WMD's in Iraq and now I'm tried of waiting. IMO since he hasn't found proof by now that means there are no WMD's. Show me the proof NOW and then I'll believe. I'm tried of Bush acting like he's the "Good" president the American people deserve. He lied to us just to save his own @#&.

An apology would be like an admission that they were wrong. They don't want to cast that kind of doubt. As we all know, Bush and his regime have never been wrong about anything, right? Even if they are wrong, it's not politician-like to admit it.

He should give the intelligence agencies a kick in the azz, though. For example, Tenet, a Clinton hand-me-down, should get the boot.

Originally posted by Bob88
He should give the intelligence agencies a kick in the azz, though. For example, Tenet, a Clinton hand-me-down, should get the boot.

That's just it, though. The decision to use WMD as the justification for attacking Iraq was not based on intelligence. It was agreed to be the best and most acceptable scenario. They had no evidence, and I don't think they ever really thought they did. They went on a hunch, sure that they'd find something, once they got there.

Originally posted by NotTooHappy

Originally posted by LoganCale
Regardless of the fact that there may or may not WMDs, I think Bush did the right thing because Saddam posed a possible threat to America, and also because his regieme was so evil and corrupt.

I'd support the same thing with Castro, but he doesn't really pose a threat to America anymore.

What threat to America. Iraq never possessed any missles with IC capabilities. Also, him being evil and corrupt, isn't our problem. He did bad things to the Iraqi people sure, but none of those Iraqis were Americans. What's the point of being a sovereign nation if another nation gets to dictate policy in your nation? Iraq should be able to do whatever it wants with the Iraqis without us interffering. It's their country.
Hell yea Bush should apologize. He lied, thousands died and it's going to continue as long as he can get away with it.

Exactly right. It's their country. Not Saddam's country, but the Iraqi people's country. As it stood, they didn't have any say in their government.

Are we forgetting about every election being a 100% vote for Saddam, and anyone who didn't vote for him was executed?