President Bush: 'I Will Leave Iraq Mess To Others'

This is big.

Anyone waiting for news of full troop withdrawals from Iraq should... not bother.

In his speech today talking up the progress in Iraq, President Bush hinted that U.S. troops will remain in Iraq for the remainder of his presidency. A reporter asked the President this simple question- "Will there come a day, and I’m not asking you when — I’m not asking for a timetable — will there come a day when there will be no more American forces in Iraq?". His answer was quite revealing- "That, of course, is an objective, and that will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq."

Aka- I'm not taking responsibility for this, let someone else figure the way out.

It sounds like whoever is running for President in 2008 has one hell of an issue to worry about.

(Think Progress has video of this exchange)

The AP also has a story on this-

President Bush said Tuesday the decision about when to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq will fall to future presidents and Iraqi leaders, suggesting that U.S. involvement will continue at least through 2008.

Acknowledging the public's growing unease with the war — and election-year skittishness among fellow Republicans — the president nonetheless vowed to keep U.S. soldiers in the fight...

Reality, meet George Bush. George Bush, meet reality. Please shake hands.

Not that the Iraqis were expecting us to leave anytime soon. They weren't that naive. They see all the construction at various areas in the country (Balad air base, al-Asad, Tallil, etc) for bases...

...Are the Americans here to stay? Air Force mechanic Josh Remy is sure of it as he looks around Balad...

...The Iraqi people suspect the same. Strong majorities tell pollsters they’d like to see a timetable for U.S. troops to leave, but believe Washington plans to keep military bases in their country...

Yet the U.S. military won't comment on permanent bases. Hmmmm.

Today the President also fielded a question from Helen Thomas, one of the best ever asked of him-

"I'd like to ask you, Mr. President, your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is, why did you really want to go to war? From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet -- your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth -- what was your real reason? You have said it wasn't oil -- quest for oil, it hasn't been Israel, or anything else. What was it?"

The President's response, noted in the AP article above, was this-

"I didn't want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong ... with all due respect," he told a reporter. "No president wants war." To those who say otherwise, "it's simply not true," Bush said.

You sure did a great impression of a man who wanted war, sir.

After all, it was President Bush himself who said this- "You said we're headed to war in Iraq -- I don't know why you say that. I hope we're not headed to war in Iraq."- two months after his administration had rushed a authorization for force resolution in October 2002 to coincide with midterm elections. I doubt more than a quarter of the population would argue against the reality that this President sold this war like a desperate salesman working on commission.

Josh Marshall looks at this lie, particularly the President's assertion that he tried for a diplomatic solution and that Saddam denied the inspectors. Both are false. The President never made any diplomatic efforts; he'd been banging the war drums since late 2002. Furthermore, Hussein did let the inspectors into his country. It was President Bush himself who ordered the inspectors out on the eve of invasion, even as they insisted the country was clean.

Transcript- here. Video- here.

Think Progress has more: Bush Insists ‘I Didn’t Want War,’ Overwhelming Evidence Suggests Otherwise.

More lies that the President gets away with.

But no, it's not his fault. Through the lies and through the failures, it's never his fault. It's the Congress' fault for allowing him to mess it up. It's the Iraqis' fault for not embracing their freedom better. It's the media's fault for not pretending that civil war equals peace.

The President continues to downplay the violence, asking Americans to 'look beyond' it. But the violence is what's there- no looking beyond it. Any 'progress' in a country that is engulfed in violence is fleeting. An example from today's news is this- the attack on a police station by insurgents which killed 18 police officers and freed all prisoner inside. Does this sounds like a country that has its basic security needs met, let alone is making progress? No wonder so many Iraqis are buying terror insurance.

This Fox News graphic says it all about how reality conflicts with the President's statements.

I've always said that the problem with the President's refusal to admit mistakes is that it means that they will never be corrected. I also said on Sunday that we do need to make things better in Iraq before leaving, but that requires the President to come up with a plan, a real strategy, and not more slogans. But the President doesn't want to come up with a plan for victory. He doesn't want to change course. That would involve an unspoken admission that his original plan was a failure. Today he made his strategy clear- ride out the rest of his term and let the next President deal with the mess he's created... and god only knows how many more lives will be thrown away before then.

Worst President ever? That's being way too generous.


"I said we were making progress and blamed you for all the bad news. What more do you want from me?"