Forget What We Said Four Years/Four Months/Four Days Ago, We Didn't Really Mean It
"The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein."
--Project For a New American Century (William Kristol, Elliott Abrams, Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle et al.), "Rebuilding America's Defenses, Sept. 2000, p. 14.
"I would take the use of force very seriously. I would be guarded in my approach. I don't think we can be all things to all people in the world. I think we've got to be very careful when we commit our troops. The vice president [Al Gore] and I have a disagreement about the use of troops. He believes in nation-building. I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders."
--George W. Bush, Presidential Debate, Boston, MA, Oct. 3, 2000.
"The coalition has no intention of owning or running Iraq."
--Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Baghdad, April 30, 2003.
"I have never, that I can recall, heard the subject of a permanent base in Iraq discussed in any meeting, . . . The likelihood of it seems to me to be so low that it does not surprise me that it's never been discussed in my presence, to my knowledge."
--Donald Rumsfeld, April 21, 2003.
KAREN HUGHES [Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs] : We want nothing more than to bring our men and women in uniform home. As soon as possible, but not before they finish the job. CHARLIE ROSE: And do not want to keep bases there? KAREN HUGHES: No, we want to bring our people home as soon as possible."
--"Charlie Rose Show," Dec. 8, 2005
"Charlie, we're not in the process these days of doing permanent bases anywhere. . . . It isn't a limitless commitment."
--Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, "Charlie Rose Show," May 7, 2007.
--Project For a New American Century (William Kristol, Elliott Abrams, Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle et al.), "Rebuilding America's Defenses, Sept. 2000, p. 14.
"I would take the use of force very seriously. I would be guarded in my approach. I don't think we can be all things to all people in the world. I think we've got to be very careful when we commit our troops. The vice president [Al Gore] and I have a disagreement about the use of troops. He believes in nation-building. I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders."
--George W. Bush, Presidential Debate, Boston, MA, Oct. 3, 2000.
"The coalition has no intention of owning or running Iraq."
--Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Baghdad, April 30, 2003.
"I have never, that I can recall, heard the subject of a permanent base in Iraq discussed in any meeting, . . . The likelihood of it seems to me to be so low that it does not surprise me that it's never been discussed in my presence, to my knowledge."
--Donald Rumsfeld, April 21, 2003.
KAREN HUGHES [Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs] : We want nothing more than to bring our men and women in uniform home. As soon as possible, but not before they finish the job. CHARLIE ROSE: And do not want to keep bases there? KAREN HUGHES: No, we want to bring our people home as soon as possible."
--"Charlie Rose Show," Dec. 8, 2005
"Charlie, we're not in the process these days of doing permanent bases anywhere. . . . It isn't a limitless commitment."
--Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, "Charlie Rose Show," May 7, 2007.
"They understand that their success requires U.S. political, economic, and security engagement that extends beyond my presidency. These Iraqi leaders have asked us for an enduring relationship with America."
--President George W. Bush, Oval Office Address, September 13, 2007
Sometimes it's better just to quote these people than to let our own words get in the way.
--President George W. Bush, Oval Office Address, September 13, 2007
Sometimes it's better just to quote these people than to let our own words get in the way.
posted by media concepts @ 4:54 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
As we discussed this with friends this weekend, we all concluded that the US was going to have a permanent presence in Iraq, much as it has in South Korea and Germany. All this talk of bringing the troops home had to be somebody's pipedream. I just wonder how many more messes like this we can get ourselves involved in before the funding well runs completely dry. It will be interesting to see if our money or the oil runs out first. But then, if the oil ran out perhaps we would no longer be interested...
Or until our Army troops run out.
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