The Daily Misleader/ Dennis Kucinich – 2004-04-16 11:10:13
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1208427&l=28723
Bush’s Press Conference Contradictions
The Daily Misleader
During last night’s prime time press conference, President Bush once again claimed that “there was nobody in our government, at least, and I don’t think the prior government that could envision flying airplanes into buildings” (1). But just minutes later at the same press conference the president proved he was not telling the truth.
Specifically, Bush said the reason he supposedly requested intelligence briefings before 9/11 “had to do with the Genoa G-8 conference I was going to attend” in 2001. Bush was referring to the fact that, prior to that conference, he was warned that “Islamic terrorists might attempt to kill him and other leaders by crashing an airliner into the summit” meetings (2).
His statement that “the prior government” had not taken precautions against terrorists using planes as weapons is also contradicted by the facts. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that under President Clinton, “the federal government had on several earlier occasions taken elaborate, secret measures to protect special events from just such an attack” (3) after receiving intelligence warnings (4).
At the press conference, Bush also claimed to have no “inkling whatsoever” (5) about an attack before 9/11. But the Washington Post today reports that newly-declassified information shows that the president did not just receive one intelligence briefing about an imminent Al Qaeda attack, but “a stream” of repeated warnings (6).
In April and May 2001, for example, the intelligence community titled some of those reports “Bin Laden planning multiple operations,” “Bin Laden network’s plans advancing” and “Bin Laden threats are real.” The CIA explicitly told the Administration that upcoming attacks would “occur on a catastrophic level, indicating that they would cause the world to be in turmoil.”
Sources
• 1. President Addresses the Nation in Prime Time Press Conference, 04/13/2004, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1208427&l=28724.
• 2. “Italy Tells of Threat at Genoa Summit”, Los Angeles Times, 09/27/2001, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1208427&l=28725.
• 3. Wall Street Journal, 04/01/2004.
• 4. “Report Warned Of Suicide Hijackings”, CBS News, 05/10/2002, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1208427&l=28726.
• 5. President Addresses the Nation in Prime Time Press Conference, 04/13/2004, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1208427&l=28724.
• 6. “Panel Says Bush Saw Repeated Warnings”, Washington Post, 04/14/2004, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1208427&l=28727.
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Kucinich: Bush Failed to Answer the Number One Question
WASHINGTON (April 14, 2004) — On April 13, 2004 President Bush failed again to answer the one most crucial question that is on the minds of most Americans: “When will our troops come home from Iraq?” Ohio Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich says Bush promised more of the same no-end-in-sight vision that has marked this unjustified and illegitimate war from the beginning.
“The President’s answers to questions about how long our forces will remain were as vague as ever and wholly predictable,” Kucinich emphasized.
The President’s statements that, “We’ll stay the course. We’ll complete the job. We must not waiver. The United States will continue to occupy — his word — Iraq as long as necessary,” makes it clear that this election is about world leadership and who is telling the truth to the American people. “It is not George W. Bush,” says the Democratic Presidential challenger.
“Bush is prepared to escalate American involvement in the region,” says Kucinich. “This administration is going to sacrifice the lives of our soldiers.” The statements made by this President are alarming. “If more troops are needed,” Bush said. “He will send them. Any concession or retreat,” he went on, “will embolden the enemy.”
Kucinich has some questions for the President. “When will Bush realize that our very presence in Iraq has become a lightning rod for increased hostility and increased violence?” The economic impact is profound. “We can’t afford to stay the course. We need a new course — a reasoned and responsible way out, not a political rationalization for keeping our troops at risk indefinitely, and sending even more troops into harm’s way.”
“Given the President’s unhesitating willingness to send more and more of our young men and women to a war that was launched on lies and exaggerations, how long will it be before he resorts to a reinstatement of the draft to feed the demands of a thoroughly flawed and totally failed foreign policy?”
The Ohio Congressman who lead the vote against the invasion is emphatic, “We went to war for the wrong reasons. We continue to be at war for the wrong reasons. And it’s time to ask the United Nations to assume responsibility so our troops can come home! This can only come about when the US takes an entirely new direction, reconnecting with the world community through the United Nations, letting go of ambitions to control the oil and the contracts, trying to privatize Iraq, and run the government by remote control.”
http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0414-01.htm
