Think Progress

Bush: ‘Outside forces tend to divide people up.’»

Yesterday, President Bush defended his decision not to send U.S. troops into the Darfur genocide, saying he learned lessons from the genocide in Rwanda. Ignorant of the comparison to Iraq, Bush said foreign troops would only be divisive and “unbelievably counterproductive”:

BUSH: A clear lesson I learned in the museum was that outside forces that tend to divide people up inside their country are unbelievably counterproductive. In other words, people came from other countries — I guess you’d call them colonialists — and they pitted one group of people against another.

Watch it:

Screenshot

Atrios noted the irony, adding, “The museum was the Rwandan genocide museum.”

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81 Responses to “Bush: ‘Outside forces tend to divide people up.’”


  1. McWars Says:

    Critical thinking makes for smaller profits in Republibushworld.


  2. CitiDC Says:

    Sounds like he missed the genocide part. Those damn Belgians!


  3. DieNowForPeace Says:

    Folks, it just don’t get any stupider.


  4. McWars Says:

    It’s best if Iraqi nations handle Iraqi problems (or non-problems Bushscum perceive to be problems).


  5. writechic Says:

    But apparently, he’s watched Hotel Rwanda. Guess he was reaching for the pretzel bowl during the part when all the white people left.


  6. tarazan Says:

    Bush with his Napoleonic thinking does not think any more that Iraq is a foreign country.
    When a country is marked as an oil producing one,the right to invade is a natural and normal to Bush’ thinking.


  7. DieNowForPeace Says:

    …I’m…. sorry…. my….. head….. is…. still…. spinning…. from…. that…. one….

    God, he makes late-night comedians jobs SO fcuking easy!


  8. katy Says:

    !
    HE LEARNED A LESSON AT A MUSEUM???!!!

    uuuuughhh…


  9. missmolly Says:

    Geez — can this man even HEAR himself when he speaks?


  10. Juan C. Says:

    Ironically, he is right. What Darfur needs is a UN peace force, that enforces peace and not rapes women and sells food.

    And Superpowers should stop funding armed groups…


  11. Buckie Boy Says:

    And this is different from Iraq in what way?

    Bush/Cheney/All the others
    Hague Trials ‘09

    Buck Fush


  12. tballou Says:

    OMG, the idiot in chief actually said something true!

    Outside forces DO tend to divide people up, and lead on long, drawn out civil wars and…and…oh, never mind.


  13. katy Says:

    that statement… just… completely oblivious to reality…
    totally delusional…


  14. DRxJ Says:

    BUSH: A clear lesson I learned in the museum was that outside forces that tend to divide people up inside their country are unbelievably counterproductive.

    Ummm, you didn’t learn that lesson in a genocide museum, ya dork!
    Outside forces that tend to divide people up inside their country are unbelievably counterproductive! True. Here’s a map. Try to find the Middle East! Locate Iraq! BINGO!!!!


  15. toasterhead Says:

    Funny - no mention of the divisive influence of outside extractive industries - i.e. oil companies in Sudan or mining companies in Rwanda, the DRC, and Burundi - on enabling and even promoting these wars, genocidal or not.


  16. whatevah Says:

    “outside forces”?? As in total paranoia or what? Delusional and paranoid - but we’ve known about his profound psychiatric illness for some time.

    He’s not sending forces because it’s a case of “what forces”?? Our forces are dwindling and overwrought.


  17. lefty Says:

    This country will NEVER have a leader more ridiculous than this clown.


  18. whatevah Says:

    #16 In Bush’s BubbleWorld, these things only exist if he says so.


  19. ADDdaddy Says:

    OMG, what an A$$HOLE. Seriously, that is one stupid A$$HOLE.


  20. whatevah Says:

    I have to wonder what psychiatric meds they’re feeding him now?? He’s been on Elavil or prozac from the time he almost crashed and burned two years ago on national television. Whatever they’re giving him must also be an “progeria initiator” as well. How much has he physically aged in the past few months? He’s looking as old as his dear old pappy.


  21. RobertSeattle Says:

    Worst President Ever. The World will Rejoice on Jan 20, 2009 when this idiot gets on a plane and heads back to his Village.


  22. whatevah Says:

    missmolly: If he ever did, he’s jump into the nearest closet and bury himself.


  23. whatevah Says:

    #22 I hear that parades and galas are being planned across this nation for that beautiful day when this chimp is no longer in our faces.


  24. Anacher Forester Says:

    Yep, the Allies were real counterproductive and divisive in stopping the genocide known as the Holocaust.

    Just when we thought he couldn’t get any more stupid, Bush gets stupidererer.

    -AF


  25. tom Says:

    This country will NEVER have a leader more ridiculous than this clown.

    I sure hope you are correct. From the looks of it, though, little Johnny McCain would compete for the title in the unlikely event that he gets elected.


  26. McWars Says:

    Not advocating more responsibility on a fragile U.S. military, but it’s not surprising that Bush would rule out military intervention in a scenario having 100x the merit of invading a sovereign nation.

    If it has legitimacy, it’s a waste of Republican time. There’s no money in it.


  27. AngryOne Says:

    International forces seemed to do a pretty good job ending the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. Bush’s first response when asked about Kosovo in 1999:

    “Nobody needs to tell me what I believe. But I do need somebody to tell me where Kosovo is.”


  28. Leftside Annie Says:

    OMG. Please…for the love of GOD - pass me my “Unknown American” bag — QUICK!!!!


  29. Juan C. Says:

    i.e. oil companies in Sudan or mining companies in Rwanda, the DRC, and Burundi - on enabling and even promoting these wars, genocidal or not.
    Comment by toasterhead

    Toaster: First rule of Free Trade (Fight Club) = You don’t talk about Free Trade’s consequences or you are a communist and you don’t want people to get rich by plundering poor people’s resources.


  30. scytherius Says:

    Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the stupidest man alive. No, wait. Sorry. He’s not nearly the stupidest . . . it’s the people that voted for him. You make em dumb, we make em Republican dumb.


  31. hil_1 Says:

    i know i shouldnt be shocked at this stage… but still… just wow! Unbelievable!!!!


  32. Dumb_Fox Says:

    Wow. I mean really, a two-year old has greater self-awareness.


  33. Innocent Bystander Says:

    He’s the Master of Unintentional Irony. Bush is obviously a sociopath who is incapable of self-reflection, so we’ve gotten 8 years of this rule by idiocracy. It would be funny if this man hasn’t been directly responsible for the death of 100’s of thousands of innocent Iraqi’s. I suspect that he continues to get away with it because he’s perfectly willing to start a nuclear war should anyone attempt to hold his administration accountable for the war crimes they’ve committed.


  34. Parrotlover77 Says:

    I really think he does things like this on purpose. I think he has fun setting up these huge ironic situations just to watch the conservative mainstream media tap-dance around it and point out every silly non-sensical nuance they can to attempt to prove “iraq is different!”


  35. Xisithrus Says:

    …the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.


  36. toasterhead Says:

    Toaster: First rule of Free Trade (Fight Club) = You don’t talk about Free Trade’s consequences or you are a communist and you don’t want people to get rich by plundering poor people’s resources.

    Comment by Juan C. — February 20, 2008 @ 11:59 am

    Yeah, I know. I tend to violate that rule a lot.

    I also violate the no-spoiler rule by telling people that Free Trade is actually just an alternate personality of Imperialism. An Ed Norton to Imperialism’s Brad Pitt, if you will.


  37. McWars Says:

    How is history supposed to vindicate george, when he has not a shred of historical knowledge? He’s been spending his entire life cheating history, beginning at Yale College.


  38. christopher wiwi Says:

    Once again the head CHIMP is speaking contradiction. Did he forget about IRAQ already?


  39. raynman Says:

    “Who’s the bigger fool? The fool, or the fool who follows him?”
    -Obi Wan Kenobi


  40. DaTruth Says:

    You are way past-due IDIOT FREAK! Shut up!


  41. sacopenapa Says:

    One day there will be a memorial for the two million dead ieaqui civilians. They will be mantioning how the invasion and occupation of iraq by the USA has caused these deaths. The lies and war crimes of the USA will not be forgotten!


  42. techsong Says:

    I can’t wait until we don’t have to listen to this stooge and his ridiculous speeches. They are an insult to every American.


  43. JMOHR Says:

    The real question is why the MSM (I know, they are controlled by the corpocracy) will not step in and call this idiot on such stupidity. Where are the reports that Bush had to learn in a museum what he saw develop in practice in Iraq.


  44. sacopenapa Says:

    Bush is a war criminal, but a very stupid one too!


  45. The Republic of Stupidity Says:

    Hark! O hark! Me’thinks I hear a snark!


  46. Xisithrus Says:

    I think he means that divide and conquer is politically useful as rational to send in troops, or not.


  47. MCMetal Says:

    BUSH: A clear lesson I learned in the museum was that outside forces that tend to divide people up inside their country are unbelievably counterproductive.

    Kind of like you have in two countries ………Iraq and the US


  48. sacopenapa Says:

    Uhhhhhhh??!!! Bush went to a museum and lernt something… he sounds like a school teenager! What a moron! What? He didn’t know about Rwanda genocide before???


  49. toasterhead Says:

    The real question is why the MSM (I know, they are controlled by the corpocracy) will not step in and call this idiot on such stupidity. Where are the reports that Bush had to learn in a museum what he saw develop in practice in Iraq.

    Comment by JMOHR — February 20, 2008 @ 12:07 pm

    This is most likely the only story most media outlets will have from Africa this year. After this it’ll be forgotten unless there’s a major earthquake or famine or something.


  50. IgnoranceIsNotBliss Says:

    Oh man. He just can’t help himself can he?


  51. sacopenapa Says:

    sorry my spelling… second language…


  52. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    What an idiot.

    “Outside forces” do NOT tend to “divide people up”. Outside forces tend to unify people.

    What has happened in much of colonial Africa is that outside forces simply exploited deep divisions that were already there.

    The difference in Iraq is that we (the “outside force”) haven’t exploited divisions, we simply gave them oxygen and now we’re caught in between them.


  53. Zimzone Says:

    Even though he vetoed it, when he retires he’ll qualify for…
    .
    .
    .
    S-CHIMP


  54. sacopenapa Says:

    The news is that African nations declined to host a US military base on their soil! Great!


  55. McWars Says:

    I get the feeling Bush’s departure is going to be the happiest day of the 21st century to-date.


  56. RUCerious Says:

    I never thought I’d be saying

    “Bush, please come home’??

    It’s just too damned embarassing having him loosed upon the rest of the planet.


  57. Juan C. Says:

    Toaster, I always thought Tyler Durden had to be Norton. Pitt is way too lame.


  58. Cats r Flyfishn Says:

    Has the boy Bush looked at what is going on in Iraq lately? I can’t believe that he makes such stupid public statements.


  59. RUCerious Says:

    The history of Africa shows what happens when colonial powers are in charge for several hundred years.
    Requisite national institutions are stunted, and economic power centers in the hands of the elite remnant of the occupying power.

    It is so apparent that Bush has the same grasp of African politics that he has of the Middle East. Zilch.


  60. toasterhead Says:

    Toaster, I always thought Tyler Durden had to be Norton. Pitt is way too lame.

    Comment by Juan C. — February 20, 2008 @ 12:22 pm

    He was good in Snatch, ok?


  61. Juan C. Says:

    He didn’t know about Rwanda genocide before???
    Comment by sacopenapa

    I think he knows exactly what the rest of us, commonly know, that a bunch of Africans (no country distinction, just continental, cause those uncivilized barbarians are all the same) decided to kill another bunch of Africans.

    No word of Belgium in the story…


  62. RUCerious Says:

    Just ironical. Lots of ironicals. Next he’ll be asking what metal irony is made of.


  63. Juan C. Says:

    He was good in Snatch, ok?
    Comment by toasterhead

    I hate to say it, but yeah…and in Seven…


  64. tombaker Says:

    Did he really think no one there was aware of his “outside force” that has occupied Iraq for how f’ing long now? Probably so. Look how stupid he thinks Americans are…


  65. LividLib Says:

    “A clear lesson I learned in the museum was that outside forces that tend to divide people up inside their country are unbelievably counterproductive.”

    …if he only had a brain!
    fu(king unbelievable!

    i take that back. considering the source, TOTALLY believable!

    I’m sure they had a chaperone for dumbass. I could see frat boy drawing mustaches on pictures of ruwandian genocide victims and breaking stuff just for the hell of it.


  66. desaparecido Says:

    What’s the best first-aid technique for someone whose head has just exploded? Someone, help.


  67. katy Says:

    must see:

    Conservapedia Page of the Day

    Conservapedia’s entry for Scopes Trial starts off harmlessly enough:
    […]
    http://agitprop.typepad.com/ agitprop/ 2008/ 02/ conservapedia-1.html


  68. katy Says:

    via C&L blog roundup, btw


  69. MCMetal Says:

    The Lamestream Media covering this dipshit should all be drawn and quartered ; no one there knew enough to stand up and ask a follow-up question to his stupid statement ?


  70. Marie Says:

    Stupid speaks again. No one asks him to defend his ignorant statements.


  71. Neeko Says:

    Can we just refer to him as “Special Officer Doofy?” (Please refer to the film Scary Movie)

    He’s just so special!


  72. Max-1 Says:

    .

    Of course the USA isn’t an outside force…

    That’s our oil under their sand.

    .


  73. techsong Says:

    I think Bush should just do the comedy circuit after office. That way he can really get paid for what he is. A buffoon president.


  74. Doc Rock Says:

    ARG poll released today (yeah, I know!) shows Bush with an overall approval rating of 19% and approval rating for his handling of the economy at 14%. Could these be nearly accurate?


  75. SP Biloxi Says:

    “Bush: ‘Outside forces tend to divide people up.’ ”

    Pass the dutchie on the left hand side please…


  76. dictatortot Says:

    The more he talks, the dumber he sounds. Just eleven more months of the Frat Boy from Hell…

    http://www.newsprism.wordpress.com


  77. Tenebrae Says:

    30,000+ soldiers’ lives in Iraq and he finally realizes this?

    Fricken idiot.


  78. Jericho Says:

    Speak of irony.. Bush gives the perfect summary of Anglo-Saxan and Western foreign policy since…. world war II ? Columbus ? Jesus Christ ?


  79. HarryT Says:

    They must not have any oil or a way to help make his friends richer.


  80. LThomas Says:

    Tenebrae (#78) mentions 30,000 deaths in Iraq (plus soldiers). I’m afraid that’s awfully low! Even “W” himself admitted to 30,000 Iraqi deaths, and that was about 3 YEARS AGO - and even that ludicrously low figure is over 10 times the number killed on 9/11. Certainly, the real number is AT LEAST 30,000 Iraqis killed per year (or 150,000 total dead, mostly civilian, mostly innocent). The British Lancet/Johns Hopkins Study found a 100,000 person “gap” in the Iraqi population after the 1st year or so. The same, highly respected methodology now shows nearly 1,000,000 (one million) Iraqi dead since the Invasion. Others have said that over 4.5 million have been driven from their homes (with half of these driven entirely out of Iraq - mostly to Jordan and Syria) since the 2003 Invasion (and that’s in a country of only 27 million to start with). So, 1 out of every 6 driven from their homes! And, at the very best, maybe 10% of these have returned since the recent downturn in violence, but that leaves over 4 million still afraid to return to their homes - many of which now house new Shia families, who will be very unlikely to simply leave.


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