Bolton: ‘In 100 years people aren’t going to remember Guantánamo or Abu Ghraib.’
Bolton: ‘In 100 years people aren’t going to remember Guantánamo or Abu Ghraib.’
With President Bush’s time in office rapidly coming to an end, his loyal supporters are working overtime to spin his legacy positively. In an interview with the Telegraph, Bush’s former UN ambassador, John Bolton, claims that “in 100 years,” people won’t remember two of the biggest stains on Bush’s record, Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib:
“In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, he was strong and decisive and that was critical for both the country and for the Western world,” believes John Bolton. “In 100 years people aren’t going to remember Guantánamo or Abu Ghraib, they’re going to remember 9/11 and Bush’s reaction to it.”
Bolton’s claim that history will forget Bush’s human rights abuses is similar to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack’s claim that in 50 years no one will remember the shoe-hurling Iraqi journalist.
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And as we watch the wreckage of the Worst Administration of the Worst President Ever slowly sink into the waters of history, we're treated to the innane drivel of the crew. Not content with trashing the Constitution and destroying America's reputation in the world, they endlessly shriek, hoping to re-define reality. Regrettably for them, it Ain't gonna happen.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:10 am1/20/09, End of an Error.
Contary to what the spinmeisters of the Dubya Reign of Terror, it will go down as one of the worst administrations up to the current time. Dubya will be remembered as an incompetent, stupid spoiled rich boy who came by the presidency in a highly questionable manner. The only people who will look upon this administration admirably will be those whose ethics and values are of the same murky moral fiber.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:17 amNo one will remember? then the prisons didn't do their jobs.
No one will remember the Bush Administration the way we do? Think about it--it took us 8 years to believe these guys would be so cruel, so selfish and self-centered. No one would believe that a group of people had so little regard for the people they were working for.... In fact they thought the American people worked for them!
Yes, I believe people will see it different in 50 years....no one will believe that these guys could be so evil and the American people just stood and watched.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:20 amCompared to John Ashcroft's statement that "history will not judge this kindly".....
December 29th, 2008 at 9:25 amBolton is partially correct, with this edit:
“In 100 years people, like me who don't care about or learn from history, aren’t going to remember Guantánamo or Abu Ghraib, they’re going to remember 9/11 and Bush’s reaction to it.”
December 29th, 2008 at 9:29 amHistory will remember 9/11. And it will note that it happened on the watch of the marionette George W. Bush and his handlers in Shrubworld. History will know much more by then, (regardless of how badly CheneyCo wants to keep the info secret), about how much was known before 9/11 that could have prevented the whole thing.
History will also note very clearly that 9/11 was used as a lever to push this country into a stupid invasion and occupation of a country that was rich with oil and devoid of Weapons of Mass Destruction though the lie that Iraq had those weapons was pushed HARD from the top to the bottom of the administration.
Bolton is correct. The name of George W. Bush and the event known as 9/11 will live on together. But it will be in infamy and not the way Bolton wants us to think.
Shruby's hold on power may have come with the events on 9/11 but he had been "in power" for almost 20 months before that. 9/11 happened on Shrubworld's watch. They didn't pick up the pieces from somebody else. They dropped the ball before it happened. They took advantage of the situation after it happened. They they lied some more and they screwed up everything. And John Bolton helped.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:29 amBushs reaction to 9/11 was abyssmal - he told us to go shopping! His reaction was all theatrics, with little action and positive impact. Much the way you could define his presidency - all image and no substance. The country was willing to sacrafice personally and he didn't cater to that desire. He did the same to other countries. That was truly a squandered opportunity on the part of his admin. I disagree with Bolton, neither will be forgotten. These folks are living in an alternate reality - that much is obvious.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:30 amWhen does he think History will forget WWII internment of the Japanese? It seems to me that Abu Ghraib and Guatanamo are worse cases of America responding in a counter-productive, ignorant way to a perceived threat. If we haven't forgot Japanese internment, we aren't going to forget Guantanamo.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:33 amJohn Bolton - what a Dip!
Is this all the neocons can muster? Oooh, you will see, we will be vindicated, just not now or for 100 years - oooh.
Has this walrus-face ever said or done anything intelligent or indicated the presence of intellect - not that I can remember.
Bolton, Cheney, Rice, Rove have just given up because their band of criminals is falling apart and can no longer provide cover that was once provided by their shear mass.
Prosecute these bastards; they have brought our nation to the brink of financial and moral disaster, not to mention dictatorship.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:36 amBolton will be forgotten--the war crimes of the Bush Administration will not have been.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:36 amIn a hundred years, history books will use this administration as a learning device.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:37 amHow, by not paying attention, the public allowed themselves to be duped by the criminal cabal.
How, by not practicing journalism, the media allowed this criminal cabal to use them as a conduit for the propaganda of a criminal cabal.
How, by carefully placing persons in strategic government and judicial positions, by conspiring to carry out a plan that would enrich themselves while removing the ability for the middle class to survive, by fomenting world disorder and division with belligerency and deceit while atttempting world domination, by systematically reinterpreting our sacred Constitution to give themselves unprecedented powers while removing our own democratic liberties, the Bush administration serves a lesson in the fragility of democracy that needs full public participation and watchfulness in order to survive.
Chimpy once said "who care's about history. We'll all be dead anyway." I guess his profound profundity has soaked into Bolton's feeble gray matter as well.
Had Bolton wanted to be correct he should have said "In 1 year nobody will remember who I was." Jerk
December 29th, 2008 at 9:42 ammore of what bushco will be remembered for:
Afghan Taliban urge Muslims to rise up over Gaza raids
December 29th, 2008 at 9:42 amReuters - 1 hour ago
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban guerrillas Monday called on the world's Muslims to unite and wage war against Israel in response to its air strikes that have killed more than 300 Palestinians in Gaza.
Video: NATO cash sponsoring Taliban RussiaToday
Afghan bombs kill five, wound 40 AFP
New York Times - BBC News - Monsters and Critics.com - Los Angeles Times
all 1,972 news articles » http://news.google.com/?ncl=1285078940&hl=en&topic=h
3. pasnell Says:
Ditto. The U.S. Congress was a useless, (to the people), tool of the administration and the U.S. citizenry has/had lost it's capacity for critical reasoning. Rove and Cheney understood that.
As moronic and transparent as Shruby was, he had a mostly willing audience. And the unwilling audience was shouted down.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:44 amThis guy doesn't know the facts of history or the present. How, exactly how, does he know what people will remember in the future? Geez!
December 29th, 2008 at 9:47 amHe's right. In 100 years people will remember that the president of the US, in response to an attack on home ground, invaded a country that had nothing to do with the attack and proceeded to wreak havoc on it's inhabitants.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:51 amWait...dint Bush say Bolton was irrelevant?
December 29th, 2008 at 9:58 amIn 100 years, no one is going to care what this recess-appointed (couldn't get confirmed) former UN Ambassador said in the least. No one will even remember his name.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:00 amBolton makes a great point. After all, here we are, 60 years after the atrocities, and absolutely NO ONE has any idea what Auschwitz is.
Embrace your legacy you war criminals...
December 29th, 2008 at 10:01 amAnd we all know how well Republicans can predict the future.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:06 amOK, maybe Bolton's right. Why, I don't even remember the name of that troll that posted some more nonsense just 15 minutes ago (of course, that's the length of the "Andy Warhol fame").
December 29th, 2008 at 10:07 amThe "No one could have predicted..." Administration now wants to make a major prediction?
December 29th, 2008 at 10:07 amICEMAN reported for being off topic and generally stupid.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:07 amSure, John -- nobody ever remembers the embarrassing parts of our country's history. It's been over 140 years since slavery ended, and we've forgotten all about that, haven't we? We've also forgotten about our land-grabs and broken treaties with Native Americans, we've forgotten about our forced internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, we've forgotten about Jim Crow -- hey, the list goes on and on. Surely we will also forget about Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, the unprovoked invasion of Iraq, the 2008 economic collapse, and all the other embarrassments and demonstrations of incompetence from this worst presidential administration ever, won't we?
/snark off
December 29th, 2008 at 10:07 amWe've been recalling injustices dating back hundreds of years. 100 years from now, our successors will remember John Bolton when any threat of a return to a fascistic regime rears its ugly head.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:08 amDumb Europeans
Oxymoron alert, stupid white trash troll.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:09 amICEMAN reported for being off topic and generally stupid.
Oh, yeah, that's the troll's name...Oh, wait, I forgot again.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:09 amAnyone outside this solar system could care less about the insane people occupying this planet, NOW!
December 29th, 2008 at 10:09 amLet me apply this logic: On August 26th, 2020 -- the 100 year mark -- we are hereby instructed to forget about an important victory in women's suffrage: the right to vote.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:13 am"they’re going to remember 9/11 and Bush’s reaction to it”
Uh, do you mean how he blankly stared into space for awhile?
Then, when he came to, he read 'My Pet Goat' (the most notorious children's book of our time) for while more before fleeing to fly around for a couple of hours before taking full advantage of the situation by doing all he could to make all those neocon dreams a reality?
December 29th, 2008 at 10:19 amSure, kind of like how nobody remembers the Trail of Tears, the Holocaust or the Gulag system today. All forgotten...
And I don't think "Bush's reaction to 9/11" is what you want in the museums - sitting there for seven minutes blankly staring into space and holding a copy of "My Pet Goat."
December 29th, 2008 at 10:22 amElBruce,
You, me, on same page...
Blank as the look on his face was, he sure didn't look very surprised did he?
December 29th, 2008 at 10:26 am*Flagged*, off-topic and trolling
December 29th, 2008 at 10:37 amSadly, Bolton is probably right, but only because Americans are terrible about recalling history. It's been 94 years since the Archduke Ferdinand was shot in Sarejevo, and I'd be surprised if one in ten of my countrymen knows why that was important.
Another thing in Bolton's favor - a general collapse of core democratic values that make Bush look decent by comparison. Much can happen in 100 years, including World Wars 4, 5 and 6; ecologic collapse brought on by global climate change; and reanimated Ronald Reagan.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:39 amDr. Goebbels would be jealous of Bolton if he were alive today.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:40 am“In 100 years people aren’t going to remember Guantánamo or Abu Ghraib, they’re going to remember 9/11 and Bush’s reaction to it.”
December 29th, 2008 at 10:42 amI agree--invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 is going to be hard to forget!
I also hate how all the apologist are saying Jr. has kept us safe since 9/11 well, he didn't do such a bang up job of it since 9/10.
It seems as though most members of the Bush Administration have given up hoping that they will be viewed kindly in their lifetime. Roughly a hundred years from now is apparently the point at which people will think Bush did a good job and forget all the screw-ups.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:42 amThere is something frighteningly cult-like in this expectation of posthumous vindication. Imagine if everyone's actions were governed, not by how they might affect their fellow humans, but by how they might be perceived a hundred years from now.
"Sure. I got drunk and drove your car into a lake. But years from now; who's going to remember that? Through the lens of history, people will think that I took it to a car-wash."
The are two pictures I remember that sum up Vietnam for me...
The one of the suspected Viet Cong getting shot in the head at point blank range, and the little girl running down the road after a napalm strike. Arguably two of the better known photos of the 20th century.
I'd suspect those disgusting Abu Ghraib sex torture photos will be around just as long, and become just as notorious in time...
Sorry, Mr Walrus, but Botch's, and BigDick Cheney's, and yes, YOUR lasting legacy, for decades to come, will be those photos. The world will remember you all as a bunch of blood-thirsty S&M perverts, period. Nice... and deserved.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:50 amthats supposed to make it better?
thats an excuse?
i guess i could go drunk-driving & run over three little kids...no one would remember that in 100 years, does that make it ok?
December 29th, 2008 at 10:51 amMemo to john i-never-want-to-see-your-sickening-grill-again bolton:
December 29th, 2008 at 10:52 amAt the current rate of environmental destruction no one will remember george the destroyer because there will be no humans left alive.
In 100 years the Republican party will be the thing of the past much like the Confederacy is today.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:53 amIt's the job of all of us to increase awareness and discussion of the crimes against humanity committed by America under Bush/Cheney, so that decade by decade it becomes more and more discussed. We can make it so that in 100 years you can't open a history book without huge chapters on how and why we went so horribly wrong in 2001.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:57 amin 100 years, i am pretty sure, the USofA will have disappeared, as well.
If the Globe is to survive as a human environment, international government will become an absolute necessity...
December 29th, 2008 at 11:16 amwhether or not the abuses by the Busheviks will be remembered will depend on who is writing the history books in 30, 50, 75, or 100 years.
To the victors belong the spoils. One of them is getting to cast your victorious story as "history."
If the fascists prevail, as seems to me inevitable under the regime of national security and the GWOT, regardless of the "Party" administering it, then the 'excesses' of the boosheviks will either be forgotten or have become sacraments to the State and be celebrated.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:23 amOnce these fools and propagandists are dead and the records can finally be examined the neocons will be remembered as the people who almost brought down the constitution and the country. By then we will learn all about GHW Bush and his involvement in the death of JFK and his friends plots to grab complete control and all the money in this country. How they used the two idiots, Reagan and W as puppets in their twisted power grab. But what will confuse them is how the American people, living in a country with so much potential sat back and watched this all happen
December 29th, 2008 at 11:25 amits easy to capture the essence of bolton in a few words or phrases: fantastically delusional is certainly one of them. (psychotic, sadistic, violent, self-absorbed, ignorant are a few others...you know, the usual republican/conservative personality traits.)
December 29th, 2008 at 11:26 amI guess one just has to believe that a paper that calls itself the "London Telegraph Paper" would be up on the latest scientific news.
Go away ICEMAN.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:31 amBefore women were allowed to travel with the press pool our leaders go away with marital infidelities and the good old boys protected each other. Those that didn't learn the times had changed like Bill Clinton and Gary Hart payed the price for not figuring it out.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:32 amNow the Republicans are late to learn that the internet and You Tube are here to stay. Future generations will not have to rely on what a couple of historians tell them happened. That's why it is important that every time one of these insignificant propagandists spew their lies that the comment be posted and dissected by those of us that know the facts.
Soon as they forget about Dachau, they'll forget about the Bush War Crimes.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:35 amBolton seems to forget that Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib are Bush's reaction to 9/11. People will also remember Bush's reaction, or lack thereof, to the depressed economy and Katrina as well.
These are stains that will be remembered just as Wounded Knee, Watergate and the interment of Japanese-Americans during WW II are remembered. They may even remember Bolton's role in these fresh stains on America.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:40 am23% of Americans think you did the right thing grover nerdkissed, it was your duty to take out those three kids. They would have grown into teenagers and soaped someone's windows one Halloween. Thank God you had the foresight and courage to take the steps necessary to take them out before they had a chance.
The rest of the neighborhood is incensed, even your own family hates your guts, but what the hell, this is not a popularity contest and in 100 years all will be forgiven.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:41 amElBruce, Well said. It is our responsibility to make sure these lunatics are not allowed to rewrite/spin the history books. We must aim and keep the light shining brightly in the corners that have been dark for the past 8 years by the cabal of sociopaths. These scum must be held accountable.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:48 amAre we talking about this John "I'm here to stop the counting",Bolton?
December 29th, 2008 at 11:51 amcommondreams.org/views05/0414-25.htm
Shows how stupid Bolton is. Of course, we will all be dead in 100 years so we won't be around to "remember it". What he neglected to say was that written and video documentation of the abuses will remain.
December 29th, 2008 at 12:01 pmBolton, bush, cheney, etc.
predictions by these losers also include that there were WMD's in Iraq.....
They also all predicted that tax cuts for the rich and deregulation would usher in a new an prosperous economic era in America.
Republicans only say things that move thier agenda forward, whether they are true or not is irrelivant to them.
December 29th, 2008 at 12:16 pmYou could blow up the top 100 inches of Bolton and not miss anything except the stupid mustache.
December 29th, 2008 at 12:17 pmThe unwilling audience were called traitors and unpatriotic and were told to leave this country.
December 29th, 2008 at 12:22 pmShayne - Every two years, we should post these crimes EVERYWHERE to remind the voters of these criminals.
December 29th, 2008 at 12:34 pmIn a 100 years we will all be dead. That's like a couple generations down the road and by then you bet there will be a one world government in a cashless closed society. People will be like slaves doped up and controlled by the all-seeing eye at the top of the pyramid. Of course they won't remember Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib, what a dumb statement!
Dumb neo-con rats always fast forwarding to the future to curb judgement for their crimes!
December 29th, 2008 at 12:54 pmunfortunately its everyone thats alive today that will have to deal with these "stains" and the blowback from them for years to come. THATS whats important. also love the "the evil we did is ok, everyone is going to forget the atrocities 100 years from now" moral relativism.
also, while our culture barely remembers what happened last month, we're dealing with a culture that remembers slights that happened 1000 years ago and i guarantee you theyll remember what happened.
the idiocy of john bolton knows no bounds.
December 29th, 2008 at 1:05 pm100 years from now I intend to claw my way out of my grave and make sure people are reminded of what happened in this decade.
I can see it now: elbruce the lefty zombie, raising awareness wherever he goes... (shamble shamble) haaabbeeuuzzz cooorrrpuzzz... (shamble shamble)
December 29th, 2008 at 1:07 pmViva ElBruce!
December 29th, 2008 at 1:12 pm“In 100 years people aren’t going to remember Guantánamo or Abu Ghraib, they’re going to remember 9/11 and Bush’s reaction to it.”
Because a) Bolton is admitting that Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib were wrong and b) "My Pet Goat" becomes the all time best selling kid's book ever.
December 29th, 2008 at 1:44 pmFu#**k you Bolton!!!! Do the World a favor and shoot yourself now!
December 29th, 2008 at 2:13 pm100 years from now, if Bolton would have a marked grave, I hope informed people will piss on it!
December 29th, 2008 at 2:15 pmBolton wont be here to see it from hell. The Bush Policy stands as an example of what can be done without any Country stopping it. Americans might want to forget Gitmo but when some terrorist in the future kidnappes, tortures, rapes, murders and keep Americans without charges it wll be refered to as the Bush Policy. The World will cry of the horror but the names Bush/Cheney will ring loud as the two who developed and used the Policy.
December 29th, 2008 at 2:22 pmQuite the sleight of hand--don't look at what's happening now. This is so abusive.
December 29th, 2008 at 2:53 pmIn 100 years, Hitler may only be remembered for the Volkswagen Beetle!
December 29th, 2008 at 3:08 pm"they’re going to remember 9/11 and Bush’s reaction to it.”
Clearing missing from this story is a photo below it of Bush sitting paralyzed in a Florida classroom.
December 29th, 2008 at 3:35 pmBolton's half right. “In 100 years people aren’t going to remember Guantánamo or Abu Ghraib, they’re going to remember 9/11 and Bush’s reaction to it.” This is true. However, Bush's reaction to 9/11...WAS Guantanamo and Abu Gharib. Amongst other equally horrific decisions. Bolton's argument is tantamount to "in 100 years, people won't remember Saturday Night Live, they're going to remember that there was a variety program that was on television, and it was live, and it aired on Saturday Nights." To-may-to to-mah-to, Bolton, you asshat.
December 29th, 2008 at 4:40 pmUnfortunately, he may be right.
What percentage of high schoolers today can tell you anything about Nurenberg
(either the post WW II trials or I'd even settle for hearing about Die Meistersinger).
December 29th, 2008 at 5:33 pmHow can Bolt-On tell? Did he get one of those memory -eraser thingies from "Men in Black"?
December 29th, 2008 at 5:51 pmEighty-eight years later, the Iraqis are still mad at the British for occupying their country after the end of WWI. I believe it had something to do with the OIL they happened to be sitting on.
from the Wiki:
"The 1920 Revolution Brigades describes its aim as to establish a liberated and independent Iraqi state on an Islamic basis. It has been active in the area west of Baghdad, in the regions of Abu Ghraib, Khan Dari and Fallujah and in the governorates of Ninwi, Diyali and al-Anbar.[6] The name of the group (Literally "Brigades of the Revolution of the Twenty") refers to the 1920 revolution against British colonial rule in Iraq, drawing an implicit parallel between the nationalist resistance against that occupation with the guerrillas fighting coalition forces today. They are the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Iraq)."
December 29th, 2008 at 6:08 pmUse the RICO law, to arrest Bolton, with all the other Criminal RepubliCons. If the Bush Crime Family is not put behind bars, it will set a precedent; which will destroy America, if the Criminal Bush and his accomplices have not already destroyed America.
December 29th, 2008 at 8:01 pmGive me a break!! How can anyone be focused with any sense be pre occupied with worrying about gitmo and abu ghraib. Our troops were saving our buts 99.9% while we were having lunches in Hollywood and NYC. These two incidents were way over fabricated by left media.
furs
December 29th, 2008 at 8:38 pmBolton 100 years from now will be remembered as the most worthless recess-appointed U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in American history.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:13 pmfurs Says:
furs
___________
Hardly "over fabricated", skinned animal pelt... those disgusting Abu Ghraib photos will be Botch's, and the GOOP's, lasting legacy for decades to come.
Live w/ it.
Just the fact that clueless Cheneys like yerself feel obligated to keep coming here protesting the way you do is such a tell, in poker parlance...
Me'tinks thou dost protest too much...
December 29th, 2008 at 9:40 pmfurs,
Our butts were not in danger from the Iraqis. You are a fool if you think they were. In fact, Saddam was a very good buffer against the fundamental, radical Islamists. That is why Daddy Bush left him in power in 1991 when it would have been so easy to remove hijm. that is why foreign policy experts from that administration were opposed to this war.
Our CIA put Saddam in power.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:17 pmIraq had nothing to do with 9/11.
Iraq had no WMD.
Iraq had no ties to terrorists. That's more than can be said for Reagan, Bush, North, Casey, and Bush.
furs,
You also have the false belief that Abu Grahib was an isolated incident. This torture and degrading treatment happened in every prison in Iraq and Afghanistan. Worse happened in the secret prisons in the rest of the world.
"left media"???
December 29th, 2008 at 10:23 pmThe Pentagon said 90% of the thousands rounded up in sweeps and put in these prisons were innocent and later released.
The Pentagon said there about 110 deaths! Is our Pentagon part of the "left media" in your opinion?
furs Says:
Furry you are a liar and a fool. You show only that you are a brainwashed moron without the slightest idea what you are talking about. Nothing about Abu Ghraib was fabricated. Nothing our military was doing in Iraq had ANYTHING to do with making us safer in any way much less saving our butts and you are a delusional fool
December 30th, 2008 at 2:49 am