Today, President Bush ducked responsibility for the mistakes he has made in the Iraq war, saying, “No act of ours invited the rage of the killers.” Bush needs only to look at today’s date — October 6th — over the past 3 years to see what acts of his have persuaded more and more Iraqis to join the ranks of the insurgency.
October 6, 2002: Bush Promises Liberation, Not Conquest, of IraqOctober 6, 2003: White House’s Cronyism Contracts Leave Iraqis Without Basic ServicesOctober 6, 2004: Duelfer Report Eliminates Primary Justification For Iraq War; Bremer Says Bush Was Not Prepared For Post-War Iraq; Bush Delivers a “Major Speech on Terrorism”October 6, 2005: Bush Delivers Another Major Speech on Terrorism; Takes No Accountability For Missteps
Details below:October 6, 2002: Bush Promises Liberation, Not Conquest, of Iraq
Philadelphia Inquirer headline: “Bush vows to help Iraq rebuild; In his speech tomorrow, the President will promise the Iraqi people liberation, not conquest, an aide said.” [Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/6/02]
Bush: “Some worry that a change of leadership in Iraq could create instability and make the situation worse. The situation could hardly get worse, for world security and for the people of Iraq. The lives of Iraqi citizens would improve dramatically if Saddam Hussein were no longer in power, just as the lives of Afghanistan’s citizens improved after the Taliban.” [Bush, 10/7/02]
October 6, 2003: White House’s Cronyism Contracts Leave Iraqis Without Basic Services
Joe M. Allbaugh, a close friend of President Bush’s and the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency until last March, is here to tell you that his new company, which advises clients on how to get business in Iraq, is not trading on his White House connections. The Iraqis need assistance, Mr. Allbaugh said, and he can help. [NYT, 10/6/03]
President Bush announced yesterday that the White House will take a stronger role in overseeing the struggling effort to rebuild Iraq”¦ The announcement comes [amid] criticism of the administration for delays in restoring power, providing security and formulating a plan to cope with the complexities of rebuilding a country of 24 million people. [Washington Post, 10/7/03]
October 6, 2004: Duelfer Report Eliminates Primary Justification For Iraq War; Bremer Says Bush Was Not Prepared For Post-War Iraq; Bush Delivers a “Major Speech on Terrorism”
Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction or the immediate capability of producing them prior to the 2003 Iraq War, the chief U.S. weapons inspector for Iraq said in a report released Wednesday. [Newshour, 10/6/04]
“[T]here was considerable surprise and distress inside the White House this week when Iraq’s former administrator let loose with what he intended to be off-the-record comments criticizing the administration’s handing of Iraq”¦ According to The Washington Post story Tuesday, Bremer conceded in a speech at an insurance conference in West Virginia that ‘we never had enough troops on the ground.’ He added: ‘We paid a big price for not stopping it because it established an atmosphere of lawlessness.’” [Newsweek, 10/6/04]
Scrambling for a new edge since stumbling in last week’s debate, President Bush abruptly reshuffled his schedule so he could deliver a major speech on terrorism today aimed at blunting Sen. John F. Kerry’s burst of post-debate momentum. [Boston Herald, 10/6/04]
October 6, 2005: Bush Delivers Another Major Speech on Terrorism; Takes No Accountability For Missteps
Bush: “No act of ours invited the rage of the killers.” [CNN, 10/6/05]