March 19, 2008
President George W. Bush delivers remarks on the Global War on Terror during a visit Wednesday, March 19, 2008, to the Pentagon.
10:04 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT:
Thank you all.
Deputy Secretary England, thanks for the introduction.
One boss may not be here, but the other one is.
[PLEASE SAY HELLO TO LAURA, EVERYONE]
(Laughter)
On this day in 2003, the United States began Operation Iraqi Freedom.
[NOT THE United States…BUT YOUR DECIDER, ME (or I?) BEGAN Operation Iraqi Freedom]
As the campaign unfolded
[CAMPAIGN? ISN’T THAT THE WORD FOR ELECTIONS AND STUFF?],
tens and thousands of our troops poured
[LIKE MOLASSES?]
across the Iraqi border to liberate the Iraqi people and remove a regime that threatened free nations
[A REGIME WHOSE ARMED FORCES WERE DESTROYED BY MY DADDY...A REGIME THAT HAD NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION…A REGIME THAT WAS NOT A THREAT TO AMERICA].
Five years into this battle,
[ACTUALLY, IT’S AN OCCUPATION. I GUESS THAT MAKES ME THE DECIDER AND THE OCCUPIER]
(Laughter)
there is an understandable debate over whether the war was worth fighting,
[IT’S ONLY ME WHO DOESN’T UNDERSTAND THE DEBATE]
whether the fight is worth winning, and whether we can win it.
[REGARDLESS OF HOW MANY TIMES YOU’VE HEARD OTHERS SAY THAT A MILITARY SOLUTION IN IRAQ ISN’T FEASIBLE]
The men and women who crossed into Iraq five years ago removed a tyrant, liberated a country, rescued millions from unspeakable horrors…
[ORPHANED MILLIONS, KILLED MANY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS, AND IRRADIATED IRAQ].
NOTE:
As of today's five-year anniversary of the US attack on Iraq, 1,189, 173 Iraqis have died as a consequence of the invasion, according to the Iraq Body Count. The shocking number, at least 10 times greater than most estimates cited in the US media, is derived largely from a major study by the prestigious British medical journal, Lancet. (Click here for a complete explanation of methodology.)
The recent Winter Soldier hearings offered harrowing testimony from soldiers returned from the field all attesting to the utter brutality of the US occupation.
The Nation
2/19/08
Operation Iraqi Freedom was a remarkable display of military effectiveness
[AND POLITICAL DECEPTION].
Forces from the UK, Australia, Poland and other allies joined our troops in the initial operations.
[AND WERE ALSO DUPED BY ME AND MY MINIONS]
As they advanced, our troops fought their way through sand storms so intense that they blackened the daytime sky.
[EVEN THOUGH THE SAND IN THOSE STORMS WAS WHITE]
Our troops engaged in pitched battles with the Fedayeen Saddam -- death squads acting on the orders of Saddam Hussein that obeyed neither the conventions of war nor the dictates of conscience.
[KIND OF LIKE TORTURE]
Aided by the most effective and precise air campaign in history
[THERE’S THAT WORD CAMPAIGN AGAIN],
coalition forces raced across 350 miles of enemy territory
[I CALL IT THE MESOPOTAMIAN IDIDIROD]
-- destroying Republican Guard Divisions, pushing through the Karbala Gap, capturing Saddam International Airport, and liberating Baghdad in less than one month
[BEFORE IT BECAME ENGULFED IN CHAOS AND BLOODY MAYHEM]
Along the way, our troops added new chapters to the story of American military heroism.
[AND I ADDED NEW CHAPTERS TO HISTORY’S STORY OF INFAMY AND STUPIDITY]
Across the Iraqi countryside they uncovered mass graves of thousands executed by the regime.
[In February 1991, just after the start of the brief Gulf War, there was a large fight at the "Neutral Zone" located at the Iraq-Saudi border. American troops slaughtered thousands of Iraqi soldiers, after which American earth-movers plowed the Iraqis into the ground and covered them up. Possibly thousands of Iraqis were buried in the mass graves the American military created.
Near the end of the 1991 Gulf War, U.S. troops slaughtered thousands of Iraqi soldiers who were retreating from Kuwait. Once again, the dead soldiers were plowed into the ground. I can only wonder what weeds will grow from those seeds.
One mass grave near a Baghdad palace is known to contain Iraqi soldiers who died when American soldiers stormed Baghdad.
When the U.S. Marines destroyed Fallujah, at least 600 Iraqis died — and most of them were buried in mass graves set up in soccer fields, called the "Graveyard of the Martyrs" by Fallujah residents.]
Because we acted, Saddam's regime is no longer invading its neighbors or attacking them with chemical weapons and ballistic missiles.
[If the gassing was done by Iraqi soldiers, it was done with chemical weapons that came from the United States. If it was such a terrible act, why did the Reagan administration make it possible? If gassing your "own people" is such a heinous act, why did the U.S. government use gas against the Branch Davidians at Waco?]
Because we acted, the world is better and United States of America is safer.
[I AM YOUR DECIDER. I HAVE DECIDED THAT THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL BELIEVE]
(Applause.)
The battle in Iraq has been longer and harder and more costly than we anticipated -- but it is a fight we must win.
[OR LOSE BY TRYING TO WIN]
So our troops have engaged these enemies with courage and determination.
[COME ON SPEECH WRITERS! OUR TROOPS ARE NOT GETTING MARRIED, SO QUIT SAYING THAT THEY HAVE ENGAGED THEIR ENEMIES]
And as they've battled the terrorists and extremists in Iraq, they have helped the Iraqi people reclaim their nation
[A NATION THAT MILLIONS OF IRAQIS HAVE LEFT],
and helped a young democracy rise from the rubble of Saddam Hussein's tyranny.
[OR WAS IT THE RUBBLE OF MY SHOCK AND AWE?]
The terrorists who murder the innocent in the streets of Baghdad want to murder the innocent in the streets of America. Defeating this enemy in Iraq will make it less likely that we'll face the enemy here at home.
[YOU’VE HEARD ME CATAPULT THIS PROPAGANDA BEFORE]
A little over a year ago, the fight in Iraq was faltering.
[BUT DEATHS WERE NOT]
Extremist elements were succeeding in their efforts to plunge Iraq into chaos.
[A FOREIGN INVASION AND OCCUPATION DIDN’T HELP]
They had established safe havens in many parts of the country. They were creating divisions among the Iraqis along sectarian lines.
And their strategy of using violence in Iraq to cause divisions in America was working
[THE EXTREMISTS WERE CAUSING DIVISIONS IN AMERICA? THIS IS NEWS TO ME]---
as pressures built here in Washington for withdrawal before the job was done.
[WAR FOR ME---YOUR LONG WAR PRESIDENT---IS A JOB]
My administration understood that America could not retreat in the face of terror.
[JUST AS WE COULD NOT RETREAT FROM DICK’S SHOTGUN]
And we knew that if we did not act, the violence that had been consuming Iraq would worsen, and spread, and could eventually reach genocidal levels.
[OOPS! WRONG WORD. GENOCIDAL IS WHAT MY SHOCK AND AWE HAS PRODUCED]
So we reviewed the strategy -- and changed course in Iraq.
[AND THE CURSE]
We sent reinforcements into the country in a dramatic policy shift that is now known as "the surge."
[OR “THE SPLURGE” AS THE PENTAGON LIKES TO CALL IT]
General David Petraeus took command with a new mission: Work with Iraqi forces to protect the Iraqi people, pressure [sic] the enemy into strongholds
[STRONGHOLDS? DON’T WE WANT THE ENEMY IN WEAK HOLDS?].
There's still hard work to be done in Iraq. The gains we have made are fragile and reversible.
[BY SAYING THIS IT ALLOWS ME TO CONTINUE MY OCCUPATION AS IF IT WERE A SLINKY TOY: VICTORY IS ALWAYS ON THE HORIZON, BUT THERE ARE UPS AND DOWNS, BACK AND FORTHS, EBBS AND FLOWS…UNTIL THE JOB IS DONE!]
"When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse."
[EXCEPT IN IRAQ WHERE THEY LIKE STRONG CAMELS]
Next month, General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker will come to Washington to testify before Congress. I will await their recommendations before making decisions on our troop levels in Iraq.
[BUT LIKE I DID WITH FALLON, IF THEY DON’T SAY WHAT I WANT TO HEAR, THEY’LL HAVE TO HIT THE ROAD]
The successes we are seeing in Iraq are undeniable -- yet some in Washington still call for retreat. War critics can no longer credibly argue that we're losing in Iraq -- so now they argue the war costs too much.
[BY SAYING THIS, I CAN INSINUATE THAT THE CUT-AND-RUNNERS AND WHITE FLAG-WAVERS ARE UNPATRIOTIC]
In recent months we've heard exaggerated estimates of the costs of this war.
[DON’T LISTEN TO NOBEL LAUREATES OR HARVARD GRADS WHEN YOU CAN LISTEN TO A YALE GRAD WITH A C AVERAGE AND A SKULL AND BONES ACROSS HIS CHEST]
No one would argue that this war has not come at a high cost in lives and treasure---
[EXCEPT YOUR DECIDER…ME…MYSELF…AND I]
but those costs are necessary when we consider the cost of a strategic victory for our enemies in Iraq.
[DAMMIT SPEECH WRITERS! A STRATEGIC VICTORY FOR OUR ENEMIES?]
If we were to allow our enemies to prevail in Iraq---Iraq would descend into chaos.
[RIGHT NOW IT’S JUST A LITTLE MIXED UP, THAT’S ALL]
The terrorists intend even greater harm to our country
[EVEN GREATER SINCE MY INVASION AND OCCUPATION OF IRAQ]
Throughout the war on terror, we have brought the enemy -- we have fought the enemy on every single battlefront.
[FREUDIAN SLIP: BROUGHT THE ENEMY?]
And so long as the terrorist danger remains, the United States of America will continue to fight the enemy wherever it makes its stand.
[WHEREVER IT SITS, SPITS OR SLEEPS. LOOK OUT IRAN…LOOK OUT SYRIA…LOOK OUT PAKISTAN!]
(Applause.)
We will stay on the offense.
[AND I WILL REMAIN OFFENSIVE]
So we're helping the people of Iraq establish a democracy [UNDER AMERICA’S CORPORATE CONTROL] in the heart of the Middle East.
[OR THE LIVER IF YOU PREFER IT]
A free Iraq will fight terrorists instead of harboring them.
[DOES IRAQ HAVE HARBORS?]
A free Iraq will be an example for others of the power of liberty to change the societies and to displace despair with hope.
[AND DISPLACE MILLIONS OF CITIZENS FROM THEIR COUNTRY THAT GOT BOMBED, SHOCKED, AND AWED WITH A PREEMPTIVE AND PERFIDIOUS WAR]
Five years ago tonight, I promised the American people that in the struggle ahead "we will accept no outcome but victory."
[BUT I STILL CAN’T TELL YOU WHAT THE HELL IS MEANT BY VICTORY]
The battle in Iraq is noble, it is necessary, and it is just.
[WITH MY FINGERS DOUBLE-CROSSED]
And with your courage, the battle in Iraq will end in victory.
God bless.
(Applause.)
IT'S THE OIL STUPID!
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