Posted on 10/13/2004 9:41:35 PM PDT by cincinnati65
In the debate tonight and spin afterwards, much was made of President Bush's comment about "not being worried about Osama bin Laden". I've found the quote in context:
Q Mr. President, in your speeches now you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that? Also, can you tell the American people if you have any more information, if you know if he is dead or alive? Final part -- deep in your heart, don't you truly believe that until you find out if he is dead or alive, you won't really eliminate the threat of --
THE PRESIDENT: Deep in my heart I know the man is on the run, if he's alive at all. Who knows if he's hiding in some cave or not; we haven't heard from him in a long time. And the idea of focusing on one person is -- really indicates to me people don't understand the scope of the mission.
Terror is bigger than one person. And he's just -- he's a person who's now been marginalized. His network, his host government has been destroyed. He's the ultimate parasite who found weakness, exploited it, and met his match. He is -- as I mentioned in my speech, I do mention the fact that this is a fellow who is willing to commit youngsters to their death and he, himself, tries to hide -- if, in fact, he's hiding at all.
So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you. I'm more worried about making sure that our soldiers are well-supplied; that the strategy is clear; that the coalition is strong; that when we find enemy bunched up like we did in Shahikot Mountains, that the military has all the support it needs to go in and do the job, which they did.
And there will be other battles in Afghanistan. There's going to be other struggles like Shahikot, and I'm just as confident about the outcome of those future battles as I was about Shahikot, where our soldiers are performing brilliantly. We're tough, we're strong, they're well-equipped. We have a good strategy. We are showing the world we know how to fight a guerrilla war with conventional means.
Q But don't you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.
But once we set out the policy and started executing the plan, he became -- we shoved him out more and more on the margins. He has no place to train his al Qaeda killers anymore. And if we -- excuse me for a minute -- and if we find a training camp, we'll take care of it. Either we will or our friends will. That's one of the things -- part of the new phase that's becoming apparent to the American people is that we're working closely with other governments to deny sanctuary, or training, or a place to hide, or a place to raise money.
And we've got more work to do. See, that's the thing the American people have got to understand, that we've only been at this six months. This is going to be a long struggle. I keep saying that; I don't know whether you all believe me or not. But time will show you that it's going to take a long time to achieve this objective. And I can assure you, I am not going to blink. And I'm not going to get tired. Because I know what is at stake. And history has called us to action, and I am going to seize this moment for the good of the world, for peace in the world and for freedom.
Sorry, I was disappointed in Fox News for cutting off the comment midsentence. Didn't think that was too clear.
Although questionable audio has been released. No video of Bin Laden has been released since Tora Bora.
IMHO, He is dead.
I think Bush is right on the money. The problem is much bigger then any one person. Focusing on just one person just is another indication of how completely unfit Kerry is. Kerry seems to think if we kill or capture Bin Laden we can go back to a 9-10 Mindset. We cannot.
I thought they clipped his response,thanks for posting what was really said.
I agree. That's why I felt it was important to post the entire question and answer in context.
Yes, they did cut it off mid sentence, and the whole conversation (above)CLEARLY points out the reason he's not concerned about him is because he is EFFECTIVLY DEAD even if alive. He is so deep in his spider hole he can't even talk to his own people.
People should be e-mailing this to every station and newspaper in the land.
The War on Terror is larger than just one man. Would Kerry pull his Pampers up, declare the war over, and pretend all is back to normal if we captured (or proved dead) Bin Laden?
For all we know it could have been part of a sentence that made perfect sense
for instance: "I'm not really worried about Bin Laden" ///snip// [as much as I am about neutralizing the entire Al Queda network worldwide.]
and besides that what good is it to worry,
worry never helped any leader solve a problem
What got me is how OBVIOUS it was that he was still speaking.....
He then mentioned Kerry's charge that Bush had said he wasn't concerned about Osama.
Williams, in an attempt to "bring it into it's proper context, simply played the video tape of the Bush pc that contained the following text.....
I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him.
That was it....no more.
Thanks for the post. Now lets send this to Alan Combs so HE UNDERSTANDS What W was talking about.
I'm not all that much worried about OBL either, since I have confidence in those in charge in DC just now.
No doubt killing bin Laden would be a psychological victory, and his head would be a great war trophy, but it would not mean the end to the War on Terror. So Bush is quite correct in asserting that bin Laden has been marginalized and reduced to hiding in a cave, and that seeking out and destroying his terror organization is more important than capturing him. Too much focus on just one man would surely undermine the broader war on terror.
Apparently, not all the editors and managers over there at Fox are interested in showing people the truth. And hiding the truth helps Kerry, whose campaign is founded on endless lies.
According to the dumokrats, Ashcroft has OBL down in the basement of the Justice Dept (violating his civil rights by poking him with a stick) getting him ready to pull out in a week or so. Maybe that is why W isn't concerned about him.
Of course, when we sent the "warlords" to get Osama, wasn't THAT working with our coalition in Afghanistan?
To paraphrase Sore Loserman, "that's not the right coalition" (i.e. not the frenchies)...WSJ has good editorial on sKerry's charge of outsourcing @ Tora Bora...
When you're the leader of a nation like our's, you have to voice thoughts that strengthen your position, not undermine it.
The idea that an uncaught Bin Laden would signify failure of the U.S. efforts against terrorism, had to be put to rest.
Bush conveyed the thought that Laden, caught or not, wouldn't have much impact on the win/loss of the war on terrorism. He played down his significance with some casual remarks. He was right to do so.
Kerry would steal and sell his grandmothers false teeth if he thought it would gain him political ground. That same Kerry sold out the nation in an effort to damn Bush for downplaying Laden's significance related to the win/loss of the war on terrorism. By doing this, he actually lofts Laden as someone who's capture is indeed integral to the win/loss of the War on Terrorism. Nice move butthead.
Kerry really is a tragicly flawed jerk.
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