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Reject the Premise That Bush Lied About Iraq.
Rush Limbaugh.com ^ | May 18, 2015 | Rush Limbaugh

Posted on 05/18/2015 5:40:06 PM PDT by Kaslin

RUSH: It's Josh in Williamsburg, Virginia. Great to have you, sir. Hello. Appreciate your patience.

CALLER: Hey, Rush. Thanks for taking my call. So I want to do two things. The first is to say that Jeb Bush's answer to Megyn Kelly's initial question was not necessarily wrong. He could validly have that answer to her question. The second is to --

RUSH: Wait a minute, Josh. What --

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: Just refresh people's -- what did he say? What was his answer to that first question? He would do it all over again, right?

CALLER: Yeah. So the question was that, knowing what you know now, would you do what was done then. He answered yes, but he answered it to a question of "with the same facts then, would you do the same thing." So that's basically what he said. My argument is that his answer is not necessarily incorrect regardless of the question. It would be valid -- it could have been just as valid and just as justified, knowing what we know now, to go into Iraq back then.

RUSH: Except -- see, here's the thing. Republican candidates are gonna have to figure this out, and I think Jeb sooner than the others. He's got to figure out that no matter what he says to this question, the media has already concluded that Iraq was a mistake, it was a debacle, it was a total mistake. The media thinks everybody else thinks that, and --

CALLER: That's true. But let me address that point and address the caller that you had a couple callers ago --

RUSH: The neocon guy?

CALLER: Blaming everything on neocons, right?

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: Number one, I don't think he knows what neocon really means as a international relations paradigm. Number two, Saddam Hussein was not a good man. He was not, as you caricatured the opposition, he was not a bumbling dope, he was not a bumbling idiot. He was a murderer. He was a psychopath. He repressed his people politically and physically. He committed genocide against his own people, and, you know, that caller is falling into the same trap as Rand Paul did when he criticized Jeb Bush, and that's the trap of time travel. Just because we say that hindsight is 20/20, it doesn't mean that if we change some facts in the past, that we will get a different result.

RUSH: No question about it.

CALLER: No question about it. But the fallacy that everybody falls into, that if we wouldn't have gone into Iraq in 2003, then today's facts would be as if it was 2003, and that's not true at all. In fact, if you look at the toppling of Saddam that let directly to the Arab Spring to probably one of the weakest moments in Iran's history, which was the Green Revolution in 2009, you can't blame Iranian strength on us going into Iraq. You can blame that squarely on us not intervening in 2009 when Iran was --

RUSH: Yeah, but, see, here's --

CALLER: -- at their weaknesses.

RUSH: Right. Okay. Now, I've gotta reserve my comment for after the break here because we've just reached it, but I appreciate the call, and I acknowledge your points with a "but."

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Yeah, so Jeb Bush is between a rock and a hard place. So here comes the totality of the Drive-By Media with a single question: "Would you invade Iraq like your brother did, knowing what you know now, knowing what you know now, would you invade Iraq like your brother did?" And Jeb says (paraphrasing), "I can't throw my brother overboard. I can't throw my brother under the bus." So he says, "Yes." But he means "yes" for a whole host of reasons, as those outlined by our previous caller. But the reasons, the fact that they're factual kind of misses the point because that's not why the question was asked.

The question was not asked to elucidate a thorough foreign policy explanation answer. The question was asked to trip up and disqualify Jeb Bush. The question was asked to once again caricature George W. Bush as a failure. I think the Republican establishment is the last bunch of people to realize that the mainstream is not necessary and certainly is not going to work to get their message out. Because I think the establishment of the Republican Party -- when you believe that you can't criticize Obama because the independents won't like it; when you believe that you've got to be for amnesty to get the Hispanics on your side; when you believe that you have to say things like you want to be bipartisan, you want to work together with the Democrats, if you believe that that's what you have to say, then you're also going to believe that you can convince the mainstream media that you are worth supporting, and that's what I don't think is possible.

And I think they're living an illusion and they are not coming to grips, maybe because they don't want to, with the fact that the media is every bit the enemy as is any Democrat candidate. Whoever it was, Megyn Kelly, it gets picked up, and he's asked this question by a lot of people. The reason for asking the question is not to produce an enlightened foreign policy answer, because there were a whole lot of the reasons beyond weapons of mass destruction that we went into Iraq, but nobody remembers them and nobody's talking about them. And if you're not gonna bring them up in that answer, they may as well not have been relevant.

There are ways of doing this. As I said, look, I outlined it a moment ago. I would simply refuse to accept the premise of the question. That, to me, seems like the number one thing to teach every Republican officeholder and candidate. I don't care if it's for the town council, you learn to identify the premise of the question, and you learn to instinctively reject the premise. And in this case, in this question, "knowing what you know now, would you do it again? Was it a mistake?" You refuse to accept the premise.

The premise is, "Iraq was a total Bush failure. Iraq was a total Republican failure." And you have to not accept that and turn it around, if you're gonna answer the question. "Well, had I known that the Democrat Party was going to attempt to divide this country by sabotaging the war effort. Had I known the lengths to which Harry Reid would proclaim the Iraq war a loss, then I might have rethought it. If I had known that the Democrats was going to be every bit the enemy in the war in Iraq that Saddam was, then, yeah, I might." Get it out there. Get it out there that these things we're living with today are the result of Democrat Party policy. They are the result of the Barack Obama presidency. It takes two to tango.

Bush hasn't been president in six years. Iraq was stable. Obama took credit for it. Remind them of that. Remind them that Barack Obama and Joe Biden claimed credit for a successful Iraq war policy back in the days when it was stable and there were elections pre-ISIS. There's any number of ways of doing this. If you're gonna do it from the standpoint of giving an enlightened foreign policy answer, then you better give all of the enlightened aspects of the answer in the answer.

I know, look, it's easy to sit here and suggest how to do things when you're not in the fire itself, and I understand that. All of this is hindsight, and hindsight makes everything much easier.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I went back to the archives of the Grooveyard of Forgotten Sound bite favorites, and I want you to hear Bill Clinton talking about Saddam Hussein. I mentioned this earlier in the program, and I just wanted to give you the backup. Bill Clinton in 1998 (trying to make everybody forget about Lewinsky) was threatening to go to war with Iraq. Saddam Hussein was preparing weapons of mass destruction. The UN and everybody knew about it. All the intelligence services knew about it.

Because the Democrats today (led by Maureen Dowd yesterday) are trying to create a new narrative, which is: "All the world's intelligence services knew Saddam did not have WMD, and they all tried to warn Bush, but Cheney wouldn't listen, because Cheney's bloodthirsty Darth Vader. He wanted to go in there just to be Mr. Tough Guy, and he walked and talked Bush into it," and it's a lie.

All the intel services told us, along with our own, that Saddam was building and developing WMD. He had gassed the Kurds previously. The story today is that that wasn't true. They're coming up with a new narrative, that the intel services of the world knew Saddam had nothing and tried to warn us and we wouldn't listen. So if the intel services were lying to Bush in 2001 and 2002, then why were they telling Clinton the truth in 1998? Here's Bill Clinton, February 17th, 1998, speaking to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon about Saddam Hussein.

CLINTON 1998: His Regime threatens the safety of his people, the stability of his region, and the security of all the rest of us. Someday, some way, I guarantee you, he'll use the arsenal. Let there be no doubt: We are prepared to act. I know that the people we may call upon in uniform are ready. The American people have to be ready as well.

RUSH: That's 1998, in the thick of Lewinsky stuff, and he's trying to get the world prepared that we might have go take out Saddam. And you should hear the Democrats supporting this! Every Democrat senator is echoing this and more. Dianne Feinstein, John Kerry, they're all beating up on Saddam like you've never heard anybody beat up on Saddam. Here's more from Clinton. This February 20th. This is three days later in a video message to Saddam entitled, "We'll do what we have to do."

CLINTON 1998: Nobody wants to use force. But if Saddam refuses to keep his commitments to the international community, we must be prepared to deal directly with the threat these weapons pose to the Iraqi people, to Iraq's neighbors, and to the rest of the world. Either Saddam acts or we will have to.

RUSH: That's a video message Clinton made to the Iraqi people and Saddam, "We'll do what we have to do. We'll take you out." This all about his weapons of mass destruction in 1998. When you heard Bush talk about it three or four years later -- using the same words, practically. It was uncanny, in fact. People forget this. Ah, now our intel services were lying to Bush. But apparently were telling the truth to Clinton back in 1998! I just wanted you to hear it, just wanted you to hear this.

I've got a transcript here of Clinton's remarks on December 16th, 1998, when he was facing impeachment for perjury and stuff. Let me just read this to you very quickly. This is Clinton. Remarks on Wednesday, December 16th, 1998. "Good evening. Earlier today I ordered America's armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined today by British forces.

"Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors. Their purpose is to protect the national interests of the United States and indeed the interests of people throughout the Middle East and around the world. Saddam Hussein must not be allowed to threat his neighbors or the world with nuclear arms, poison gas, or biological weapons."

That's a Clinton address to the nation in December 1998, and he launched an attack. He killed a janitor. No, that was in the Sudan. The aspirin factory, the Tylenol factory he blew up was in Sudan. This was a Saturday bombing run into Baghdad. He attacked a central office building there and killed a janitor. I'm not making that up. He sent a warning shot into Iraq, and a janitor died -- a custodian, a vision-control coordinator, window washer, whatever it was -- in 1998.

That address that I just quoted went on for 10 minutes.

Clinton was warning everybody about how bad Hussein was, the weapons of mass. "Nuclear," he said. Did you just hear that? Nuclear. Yet they say, "Cheney lied and Bush lied! There were no WMD!" But somehow Clinton was telling the truth. And again, the Democrats of that era -- in the Senate and the House -- oh, man, you should have heard them running to the microphones to say they'd be the first in line to vote to authorize Clinton to do this. And then five short years later, there they are trying to undermine it when George W. Bush is doing it.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: 2016election; benghazi; bush; canada; clintoncash; clintonfoundation; election2016; georgewbush; hillaryclinton; hitlery; iran; iraq; jebbush; libya; limbaughmedia; mustread; pages; paleolibs; peterschweizer; rush; rushlimbaugh; russia; saddam; southcarolina; terrischaivo; treygowdy; uranium; wmds
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To: Kaslin

Lol! The Jamie Gorelick memo.

When Dick Cheney put that memo in front of the Democrat committee, C-Span quit covering the investigation and the Dems wrapped it up almost overnight.


21 posted on 05/18/2015 6:31:01 PM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: Kaslin

bookmark


22 posted on 05/18/2015 6:39:07 PM PDT by BeadCounter
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To: Kaslin

Bush lied. They all lied. Y’all should’ve listened to me at the time.


23 posted on 05/18/2015 6:41:19 PM PDT by Romulus
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To: Steve_Seattle

Note Rush’s point that every Republican running for office should be trained on rejecting liberal narratives.


24 posted on 05/18/2015 7:01:51 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (ANYBODY BUT FRICKING JEB AND HILLARY)
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To: Kaslin

When a pubby gets this question, the correct reply is to Hillary Clinton- at this time, what differnce does it make?


25 posted on 05/18/2015 7:06:56 PM PDT by wny
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To: woofie
I as ashamed of the number of Freepers (see Kenny500c above) who have bought the leftist party line about Bush

It tells me that there is some unfortunate born every minute who is ready to swallow what they are told over and over again

You're correct. Makes you wonder how they truly are, doesn't it?

Jesus Christ: You can’t impeach Him and He ain’t gonna resign.




26 posted on 05/18/2015 7:12:30 PM PDT by rdb3 (THY KINGDOM COME!)
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To: JimSEA

...and the metrosexual establishment GOP/RINO leaders cannot and/or will not stand up to the media lies about the Iraq War. that’s why they lost in 2008 and that’s why the GOP is still The Stupid Party.


27 posted on 05/18/2015 7:21:00 PM PDT by TangibleDisgust
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To: Kenny500c

you shouldn’t get your political information from Comedy Central.


28 posted on 05/18/2015 7:21:00 PM PDT by TangibleDisgust
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To: TangibleDisgust

Drive you crazy doesn’t it? Me too.


29 posted on 05/18/2015 7:48:35 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: BeadCounter

Rush is right as usual.


30 posted on 05/18/2015 7:53:35 PM PDT by BeadCounter
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To: woofie; Kenny500c

Go ahead and be ashamed. But be honest about that which you are ashamed.

Because it certainly should be about being emotional about a man and his family and using hyperbole to smear fellow FReepers. NONE of which “bought the leftist party line”; we are independent thinkers, unlike most libs and, apparently, some FReepers.

I am a Conservative, pure & simple. I hold no emotion for any one man. I am ‘facts & performance’. I care not for manipulation from my elected leaders. That goes for TWA800, 9/11, Iraq, Benghazi...I could go on ad nauseam.

I also bear the scars of attack for not being shallow & emotional when it comes to a former President that was AWOL when this country needed him most: To prevent reelection of the Puppet.

Unforgivable. One of many failings. Still better than the libs that opposed him in the elections, but a progressive nonetheless that has shown his true colors in his ‘retirement’.

.02


31 posted on 05/18/2015 7:53:54 PM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus-)
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To: BeadCounter

Saddam was convicted of genocide against the Kurds, that wasn’t the pretense of going in there but I’ve got to think stopping him and other things he was doing was a noble gesture. The Kurds have liked us, we’ve got to see with this administration but we have had a good relationship with them. Some woman vet with 3 kids just volunteered to go fight over there with the Kurds.


32 posted on 05/18/2015 8:09:33 PM PDT by BeadCounter
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To: logi_cal869

If yours is an example of independent thought.... good luck


33 posted on 05/18/2015 8:12:04 PM PDT by woofie
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To: woofie

I appreciate the civilized insult.

I will do just fine w/o instruction on how to think from the ashamed.


34 posted on 05/18/2015 8:21:57 PM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus-)
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To: Kaslin

A lie is deliberately saying something is true when you know it isn’t.

Bush honestly believed it. That doesn’t make him a liar. At worst, that makes him wrong.

“Bush Lied” is just character assassination.


35 posted on 05/18/2015 9:59:22 PM PDT by Shadow44
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To: Kaslin




Related Sources


AND, Bill Clinton gave the Chinese permission to launch our satellites.
Don't you remember Loran ?

And Bill Clinton also gave China the computer technology to forecast high altitude weather, critical to launching missiles/rockets, and then China was finally able to get their second stage rockets to work. So you can personally thank William Jefferson Blythe Clinton for giving China, Pakistan, and North Korea, the ability to get a multi-stage rocket off the ground and the ability to control the satellite/NUCLEAR WARHEAD once launched.
Also along with that was the ability to CONTROL OUR satellites.
36 posted on 05/18/2015 10:06:58 PM PDT by Yosemitest (It's Simple ! Fight, ... or Die !)
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To: griswold3

No.


37 posted on 05/19/2015 12:57:16 AM PDT by Plummz (pro-constitution, anti-corruption)
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To: TangibleDisgust

I am not saying it is a bad thing, I would feel the same way if someone tried to kill my father.


38 posted on 05/19/2015 6:51:09 AM PDT by Kenny500c
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To: BeadCounter

Good article via Pantheos from the National Review:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/frenchrevolution/2015/05/18/republican-presidential-contenders-cowardly-after-the-fact-opposition-to-the-iraq-war/?ref_widget=trending&ref_blog=markdroberts&ref_post=was-jesus-divine


39 posted on 05/19/2015 10:11:15 AM PDT by BeadCounter
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To: Kaslin

Hey Freepers, spread these quotes around..

Democrat Quotes on Iraq Weapons of Mass Destruction

http://www.davidstuff.com/political/wmdquotes.htm

“One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line.”
—President Bill Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998

“If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.”
—President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998

“Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face.”
—Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998

“He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983.”
—Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998

“[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq’s refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.”
Letter to President Clinton, signed by:
— Democratic Senators Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others, Oct. 9, 1998

“Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.”
-Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998

“Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies.”
— Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999

“There is no doubt that ... Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies.”
Letter to President Bush, Signed by:
— Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), and others, Dec 5, 2001

“We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and th! e means of delivering them.”
— Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002

“We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country.”
— Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

“Iraq’s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power.”
— Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

“We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction.”
— Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002

“The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons...”
— Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002

“I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force — if necessary — to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security.”
— Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002

“There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years ... We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction.”
— Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002

“He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do”
— Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA), Oct. 10, 2002

“In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members ... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.”
— Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002

“We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction.”
— Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002

“Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America’s response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real...”
— Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003


40 posted on 05/19/2015 11:07:26 AM PDT by AlanGreenSpam (Obama: The First 'American IDOL' President - sponsored by Chicago NeoCom Thugs)
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