posted on January 5, 2007 05:15:38 PM
Bush is starting the year by doing a lot of thinking and it is beginning to take shape
President Bush is near announcement of a new war strategy for Iraq.
“My thinking is taking shape,’’ Bush said this evening, promising word “sometime next week…. I’m in the process of making up my final decision.''
"One thing is for certain,'' the president said. "I will want to make sure that the mission is clear and specific and can be accomplished.''
Bush was asked if he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who spoke by teleconference for two hours today, including a half-hour session without aides, had agreed on an increase in U.S. troop deployments in Iraq. But Bush bypassed an answer during a joint appearance before reporters in the White House with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is staying for dinner.
Bush also was asked why he hasn’t voiced condemnation for the conduct of the execution of Saddam Hussein – which he has avoided commenting on publicly this week.
"My personal reaction is, is that Saddam Hussein was given a trial that he was unwilling to give the thousands of people he killed,'' Bush said. "He was given a fair trial -- something he was unwilling to give thousands of Iraqi citizens, who he brutalized. I wish, obviously, that the proceedings had been done in a more dignified way. But, nevertheless, he was given justice; the thousands of people he killed were not.
“I talked to Prime Minister Maliki about the videotape that was released,’’ Bush said of the videotaped hanging of Hussein. “He said he is going to fully investigate what happened. I appreciate that… One thing is certain, a horrific chapter in Iraqi history has closed… The Iraqi people want to move forward…. They want to live in peace, and it’s in our nation’s interest to do so.’’
Merkel has not only become one of Bush’s better friends in Europe, but also is serving in a rotating six-month stint as president of the European Union and will host the Group of Eight major industrial nations in Heiligendamm, Germany, this summer.
Bush and Merkel met for a little over an hour privately before making a joint appearance in the Cross Hall of the White House. They fielded just a few questions.
“Obviously… we talked about the situation in Iraq,’’ Merkel said through a translator, noting that Germany has not supported military operations there. “We have every interest in seeing Iraq take a turn for a more peaceful development.’’
“Laura and I are looking forward to feeding you dinner,’’ Bush told the chancellor, allowing that the White House fare may not be as good as the rustic barbecue of roasted boar that a local chef served him last year at a tiny town on the Baltic coast of the old East Germany that Merkel calls home.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on January 5, 2007 08:38:02 PM
"in the process of making up my final decision."
LOL. Explains a lot. He's made up a lot of stuff, hasn't he. Or is that some sort of Texas jargon?
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You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says,
'Wow, you're right! I never would've thought of that!'
- Dave Barry
posted on January 6, 2007 03:32:13 PM
The creepiest thing I got from the above article was "Laura and I look forward to feeding you dinner".
I wouldn't want to touch anything given to me from that man, yet alone have him feed it to me.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on January 6, 2007 03:44:16 PM
Yes, Logansdad, wasn't that a creepy uncouth way of inviting someone to dine with you!!!
I wonder if he intends to give the woman ANOTHER neck rub! Or do you think the look on her face last time gave him a clue (or someone else gave him a clue).....keep your slimey disrespectful TexAss paws off of me!
