Bush: Iran Still a Danger Despite Report

"Bush believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday. Events can change; this man's beliefs never will." Stephen Colbert, while hosting the White House Correspondents Dinner, 2006

George W. Bush - The Destroyer of Nuance

this man's beliefs never will

Often wrong, never in doubt.

Yeah, that line struck me as pretty absurd too, Peter.

Bush has never had any credibility. So how do you defend absolutely nothing?

It's deja vu all over again, folks, as Yogi Berra said. Iraq, Iran. Bush must be going through the "I"s in his list of countries to bomb.

He probably doesn't realize that the alphabet begins with A. Oh wait. Afghanistan. He started out with the right letter. Maybe he lost his ABC book after that.

Maybe he lost his ABC book after that.

Being a puppet of the religious right he knows his ABC, Abstinence, Being Faithful, and if that fails Con$%^ms. But pray to G.O.D. you wont need to fund them (G.O.D.= Gold, Oil, Drugs.)

BUSH REJECTS NIE IRAN WMD CONCLUSION

President Bush has refused to rule out military action against Iran despite a US intelligence report which says the country abandoned its nuclear weapons program four years ago. The US administration says Iran remains a threat and it's urging the UN to press ahead with new sanctions. Democrats have accused the President of sabre-rattling, saying he has learnt nothing from the Iraq experience.

On the back foot, but trying to regain the initiative.

GEORGE W. BUSH, US PRESIDENT: I believed before the NIE that Iran was dangerous, and I believe after the NIE that Iran is dangerous.

The release yesterday of the NIE, or National Intelligence Estimate, appeared to torpedo US policy towards Iran. For two years, the United States has been threatening military action and pursuing sanctions in the belief that Iran was seeking to build a nuclear bomb. But the NIE's conclusion that Iran abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003 has led to calls for a wholesale rethink of the West's policy. China says the report changes everything. And Russia agrees. Both are veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council and following the release of the report, both are resolutely opposed to further sanctions against Iran. The NIE report has led to some awkward questions for the US President. Principally, why did he warn in October that Iran was at risk of starting World War III when he had already been told that it had abandoned its nuclear weapons program?

JOURNALIST: Are you saying at no point while the rhetoric was escalating, as World War III was making it into conversation, at no point nobody from your intelligence team or your administration was saying, "Maybe you want to back it down a little bit?"

GEORGE W. BUSH: No, no-one ever told me that. Having said... uh, having laid that out, I still feel strongly that Iran is a danger. Nothing has changed in this NIE that says "OK, why don't we just stop worrying about it." Quite the contrary. I think the NIE makes it clear that Iran needs to be taken seriously as a threat to peace.

Democrats say it is Iraq all over again - exaggerating the intelligence that points towards the existence of weapons of mass destruction while ignoring the intelligence that does not. Brian Thomson, ---------------------

And to pacify Israel, who claim the Iranian nukle program resumed in 2004, why this tiny country has such a hold over the US is a mystery to me, 5 million people can bend the will of 300 million ??? ----------------------

BUSH TO VISIT MIDEAST
And it's been announced that Mr Bush will visit the Middle East in the new year to bolster attempts to secure a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. A visit to Israel would be his first as President, though he did go there when he was governor of Texas.

Hey, let's be fair, though. President Bush is not a conservative, in the true sense. I have known some extremely intelligent conservative who were perfectly willing to change their minds if sufficient evidence were put in from of them. Our President is insane, by Einstein's definition, and has led the hijacking of a necessary counterbalance to the traditionally more experimental liberal part of our society. He, and those who blindly follow his lead, are not conservatives, they do not even merit the term "Neo-conservative". I think "Neo-Fascists" would be a much more apt label.

@ Celestina

"Neo-conservative". I think "Neo-Fascists" would be a much more apt label.

It is actually part of the Neo-Liberal agenda, started by the Thatcher-Reagan Junta. (Reaganomics) Because American politics is so skewed to the right, Liberal (right of center to center right) is to the left of G.O.P. (center Right to Far right) In fact it is a form of Right Wing Anarchy, or Corporatism, The reason it is right wing anarchy is because of a lack of government, where the government surrenders control of everything to the business sector, Fascism is when government controls everything in a pyramid type structure.

I agree, not all conservatives are members of the lunatic fringe, But it would be negligence on everyones part to not consider that the Democratic Nations who enjoy the highest levels in the quality of life, like Norway and Switzerland, the conservatives there would be viewed as Liberals here in America. And that every step forward that America takes as a progressive nation to achieve the highest quality of existence to all the citizens of our society, which is the only true goal of a government under a democracy, is thwarted by the conservative mind set, and called Socialism. When every school boy knows that Socialism can not Exist in a democracy where the people have the power to vote, only in dictatorships.

When every school boy knows that Socialism can not Exist in a democracy where the people have the power to vote, only in dictatorships.

"Cold Shivers" I never knew there were so many dictatorships in the world, Gee! thanks for pointing this out, the list is huge. I see my country Oz has fallen to these Socialist Dictators now. They must have tricked us to vote in a government with a huge number of center left trade unionists. It could not have been due to the Liberals trying to drive down wages, (minimum wage about 15$ US per hour + benefits like Universal health care, pensions and unemployment {300$+ per week} etc, etc) Low wages are good for the economy and so good for us right ? I mean we even rejected their massive tax cut package. How silly (We know that all that does is makes government less efficient, and rips money out of essential services like Schools and Hospitals, and cases inflation.)
It must have been a coincidence that when the religious right and the anti-immigration rhetoric reared it's ugly head that we were horrified, called for an inquiry and crushed them in the polls, or that the US style multi million $ mass TV advertising and slogan campaign by the Liberals did not make the voter base budge one inch. We need mlore than just words and information to change our opinions, we need tangible proof. PR spin only works in the USA. We rejected the social darwinism offered by the liberals who have been drifting to the right, and kicked out Bush's Man of Steel or deputy sheriff who is only the second Prime Minister in Oz to lose his seat in an election, the last one was in 1929. Funny calling him the man of steel Russian translation Stalin. superman was originally a parody, note the red underpants :)

You do not read with comprehension or you purposely distorted what I wrote, typical. The Paranoid misanthropic twist of history of your augment, and I use that word loosely, only supports what i said. Stalin was a despotic dictator of a tyrannical government, and his regime only benefited himself and the patrician class, while the people suffered. The lie that is always used to take democracy away is the false hope of, or now the threat of, socialism. Which is and has always been, only a Marxist theory, of a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of communism. Nether of which has every actually existed in the history of the world. What is more frightening then any threat of terrorism, is that there is this faction in America called, neo-cons, who now, even deny that name out of shame of past mistakes, and still are deluded into believing they have any solutions, and who actually use the same tactics of discrediting our democracy for there own advantage rather then see themselves be proven wrong. Even to the point of killing the messengers of freedom, the Framers of our Constitution, and the Founding Fathers! And if that we where listen to this faction of would lead to a despotic government. Liberalism is as it is, and doesn't turn into anything else.

You use social Darwinism in your defense, and obviously know nothing about it! other then it has that nasty word "Social" in front of it! Social Darwinism was the discredited theory that individuals, groups, and peoples are subject to the same Darwinian laws of natural selection as plants and animals. social Darwinism was advocated by Herbert Spencer and others in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was used to justify political conservatism, imperialism, and racism and to discourage intervention and Liberal reform. Do you even know who Herbert Spencer was? I'll give you a hint, He wasn't even an American! How you bozo's love to turn the facts on their heads, and still think no one is paying attention is just amazing.

Social Darwinism LOL, a repackaged term used as justafaction for Staunch Conservatism to make it sound more palatable and acceptable, just like Compassionate conservatism was. And you bought that one to.

But you slander our G.O.D. John Maynard Keynes and Ronald Reagan.

Keynesian Theory, is an economic theory based on the ideas of the 20th-century British economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynesian economics promotes a mixed economy, in which both the state and the private sector are considered to play an important role. Keynesian economics markedly differs from, and sought to provide solutions to what some economists believed to be the failure of laissez-faire economic liberalism (which advocates that markets and the private sector operate best without state intervention).

some economists believed to be the failure of laissez-faire economic liberalism

Like Neo-Liberals (Neo-Cons) who believe that ol' bubbles Greenspan gave good economic advice, Hell once he even said "By By" when he left a party in Washington, and Wall Street rose 380 points the next day. Is that the sign of a true Profit or what?

Look at this Face of Socialist evil, She was even Tortured under Pinochet, They are unstoppable They are all wrong, Religious Right Wing Capitalism is the only way.

Liberalism is as it is, and doesn't turn into anything else.

You got that right. The Doctrine of the center right.

Social Darwinism LOL, a repackaged term used as justafaction for Staunch Conservatism to make it sound more palatable and acceptable, just like Compassionate conservatism was. And you bought that one to.

Well what would you know, Its all about Family Values, and Morals, the Amoral Minority Ahh I mean the Moral Majority.

Even to the point of killing the messengers of freedom, the Framers of our Constitution, and the Founding Fathers!

Hmmm ? lets not go there

dementia

LMAO Dan Hallo, aka, Zoilus :) Thanks that was fun. :) I also do a good raving evangelist too :)

I'd like to hear it sometime. When's your next KKK meeting?

The KKK are Pentecostal Protestant Messianic Loonies, These cults are the reason why America os in so much trouble, Because they left the Catholic Faith, the one true Church, and flung themselves into the arms of the Pentecostal Protestant Messianic satanist cults. They will burn for this.

yah right..

Hah! You got that right, Wheel.

Meanwhile both the United States and Israel are armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons. But the institutionalized double standard that both countries have elevated to absurd and self-serving heights prevails in this potentially tragic dynamic.

We're gonna go to war now because of knowledge?!!

"Thoughtcrime is the only crime that matters." George Orwell

they dared think about Nuclear power and probably weapons... what nation in it's right mind wouldn't? And of course, thoughtcrime is death. Therefore, regardless of their actions they have already committed the crime. WWIII will be started by the coalition of the willing, not the Arab world.

"So, I view this report as a warning signal that they had the program, they halted the program. And the reason why it's a warning signal is that they could restart it," the president said.

Unbelievable. I mean, does he really take us all for such complete imbeciles as to contemplate, never mind believe such statements of complete bs. We know they had a program, thats why we sent inspectors. They halted the program (probably thanks to the pressure). They did what was asked. I mean... seriously?

"We have borne patiently a great deal of wrong, on the consideration that if nations go to war for every degree of injury, there would never be peace on earth. But when patience has begotten false estimates of its motives, when wrongs are pressed because it is believed they will be borne, resistance becomes morality."

--Thomas Jefferson to Mme de Stael, 1807.

you do know how they got most of their knowledge>????????
See when we overthrew the democractically elected leadership of iran in the 50's because they took their oil away from the oil companies and instaleld the shah of iran a brutal dictator.. we decided that they needed some nuclear plants. so we shared nuclear info with iran and yeah got them to sign the NPT and even used the shah of iran to advertise how great nuclear energy was.
See it helps to know the history.. once again.. our foriegn intravention has ended up costing us dearly.
WE STARTED THE IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. We STARTED THIS.

Almost everyone has come to the conclusion that Bush has been and continues to be horrible for this country and for the world. Christian, Jew, and Gentile alike. I was at my Mom's house for Thanksgiving. Her and my step father are religious and go to church every Sunday. The story of my step father's conversion over 15 years ago is a story unto itself. But anyway, during the holidays, the subject of Bush came up and he surprised me by saying, "Bush is a dick head, he has set this country back 20 years." I said, "Yea, but don't tell Mom that." He just laughed and rolled his eyes. There is still a small segment of American Evangelical Christians though, who think that Bush can do no wrong, simply because he sides with them on social issues. People like my Mother. These are not evil people though, who think war is ok as long as gays can't get married. They don't think about it in those terms, they just really believe that God wanted Bush to be President during these times "That try men's souls". I think they are terribly wrong though and have told my mother that as long as Bush claims to be a Christian, which any old fool can do, then he can do no wrong in her eyes. I love my Mom to death, but she is terribly wrong about Bush. I'm not sure what it would take for her and people like her to "see the light."

Sorry, but you can't stop the signal, President Bush. That connection was made loud and clear in my mind once I read the aforementioned quote.

Anyone can figure out how to make a nuclear bomb via such sophisticated technologies as, I don't know, maybe the Big Bad Internet?

Just another example of how behind the times this particular global leader is. Someone please stop him before he finds out about Bittorrent or (heaven forbid) the dangerous terrorist hotbeds of Myspace!

We're to act WHEN and IF they do it. Not because they MIGHT do it, or THINK about it. We're treading close to using thought crimes as reasons for war.

then are we to trust Iran not to turn the enriched uranium to weapons use

Yes, of course we are. Until that trust is broken that is. What I don't get is how Bush can lie away to his own people but it's the Iranians they don't trust.

Put your own house in order first before you are worried whether or not we can trust some other crazy, fundamentalist Government.

I'm not just getting at the US here. In the West we have become so used to spin we completely forget how untrustworthy our own leaders are, yet we expect "foreign" nations to somehow have higher values than our own.

Chavez is treated like a dictator while no-one blinks when Putin robs an election.

Its an unequal world is all I'm saying and sometimes it's good to take a step back and have a look from the outside.

You're all absolutely right about the thought crimes angle. Knowledge is power and the US doesn't want anyone else to have any, at least not without permission. It is very Orwellian, has been ever since GWB took office.

Nuclear proliferation is a huge deal.. i'm not sure how much the younger audience hear understands the amount of fear people had growing up in an a-bomb world. The NPT was created and the IAEA. You dont have to trust iran, you do the iaea and the iaea cant be allowed to become a political instrument. But they are the ones that put in cameras, and have spot check inspections, etc.

and yeah recent iran has been not coopoerating as much as they should.. which is exactly what they said they would do if bush refeared their program he knew to not be on a weapoins track, illegally to the un security council., according to the npt and the un's own charter the iranian program has no business being in the security council.

NOOOOOO!!!!! our worst fears have come true! knowledge will destroy this Earth!!!

Wouldn't it be nice if we could go back to the good ol' days when literacy was frowned on. Back when you had to trust the elites or church for your knowledge. Then we wouldn't have to worry about any of this. Oh Dark Ages! How we miss you!

"It would seem impossible that an intelligent people with the faculty of reading and right of thinking should continue much longer to slumber under the pupilage of an interested aristocracy of priests and lawyers, persuading them to distrust themselves and to let them think for them... Awaken them from this voluntary degradation of mind! Restore them to a due estimate of themselves and their fellow citizens, and a just abhorrence of the falsehoods and artifices which have seduced them!" --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Seymour, 1807.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could go back to the good ol' days when literacy was frowned on. Back when you had to trust the elites or church for your knowledge. Then we wouldn't have to worry about any of this. Oh Dark Ages! How we miss you!

Frankly, Mars--and I always agree with you, as you know--I think we're experiencing the Dark Ages redux under the current administration. Literacy? Look at our clueless leader. Trust the elites and the Church for your knowledge? It's happening now.

Or were you commenting tongue-in-cheek and I missed the humor?

:-)

Or were you commenting tongue-in-cheek and I missed the humor?

Yeah, I was being sarcastic... but in your defense, nobody knows when my lunacy ends and the comedy begins, so good call Rebecca! ;)

Heh. I thought so. Thanks for the reassurance, Mars.

:-]

This current president is making me question democracy.

It should make us question the form of Governments we have that are excuses for democracy rather than questioning democracy itself. Democracy is a great idea. Problem is, what we have are pathetic interpretations of democracy.

Yes, I agree, Roger. Democracy isn't to blame. The leaders who frantically wave the banner of democracy while actively doing their best to subvert it are the people who deserve our scorn and our votes for impeachment. After that? A one-way plane ticket to The Hague.

A one-way plane ticket to The Hague.

Absolutely!

Amazing. You're right. I love God and I love Israel. But, I am also a Christian and love all of the Arab people as well. They are all God's children. To think that we would allow nuclear weapons in Israel but not allow nuclear weapons to protect the children of Allah from Israel/US Politics is probably as un-Christian as it gets.

Then you're a TRUE Christian, TBone. A rare breed these days.

Thank you for being you. Seriously.

To think we would allow nuclear weapons...

That's where the statement should stop. Seriously, get these things off the planet. I don't care if its fatalistic, overblown, or my fascination with the apocalypse, but we ARE going to destroy each other. The planet will be here till the Sun burns out, but the human race, as we are currently progressing, or should I say regressing, will destroy itself. Bush, Israel, USA, Russia, Venezuela, you, me, our pets, everyone, GONE!

If our BS leaders were capable of zooming out and seeing how dangerous they are, if we the people were truly capable of having influence over our BS leaders, our world would be completely different. But it's all a big race, isn't it? To develop the weapon. Mustard gas, automatic weapons, tanks, bombers, a-bombs, warheads, chemical weapons, biological weapons, unmanned battle drones, all one big race, right? I'm not a prognosticator by trade, but I know where the finish line is. If we continue on this course, the finish line is a place where everyone is dead.

Seriously. Is there really anybody who believes a word out of that traitor's mouth? It seems that, just when you think he's completely full of crap, he proves he can pack in 10 or 20 more pounds. I just hope we all survive him because he is NOT an idiot. He is just the mouthpiece puppet of something far, far more sinister than 'bumbling'.

He may be an idiot but his strings are pulled by that puppetmaster Cheney. Of course, W's getting what he wants out of the deal, too.

They're all slime. Ugh.

Please understand that the democrats and republicans are simply the good-cop, bad-cop forces of the same evil master plan. That is so, so terrifyingly obvious.

TBone?

You got that right. When it comes to the election, most of these candidates will support the corporate status quo--not the people.

I personally like Kucinich. But he's so anti-corporation and pro-people that I wonder if he can survive the churning of the money machine without being mangled.

I'm with you Rebecca. The only hope, in my mind, is for a candidate that is intent and sincere on reducing the size and power of the Federal government to its constitutional limits: maintain a census and defend the borders, abolishing the ABC's organizations, IRS, FBI, CIA, DIA, etc., and returning power to the states.

LOL

yet you made it a point to stop by and comment.... I respect that WebQuack, I really do. Keep it real man.

I had to change my shirt at that line. Never ever read Maximum Leader comments while drinking coffee is my recommendation.

He's credibly insane.

You, paranoid, schizophrenic Neo-cons with delusions of grander, should wake TFU to the fact that "potential" or "possibilities"i are not justifications for war. Every country in the world could be considered as our enemy with that stupidity. Arrogance like this has brought down empires for millennia, I know you thick headed fools want to rewrite history, but try to read a little of it first before you commit everyones future on making the same mistakes of the past. Insanity! Not that the Far-Right have been right, ever anyway! We are already considered the loose cannon of the planet because of you Bush'iters and F'righties. And here's a heads up, America can't win that war.

So, the NIE Report states that Iran will have a nuclear bomb in 2009.

You don't seem to understand your own reference. The NIE report states they would be capable of producing a bomb, not that they will have one.

You did learn comprehension at school right? Maybe you need a refresher course?

Silly conservative. Its very hard to get any smarter, when you don't have any comprehension skills.

Th' NIE also states that yer arse will consume yer head, Leoroidavid, in th' year 20—...oh wait, it's alreadhy happened I see! Shows ye how even th' ixperts can be off a little, doesn't it now?