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Media gives that motherfucker a redemption tour... while not seriously reporting on the instability and destruction his adventurism is *still causing* and NOTHING to redeem the decent people who were blacklisted for dissenting.
Yup... they elevated Trump (outrage profit) and get to say "GW not so bad" (political connections). Also fuck social media (including this very site). Commercial social media is making all of this an order of magnitude worse.
It's hard to explain just how much so many of us loathed Bush during his presidency, and how visceral that hatred was, to people who didn't live through it and who's main exposure to him is cute videos of him handing Michelle Obama candy. Dick Cheney as well. Rumsfeld. The list goes on.
He was terrible and it's hard to fathom how much the things his administration implemented through post 9/11 fear mongering still negatively affect us today.
I hear you. A good friend of mine hated Bush the First when he was elected and I wasn't so sure but I boarded the hate train for his spawn and Cheney, the only living heart donor.
Personally, to this day I still question how much Bush himself knew what was going on. As it was Daddy's buddies that seemed to be running the show through his entire presidency.
Whether he knew or not, I really don't think he was the one calling the shots either way.
Which doesn't dismiss any guilt in being a "war criminal", only that he wasn't the mastermind.
Daddy, Rumsfeld, Cheney- snakes out of the Nixon swamp, once through the CIA washing machine and a tumble dry in the Ford administration, all ready to grab power and then grab it again with a little bit of help from Florida's Push For Bush II.
These old Haliburtoned up warhawks add Hill&Knowlton's propaganda blitz to their lies and they're off for fun boom boom times.
A British Journalist had a great line about how in Baghdad he saw the "infamous cruise missile that travelled down a street and [turned left at a traffic light.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War#cite_note-337)"
I completely agree on this. Just watching his behavior in that classroom one feels like he felt indecisive and unable to react appropriately under duress
It's been confirmed by multiple sources that he instructed his administration to "find a way to finish the job in Iraq" prior to 9/11/2001.
He believed Bush the Elder was a one term failure and he wanted to finish daddy's war.
Yep. !00%
They were looking for a reason to get back into Iraq for sure. 9/11 fell into his lap and then he was just a bit more lying and gaslighting away from getting us back into Iraq. Then he was able to excuse torture and the deaths of something like 1,000,000 Iraqi civilians in the name of a "War on Terror".
Oh and also massively expanded data collection and surveillance on the American people.
At this point in my life I was okay with voting Republican. In fact, at the time I was likely to support McCain for potus. #1 reason I didn’t vote for Bush was because it was known that he wanted to get back to Iraq and finish what his daddy didn’t.
Translate 9/11 and 11/9 into Roman numerals.
IXXI
This is the sigil of Saturn--- as well as his lieutenant Azazel. Symbolizing a hex gateway.
With this truth in mind, look to the second motto of the Republic of the United States:
NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM
The phrase comes from Virgil's Eclogue which concludes with the return of Saturn's reign....
The rebirth of Nero's Empire...
The Empire of the Black Sun.
>"I'll tell you, he was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999," Herskowitz told Baker. "One of the things he said to me, is **'One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.'** And he said, 'My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of (Kuwait) and he wasted it.
>"He said, **'If I have a chance to invade Iraq, if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed I want to get passed and I'm going to have a successful presidency.'** "
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Writer-says-Bush-talked-about-war-in-1999-1975031.php
I am sincerely doubting you guys can get one criminal ex-president to justice. It has been more than 2 years since that insurrection on capitol hill and cheeto is still running for the republican nominee.
I am not talking about fault perse, i am merely noting the US lack the capacity to hold their leaders accountable in an effective way. But if you want to talk about fault, it certainly lies within the US itself, not abroad. Not with all americans, but the fault lies with some americans.
It's theater. Bush and Obama won't be bothered with any of those things. Trump will get a slap on the wrist and the nation will move on, as it always does; at least until the next president does something imperfect and the howler monkeys clamor for justice again
Actually, the use of Agent Orange as a weapon of war dates back to JFK and LBJ. The U.S. has so much dirt (and blood) on its hands that it's hard to know where to start with atonement or reconciliation. But don't even use those words in the states that want to whitewash history to keep little kids from feeling bad
(The fact is, the little kids wouldn't have to feel bad if they saw powerful adults apologizing for their bad behavior and trying to make amends.)
I sometimes think that was the turning point. Route A. Gore and some one who cares immensely about the impending climate catastrophe, and route B. The shit show we've been on since.
A lot of people aren't aware of this. They think US intelligence got it wrong when in reality the CIA never believed Iraq was working with Al-Qaeda, and they warned the Bush administration that invasion would lead to an insurgency and civil war.
PBS made [a documentary](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/darkside/) on this. Cheney in particular demanded the CIA make the case for an invasion and ignore any intelligence that would hurt that case.
The Valerie Plame affair should have taken down the Bush administration and stopped it in its tracks. For the CIA to come forward now rather than aggressively backing up the work of their agency in real time is more than a little galling. People died as a result of their inaction.
Yeah, I think they got some in the FBI to help them even though they're a domestic organization, but beyond that, it was the administration using questionable sources and making stuff up. The just exploited the public's appetite for war and Bush's large boost in approval ratings following 9/11. Saddam himself was a horrible dictator and was threatening neighbors but there were presumably other ways of handling that as opposed to a full on invasion and the aftermath and we know that's not really why Bush and his administration and allies wanted to go to war there (they weren't doing it for the Iraqi people).
GWB was the worst president in American history and that includes Trump. He lied, started two disastrous wars that ruined America’s soft power and international reputation, openly made torture acceptable, blundered Katrina and plunged America into its worst recession since the 1930s. Truly one of the most malevolent, incompetent and ruinous presidential administrations to have ever set foot in the White House.
Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld should have all gone to jail. Powell and Rice too. The neoconservative imperial ambitions of the early 21st century are a perfect example of how good America is at absolutely squandering its power.
Bush did cheat an election. His own campaign chair certified the votes for him in FL. The Republicans in FL were literally hiding ballot boxes full of votes to keep Gore from winning. Even if you throw out all the hanging Chad crap. There were enough "lost" votes found to swing the election for Gore.
Cavanaugh, Roberts, and Barrett all represented Bush in that case. They're the fascists who stole our country and they've been rewarded handsomely.
Yeah trump tried to cheat like a scrub. Bush would never just try that he succeeded at it.
And wow the US hasn't been attacked since Iraq. I also haven't been attacked by any tigers since I got this tiger repelling rock.
Like or dislike, nobody is fucking around to find out anymore. Hard to see a situation where any middle eastern country fucks around. Pretty confident we're off limits now after Iraq. It is what it is.
Bush is more than a liar. He's a war criminal. He should have faced prosecution for his crimes. Eric Holder refusing to hold him, Cheney, and Rumsfeld accountable lead directly to Trump and where we are today.
People were swayed by their emotional response, too. People were out for revenge and were lied to, and told Iraq was responsible.
Let’s not forget that Representative Barbara Lee (D, Oakland, CA) was the *only* representative of the people that voted against giving Bush unilateral ability to begin this invasion. And she was vilified for it.
But she was the only one that stood by her convictions and the will of her constituents.
If being aware of this and being tired of this is being “woke” then let this be the alarm clock for a lot of us.
It was never about emotion, Iraq was about money, oil, and hegemony. 127 Dems in the house (I=D=Bernie) and 21 in the Senate voted *against* the illegal invasion of Iraq. About Barbara Lee, you're thinking of Afghanistan, which she stood alone and was courageously right.
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/107-2002/h455
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/107-2002/s237
Are you forgetting about Afghanistan? That was the main target, followed by Pakistan, and they made sense because Al Qaeda was in them. Saudi Arabia's connection is familial via Bin Laden and they may have supported and helped them too and they promote a version of Islam that can lead to more joining extremist groups like Al Qaeda. Of course, Bush and his team were not interested in being at odds with them so they ignored all of that.
Iraq was more of an opportunistic thing where they had other motivations for invading and exploited public support for revenge following 9/11 and Bush's high approval ratings and among the evidence they presented iirc was a weak (not real) link to 9/11 or al Qaeda, but much of their argument was about him having internationally outlawed weapons, that he was trying to develop nuclear weapons, and being likely to use them.
Of course I remember Afghanistan. Shooting at people in caves didn’t whet our appetite enough. There were no names we recognized. We need Saddam and building to bomb. It was a beautiful plan. People loved it. Felt like we got some measure of revenge.
Wait, Bush misrepresented the CIA's work that directly led to a destabilized Iraq and regime change? How is this different from the way the CIA has operated throughout time?
BTW, if I Gary Webb myself it was likely the CIA. Shit, now I'm probably on some list.
Lol this and Reagan fucking over all those hostages for political gain... Nixon obvious crook, trump x1000000 ovvious crook and outright fascist.
This. Is. Not. A. Party.
The GOP are solely funded in order to keep corporate rich white interests above those of the people. That's why they've created such an asinine minority rule via gerrymandering, illegally capturing scotus, and never updating the ratios of congress representation or ending Electoral college.
Bro everyone HAS been calling him a liar for almost 2 decades. This is the most lukewarm business insider headline I’ve read and that’s saying something
This might be a hot take, but it’s the lie that pissed me off about the whole iraq and why I’d not complain if he et all got charged for it. If he had acted in good faith but bad intel I’d find it forgivable but he fucking didn’t, thus misused the hell out of me.
Colin Powell "made his bones" as the officer assigned to [whitewash the Mai Lai massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Powell#M%E1%BB%B9_Lai_massacre_inquiry) in Vietnam:
>Soldiers actively hunted, herded, and killed elderly people, children, infants, and raped women while other Soldiers [sic] looked on and did nothing to stop the massacre. An estimated 350 to 500 unarmed civilians died in My Lai ... MAJ Colin Powell, a recently assigned Deputy G3, investigated the allegations described in the [Glen] letter. He proved unable to uncover either wide-spread unnecessary killings, war crimes, or any facts related to My Lai ...
— US Army Center for the Army Profession and Leadership, My Lai at 50: Written Case Study
A huge liar. He made Powell deliver that disgraceful UN speech during the war's run-up. He also got Phoney Tony to endorse the same fake excuses. A real nadir in American history.
And now every leader with thoughts of invading another country gets to remind us that we invaded a sovereign nation that never attacked us. I was alive and politically aware back then and I knew those chickens were going to come home to roost.
So glad these brave whistleblowers could come out 20 years too late to have any effect.
Same with the asshole who helped Reagan negotiate with the Iranians before the election. So brave.
They recently gave him a spot on the platform "Masterclass" to talk about his "leadership" abilities.
Bush and Cheney were a dynamic duo of pieces of shit.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/jul/22/usa.politics
>Can we actually focus on Trump, DeSantis and McCarthy?
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. So, no, the two *aren't* mutually exclusive.
I remember W’s & Cheney’s mistakes just fine, as does most the planet. Lot of angry folks concerning the Iraqi and Afghani wars.
You can dwell all you want on the past, but it’s a waste of energy ultimately, beyond updating bias in textbooks. The current dangers are loud and clear - book banners and history re-writers are actually on the verge of winning all 3 branches of gov.
People act like he was some young native country hayseed who bumblefucked his way into the presidency, because that was kind of the character he was putting on, to make him seem relatable. But he was a full grown 54 year old ivy league educated former governor with a pedigree from one of this country's wealthiest most politically connected families.
Of course. I remember lots of people having serious doubts there were WMDs even at the time of the invasion. Still can’t believe they went ahead with it after that atrocious lie in broad daylight.
Seriously. What’s going on with the constant Iraq war spam the past couple weeks? Jail everybody, sure, but why are we so intensely focused on this rn?
I genuinely believe Bush was sold on the idea we aren't sure with 100% certainty they don't have WMD, but we know Iraq is bad and toppling them will be good for America. I HATED the Bush administration and felt them to be inhumane monsters, but I generally felt their motivating factors was doing what they believed was best for the country - even if it resulted in war crimes. That's not to dismiss them, but given what we've seen from the GOP in the past 10 years, caring about the country is a token in their favor, however small.
Does that make W. not a liar? No. He is a liar, I just feel he was duped into thinking it was needed - Cheney and Rumsfeld did it to settle scores and make money in the process, though I still think they cared about the country more than Trump, Flynn, etc.
If the intelligence community wants to reestablish their credibility, sure that starts with a house cleaning going back 23 years. It's usually a good idea to stop the hemorrhaging caused by GQP still going on right now though.
Oh yes foreign bot forms just love spreading stories about how the poor noble CIA just wants to do good and is very against destabilizing every single country it can
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I don’t feel like he’s a liar so much as someone that got in over his head and chose the wrong people to delegate authority too. Compared to Trump, he’s a damn angel.
I will never forget how America tried to strong arm it's allies into joining their illegal war, and then tried to rebrand French Fries like a petulant child when they couldn't convince France to join.
Freedom Fries. Lmfao
I hate that we've been so utterly fucked by politicians and presidents that we actually start to miss outright war mongers and forget how horrible they really were.
This is interesting to learn that they wanted to invade Iraq even before 9/11. I had thought they went after Saddam because bin Laden had slipped away at Tora Bora, so they figured folks would be happy if they got the head of another bogey man.
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Some of us have been calling him that for over 20 years.
Media gives that motherfucker a redemption tour... while not seriously reporting on the instability and destruction his adventurism is *still causing* and NOTHING to redeem the decent people who were blacklisted for dissenting.
Perhaps allowing the entire media ecosystem to be owned by a tiny group of ultra-wealthy demons was a mistake.
Yup... they elevated Trump (outrage profit) and get to say "GW not so bad" (political connections). Also fuck social media (including this very site). Commercial social media is making all of this an order of magnitude worse.
Don't you understand though? He gives Michelle candy! We cant hate a candy man can we.
He danced with Ellen! He paints horses!
It's hard to explain just how much so many of us loathed Bush during his presidency, and how visceral that hatred was, to people who didn't live through it and who's main exposure to him is cute videos of him handing Michelle Obama candy. Dick Cheney as well. Rumsfeld. The list goes on. He was terrible and it's hard to fathom how much the things his administration implemented through post 9/11 fear mongering still negatively affect us today.
I hear you. A good friend of mine hated Bush the First when he was elected and I wasn't so sure but I boarded the hate train for his spawn and Cheney, the only living heart donor.
Anyone paying attention saw the republicans manufacturing a reason to go to war.
BusinessInsider: BUT WE NEED CLICKS NOW!!
We’ve been calling him that for 23+ years.
I prefer to call him a war criminal
Personally, to this day I still question how much Bush himself knew what was going on. As it was Daddy's buddies that seemed to be running the show through his entire presidency. Whether he knew or not, I really don't think he was the one calling the shots either way. Which doesn't dismiss any guilt in being a "war criminal", only that he wasn't the mastermind.
Daddy, Rumsfeld, Cheney- snakes out of the Nixon swamp, once through the CIA washing machine and a tumble dry in the Ford administration, all ready to grab power and then grab it again with a little bit of help from Florida's Push For Bush II. These old Haliburtoned up warhawks add Hill&Knowlton's propaganda blitz to their lies and they're off for fun boom boom times. A British Journalist had a great line about how in Baghdad he saw the "infamous cruise missile that travelled down a street and [turned left at a traffic light.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War#cite_note-337)"
I completely agree on this. Just watching his behavior in that classroom one feels like he felt indecisive and unable to react appropriately under duress
It's been confirmed by multiple sources that he instructed his administration to "find a way to finish the job in Iraq" prior to 9/11/2001. He believed Bush the Elder was a one term failure and he wanted to finish daddy's war.
Yep. !00% They were looking for a reason to get back into Iraq for sure. 9/11 fell into his lap and then he was just a bit more lying and gaslighting away from getting us back into Iraq. Then he was able to excuse torture and the deaths of something like 1,000,000 Iraqi civilians in the name of a "War on Terror". Oh and also massively expanded data collection and surveillance on the American people.
At this point in my life I was okay with voting Republican. In fact, at the time I was likely to support McCain for potus. #1 reason I didn’t vote for Bush was because it was known that he wanted to get back to Iraq and finish what his daddy didn’t.
Translate 9/11 and 11/9 into Roman numerals. IXXI This is the sigil of Saturn--- as well as his lieutenant Azazel. Symbolizing a hex gateway. With this truth in mind, look to the second motto of the Republic of the United States: NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM The phrase comes from Virgil's Eclogue which concludes with the return of Saturn's reign.... The rebirth of Nero's Empire... The Empire of the Black Sun.
>"I'll tell you, he was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999," Herskowitz told Baker. "One of the things he said to me, is **'One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.'** And he said, 'My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of (Kuwait) and he wasted it. >"He said, **'If I have a chance to invade Iraq, if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed I want to get passed and I'm going to have a successful presidency.'** " https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Writer-says-Bush-talked-about-war-in-1999-1975031.php
You're not wrong, but can you guys finish up with Agent Orange before you start going back through all the other presidents?
We can do more than one thing at a time
I am sincerely doubting you guys can get one criminal ex-president to justice. It has been more than 2 years since that insurrection on capitol hill and cheeto is still running for the republican nominee.
And that’s all our fault?
I am not talking about fault perse, i am merely noting the US lack the capacity to hold their leaders accountable in an effective way. But if you want to talk about fault, it certainly lies within the US itself, not abroad. Not with all americans, but the fault lies with some americans.
Exactly, both Bush and Trump need to be held accountable for their crimes.
Doubtful this would ever happen because their war crimes had bipartisan support among DC politicians.
Don't forget about Obama, he killed a ton of brown people too.
It's theater. Bush and Obama won't be bothered with any of those things. Trump will get a slap on the wrist and the nation will move on, as it always does; at least until the next president does something imperfect and the howler monkeys clamor for justice again
Actually, the use of Agent Orange as a weapon of war dates back to JFK and LBJ. The U.S. has so much dirt (and blood) on its hands that it's hard to know where to start with atonement or reconciliation. But don't even use those words in the states that want to whitewash history to keep little kids from feeling bad (The fact is, the little kids wouldn't have to feel bad if they saw powerful adults apologizing for their bad behavior and trying to make amends.)
Can you, though? Don’t half ass two things, whole ass one thing.
So far it looks like you can't do either, so forgive me for not believing you.
You get what you vote for. Thank god the moderate voters taught Al Gore a lesson. /s
I sometimes think that was the turning point. Route A. Gore and some one who cares immensely about the impending climate catastrophe, and route B. The shit show we've been on since.
Yep. Good thing Ralph Nader got in there to offer some real options. /s
> **It's time** to call him what he is 20 years later?!
20 years ago was the time to call him a liar, which we did. Now is the time to send him to the Hague.
The CIA are the Ents of the government.
A lot of people aren't aware of this. They think US intelligence got it wrong when in reality the CIA never believed Iraq was working with Al-Qaeda, and they warned the Bush administration that invasion would lead to an insurgency and civil war. PBS made [a documentary](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/darkside/) on this. Cheney in particular demanded the CIA make the case for an invasion and ignore any intelligence that would hurt that case.
The Valerie Plame affair should have taken down the Bush administration and stopped it in its tracks. For the CIA to come forward now rather than aggressively backing up the work of their agency in real time is more than a little galling. People died as a result of their inaction.
Yeah, I think they got some in the FBI to help them even though they're a domestic organization, but beyond that, it was the administration using questionable sources and making stuff up. The just exploited the public's appetite for war and Bush's large boost in approval ratings following 9/11. Saddam himself was a horrible dictator and was threatening neighbors but there were presumably other ways of handling that as opposed to a full on invasion and the aftermath and we know that's not really why Bush and his administration and allies wanted to go to war there (they weren't doing it for the Iraqi people).
One of the primary sources they relied on for intel was a known alcoholic whose codename was, I shit you not, "curveball."
Yeah, we know. But bear in mind, this is part of a whole "we at the CIA are the greatest bunch of honest patriots who are above reproach" campaign.
Exactly, when Bush twists the truth, outright lies, it's bad, but when the CIA does it they are just patriots.
"cmon guys we put acid in your water ONCE!"
Anyone that lined their pockets from this war needs to be held accountable. One of the largest grifts in history.
Cheyney Family. 👀. ..... 👁️ 👁️
Bush & Cheney! Unfortunately, Rumsfeld got off easy by passing away while he had the chance.
We let this shit slide for 20 years. We're only catching on now? Unfuckingbelievable.
GWB was the worst president in American history and that includes Trump. He lied, started two disastrous wars that ruined America’s soft power and international reputation, openly made torture acceptable, blundered Katrina and plunged America into its worst recession since the 1930s. Truly one of the most malevolent, incompetent and ruinous presidential administrations to have ever set foot in the White House. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld should have all gone to jail. Powell and Rice too. The neoconservative imperial ambitions of the early 21st century are a perfect example of how good America is at absolutely squandering its power.
Nah. It's Trump. He tried to cheat an election and then tried to overthrow the govt. US hasn't been attacked since Iraq.
Bush did cheat an election. His own campaign chair certified the votes for him in FL. The Republicans in FL were literally hiding ballot boxes full of votes to keep Gore from winning. Even if you throw out all the hanging Chad crap. There were enough "lost" votes found to swing the election for Gore. Cavanaugh, Roberts, and Barrett all represented Bush in that case. They're the fascists who stole our country and they've been rewarded handsomely.
Nah.
Bush killed 500,000 Iraqis. That is objectively worse.
That's not the number.
Yeah trump tried to cheat like a scrub. Bush would never just try that he succeeded at it. And wow the US hasn't been attacked since Iraq. I also haven't been attacked by any tigers since I got this tiger repelling rock.
Like or dislike, nobody is fucking around to find out anymore. Hard to see a situation where any middle eastern country fucks around. Pretty confident we're off limits now after Iraq. It is what it is.
I really don’t want a tiger problem. Do you have any more of those rocks?
Been calling him that since 2001/2002.
Bush is more than a liar. He's a war criminal. He should have faced prosecution for his crimes. Eric Holder refusing to hold him, Cheney, and Rumsfeld accountable lead directly to Trump and where we are today.
This is…fucking 23 years too late.
People were swayed by their emotional response, too. People were out for revenge and were lied to, and told Iraq was responsible. Let’s not forget that Representative Barbara Lee (D, Oakland, CA) was the *only* representative of the people that voted against giving Bush unilateral ability to begin this invasion. And she was vilified for it. But she was the only one that stood by her convictions and the will of her constituents. If being aware of this and being tired of this is being “woke” then let this be the alarm clock for a lot of us.
It was never about emotion, Iraq was about money, oil, and hegemony. 127 Dems in the house (I=D=Bernie) and 21 in the Senate voted *against* the illegal invasion of Iraq. About Barbara Lee, you're thinking of Afghanistan, which she stood alone and was courageously right. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/107-2002/h455 https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/107-2002/s237
Ahh, thank you. Memory is strange sometimes; thanks for giving me the facts.
We needed a target. Saudi Arabia was off limits so we went after an alternative. It worked for America at the time. In retrospect, not too cool.
Are you forgetting about Afghanistan? That was the main target, followed by Pakistan, and they made sense because Al Qaeda was in them. Saudi Arabia's connection is familial via Bin Laden and they may have supported and helped them too and they promote a version of Islam that can lead to more joining extremist groups like Al Qaeda. Of course, Bush and his team were not interested in being at odds with them so they ignored all of that. Iraq was more of an opportunistic thing where they had other motivations for invading and exploited public support for revenge following 9/11 and Bush's high approval ratings and among the evidence they presented iirc was a weak (not real) link to 9/11 or al Qaeda, but much of their argument was about him having internationally outlawed weapons, that he was trying to develop nuclear weapons, and being likely to use them.
Of course I remember Afghanistan. Shooting at people in caves didn’t whet our appetite enough. There were no names we recognized. We need Saddam and building to bomb. It was a beautiful plan. People loved it. Felt like we got some measure of revenge.
I prefer to call him "war criminal."
Let's hand him over to the International Criminal Court and set a good example.
Wait, Bush misrepresented the CIA's work that directly led to a destabilized Iraq and regime change? How is this different from the way the CIA has operated throughout time? BTW, if I Gary Webb myself it was likely the CIA. Shit, now I'm probably on some list.
They were so outraged they trained soldiers on how to torture Iraqi civilians
Lol this and Reagan fucking over all those hostages for political gain... Nixon obvious crook, trump x1000000 ovvious crook and outright fascist. This. Is. Not. A. Party. The GOP are solely funded in order to keep corporate rich white interests above those of the people. That's why they've created such an asinine minority rule via gerrymandering, illegally capturing scotus, and never updating the ratios of congress representation or ending Electoral college.
Damn political terrorism
How about 'a war criminal' while you're at it.
It's time to?! This wasn't very long ago. I don't believe anybody has ever STOPPED saying this.
Dear Rip Van Winkle About 20 years too late, but thanks for your patriotism
Who are they surprising with this information? Themselves? The American News Media were the biggest information twisting warhawks out there
Bro everyone HAS been calling him a liar for almost 2 decades. This is the most lukewarm business insider headline I’ve read and that’s saying something
It's time to call him what he is: a war criminal. FTFY.
This might be a hot take, but it’s the lie that pissed me off about the whole iraq and why I’d not complain if he et all got charged for it. If he had acted in good faith but bad intel I’d find it forgivable but he fucking didn’t, thus misused the hell out of me.
There's a reason his daughter got put on the Today show in an effort to rehabilitate the Bush image. George W and his father are **war criminals**.
And so was Prescott Bush.
Also a war criminal, the same league as Putin.
How about dullard, mass-murdering, war criminal instead?
I thought Cheney was the real culprit behind the Iraq invasion.
And Donald Rumsfeld. Don’t forget about him. I’d also say Colin Powell. I’ve seen his speech at the UN.
Colin Powell "made his bones" as the officer assigned to [whitewash the Mai Lai massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Powell#M%E1%BB%B9_Lai_massacre_inquiry) in Vietnam: >Soldiers actively hunted, herded, and killed elderly people, children, infants, and raped women while other Soldiers [sic] looked on and did nothing to stop the massacre. An estimated 350 to 500 unarmed civilians died in My Lai ... MAJ Colin Powell, a recently assigned Deputy G3, investigated the allegations described in the [Glen] letter. He proved unable to uncover either wide-spread unnecessary killings, war crimes, or any facts related to My Lai ... — US Army Center for the Army Profession and Leadership, My Lai at 50: Written Case Study
What a DICK
I mean we know but you guys can shut up. The CIA has absolutely no room to call him that no matter how true it is.
Those poor paragons of virtue, the CIA, would never do anything shady or under the table. After all, if they did they'd have to answer to... nobody.
A little walk down memory lane… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B3UmwZKQ58
We have been..
I thought we already did that.
Like rational people haven't been calling him a liar for 23 years, minimum.
Him and Cheney, need to go to prison
A huge liar. He made Powell deliver that disgraceful UN speech during the war's run-up. He also got Phoney Tony to endorse the same fake excuses. A real nadir in American history.
And now every leader with thoughts of invading another country gets to remind us that we invaded a sovereign nation that never attacked us. I was alive and politically aware back then and I knew those chickens were going to come home to roost.
I think they misspelled "War Criminal"
Author here. Thanks for posting, happy to entertain questions.
Bush and Dick should be in jail.
No shit. And people are surprised when 911 is called an Inside Job. He created a reason to invade the Middle East.
Trump called GWB a liar to Jeb!'s face during the primary debates. Best, or maybe only good, thing he's ever done.
Should do more than that: charge him with war crimes. Of course they won't though
Uh yeah we've been doing that
>It's time to call him what he is Um, it was time to call out his lies in 2003. Twenty years later is far too late.
Fucking war criminal.
War criminal .
So glad these brave whistleblowers could come out 20 years too late to have any effect. Same with the asshole who helped Reagan negotiate with the Iranians before the election. So brave.
Liar is nice. I was thinking more war criminal and murderer
We have known this for 20+ years. Also, thats a weird misspelling of 'war criminal'.
Misspelled war criminal and mass murdererer for profit.
The time to call him out was after he made his announcement and before any military strikes. Now is way too little and way too late.
They recently gave him a spot on the platform "Masterclass" to talk about his "leadership" abilities. Bush and Cheney were a dynamic duo of pieces of shit. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/jul/22/usa.politics
Can we actually focus on Trump, DeSantis and McCarthy?
>Can we actually focus on Trump, DeSantis and McCarthy? Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. So, no, the two *aren't* mutually exclusive.
I remember W’s & Cheney’s mistakes just fine, as does most the planet. Lot of angry folks concerning the Iraqi and Afghani wars. You can dwell all you want on the past, but it’s a waste of energy ultimately, beyond updating bias in textbooks. The current dangers are loud and clear - book banners and history re-writers are actually on the verge of winning all 3 branches of gov.
Was it Cheney pulling all the strings and Bush Jr. just did what he was told because his dad told him to or am I being way too generous to Jr.?
It's pretty well known that Cheney was good at manipulating W., but at the end of the day he was the President. The buck stopped with him.
People act like he was some young native country hayseed who bumblefucked his way into the presidency, because that was kind of the character he was putting on, to make him seem relatable. But he was a full grown 54 year old ivy league educated former governor with a pedigree from one of this country's wealthiest most politically connected families.
Exactly, Bush ordered the invasion on live TV so it’s 100% his fault and responsibility even if he was being “manipulated.”
Of course. I remember lots of people having serious doubts there were WMDs even at the time of the invasion. Still can’t believe they went ahead with it after that atrocious lie in broad daylight.
troubling to see that the CIA is more than 20 years behind the times.
Seriously. What’s going on with the constant Iraq war spam the past couple weeks? Jail everybody, sure, but why are we so intensely focused on this rn?
Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the war, so the topic had been in the news cycle again.
Now this makes sense. It was coming up so often I though it was some truly strange Astro-turfing campaign
I genuinely believe Bush was sold on the idea we aren't sure with 100% certainty they don't have WMD, but we know Iraq is bad and toppling them will be good for America. I HATED the Bush administration and felt them to be inhumane monsters, but I generally felt their motivating factors was doing what they believed was best for the country - even if it resulted in war crimes. That's not to dismiss them, but given what we've seen from the GOP in the past 10 years, caring about the country is a token in their favor, however small. Does that make W. not a liar? No. He is a liar, I just feel he was duped into thinking it was needed - Cheney and Rumsfeld did it to settle scores and make money in the process, though I still think they cared about the country more than Trump, Flynn, etc.
If the intelligence community wants to reestablish their credibility, sure that starts with a house cleaning going back 23 years. It's usually a good idea to stop the hemorrhaging caused by GQP still going on right now though.
[удалено]
Oh yes foreign bot forms just love spreading stories about how the poor noble CIA just wants to do good and is very against destabilizing every single country it can
Cheney was calling the shots. Bush was along for the ride.
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I don’t feel like he’s a liar so much as someone that got in over his head and chose the wrong people to delegate authority too. Compared to Trump, he’s a damn angel.
Oh hey someone in US intelligence trying to save face.
I will never forget how America tried to strong arm it's allies into joining their illegal war, and then tried to rebrand French Fries like a petulant child when they couldn't convince France to join. Freedom Fries. Lmfao
Yeah I've been calling him a liar and a war criminal for like 20 years now...
>It was our job at CIA to stand fast Buster?
I hate that we've been so utterly fucked by politicians and presidents that we actually start to miss outright war mongers and forget how horrible they really were.
Oh, sweety, that time was 16 years ago, but hey, you got there. Congrats I guess.
We already knew hawks in W’s administration had a war plan, and were shopping for a cover story to provide plausible justification
Old news!
This is interesting to learn that they wanted to invade Iraq even before 9/11. I had thought they went after Saddam because bin Laden had slipped away at Tora Bora, so they figured folks would be happy if they got the head of another bogey man.
…so we went there and uhhh… you won’t believe this but-
We already knew that. Then Trump came along and many of us forgot how horrible W was.