Transcript of Bush’s “News Conference”
by Duncan on April 13, 2004
This is very interesting. Bush has only ever held two prime-time full out press conferences before and I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It was amazing to watch him sweat it out and generally make an ass of himself.
Some of my favorite quotes from Bush’s press conference:
“Nobody likes to see dead people on their television screens,”
“I wish you would have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it.”
“Freedom is the Almighty’s gift to every man and woman in this world.”
“He was a threat because he funded suiciders.”
“One thing is for certain, though, about me — and the world has learned this — when I say something, I mean it.”
I couldn’t help but notice the obscene smirk on his face when they were talking about the oil revenues. Did anyone else see how gitty he was when the topic of oil came about? The old oil thing, yeah yeah I know simplistic, boring blah blah… But I think this is funny, check it out:
THE QUESTION: Mr. President, before the war, you and members of your administration made several claims about Iraq: that U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators with sweets and flowers; that Iraqi oil revenue would pay for most of the reconstruction; and that Iraq not only had weapons of mass destruction but, as Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said, we know where they are.
How do you explain to Americans how you got that so wrong?
And how do you answer your opponents who say that you took this nation to war on the basis of what have turned out to be a series of false premises?
BUSH: Well, let me step back and review my thinking prior to going into Iraq.
First, the lesson of September the 11th is that when this nation sees a threat, a gathering threat, we got to deal with it. We can no longer hope that oceans protect us from harm. Every threat we must take seriously.
Saddam Hussein was a threat. He was a threat because he had used weapons of mass destruction on his own people. He was a threat because he coddled terrorists.
He was a threat because he funded suiciders. He was a threat to the region. He was a threat to the United States.
That’s the assessment that I made from the intelligence, the assessment that Congress made from the intelligence. That’s the exact same assessment that the United Nations Security Council made with the intelligence.
I went to the U.N., as you might recall, and said, “Either you take care of him, or we will.” Any time an American president says, “If you don’t, we will,” we better be prepared to. And I was prepared to.
I thought it was important for the United Nations Security Council that when it says something, it means something for the sake of security in the world.
See, the war on terror had changed the calculations. We needed to work with people. People needed to come together to work. And therefore, empty words would embolden the actions of those who are willing to kill indiscriminately.
The United Nations passed a Security Council resolution unanimously that said, “Disarm or face serious consequences.” And he refused to disarm.
I thought it was very interesting that Charlie Duelfer, who just came back — he’s the head of the Iraqi Survey Group — reported some interesting findings from his recent tour there. And one of the things was, he was amazed at how deceptive the Iraqis had been toward UNMOVIC and UNSCOM, deceptive in hiding things.
We knew they were hiding things. A country that hides something is a country that is afraid of getting caught, and that was part of our calculation. Charlie confirmed that.
He also confirmed that Saddam had the ability to produce biological and chemical weapons. In other words, he was a danger.
And he had long-range missiles that were undeclared to the United Nations. He was a danger. And so we dealt with him.
And what else was part the question? Oh, oil revenues.
Well, the oil revenues, they’re bigger than we thought they would be at this point in time. I mean, one year after the liberation of Iraq, the revenues of the oil stream is pretty darn significant.
One of the things I was concerned about, prior to going into Iraq, was that the oil fields would be destroyed, but they weren’t. They’re now up and running. And that money is — it will benefit the Iraqi people. It’s their oil, and they’ll use it to reconstruct the country.
Finally, the attitude of the Iraqis toward the American people — it’s an interesting question. They’re really pleased we got rid of Saddam Hussein, and you can understand why. This guy was a torturer, a killer, a maimer. There’s mass graves.
I mean, he was a horrible individual that really shocked the country in many ways, shocked it into a kind of a fear of making decisions toward liberty. That’s what we’ve seen recently. Some citizens are fearful of stepping up.
And they were happy — they’re not happy they’re occupied. I wouldn’t be happy if I were occupied either. They do want us there to help with security.
And that’s why this transfer of sovereignty is an important signal to send, and it’s why it’s also important for them to hear we will stand with them until they become a free country.”
UPDATE: Kerry on Bush’s News Conference
Washington, DC – John Kerry issued the following statement tonight in response to the President’s news conference:
“Tonight, the President had the opportunity to tell the American people what steps he was going to take to stabilize the situation in Iraq. Unfortunately, he offered no specific plan whatsoever. Rather, the President made it clear that he intends to stubbornly cling to the same policy that has led to a greater risk to American troops and a steadily higher cost to the American taxpayer.
“We need to set a new course in Iraq. We need to internationalize the effort and put an end to the American occupation. We need to open up the reconstruction of Iraq to other countries. We need a real transfer of political power to the UN
“The President may refuse to acknowledge a single mistake in the course of his presidency, but with deaths mounting and American sacrifice increasing, it’s time he offered a specific plan that secures real international involvement, gets the target off the backs of our troops, and starts to share the burden in Iraq.â€
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