How much bullshit can you stomach?
Feb. 8th, 2004 12:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unclejimboBush on Meet the Press transcript.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Here is a transcript of an
interview aired on Sunday by NBC's Meet the Press with
President Bush. The interviewer was Tim Russert.
RUSSERT: And we are in the Oval Office this morning with
the President of the United States. Mr. President, welcome
back to Meet The Press.
BUSH: Thank you, sir.
RUSSERT: On Friday, you announced a committee, commission
to look into intelligence failures regarding the Iraq war and
our entire intelligence community. You have been reluctant to
do that for some time. Why?
BUSH: Well, first let me kind of step back and talk about
intelligence in general, if I might. Intelligence is a vital
part of fighting and winning the war against the terrorists.
It is because the war against terrorists is a war against
individuals who hide in caves in remote parts of the world,
individuals who have these kind of shadowy networks,
individuals who deal with rogue nations.
So, we need a good intelligence system. We need really
good intelligence. So the commission I set up is to obviously
analyze what went right or what went wrong with the Iraqi
intelligence. It was kind of lessons learned. But it's really
set up to make sure the intelligence services provide as good a
product as possible for future presidents as well. This is just
a part of analyzing where we are on the war against terror.
There is a lot of investigations going on about the
intelligence service, particularly in the Congress, and that's
good as well. The Congress has got the capacity to look at the
intelligence gathering without giving away state secrets, and I
look forward to all the investigations and looks. Again, I
repeat to you, the capacity to have good intelligence means
that a president can make good calls about fighting this war on
terror.
RUSSERT: Prime Minister Blair has set up a similar
commission in Great Britain.
BUSH: Yeah.
RUSSERT: His is going to report back in July. Ours is not
going to be until March of 2005, five months after the
presidential election.
BUSH: Yeah.
RUSSERT: Shouldn't the American people have the benefit of
the commission before the election?
BUSH: Well, the reason why we gave it time is because we
didn't want it to be hurried. This is a strategic look, kind
of a big picture look about the intelligence gathering
capacities of the United States of America, whether it be the
capacity to gather intelligence in North Korea or how we've
used our intelligence to, for example, learn more information
about AQ Kahn. And it's important that this investigation take
its time.
Now, look, we are in a political season. I fully understand
people saying he's trying to avoid responsibility. There is
going to be ample time for the American people to assess
whether or not I made good calls, whether or not I used good
judgment, whether or not I made the right decision in removing
Saddam Hussein from power, and I look forward to that debate,
and I look forward to talking to the American people about why
I made the decisions I made.
The commission I set up, Tim, is one that will help future
presidents understand how best to fight the war on terror, and
it's an important part of the kind of lessons learned in Iraq
and lessons learned in Afghanistan prior to us going in,
lessons learned that we can apply to both Iran and North Korea
because we still have a dangerous world. And that's very
important for, I think, the people to understand where I'm
coming from to know that this is a dangerous world. I wish it
wasn't.
I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval
Office in foreign policy matters with war on my mind. Again, I
wish it wasn't true, but it is true. And the American people
need to know they got a president who sees the world the way it
is. And I see dangers that exist, and it's important for us to
deal with them.
RUSSERT: Will you testify before the commission?
BUSH: This commission? You know, I don't testify? I
will be glad to visit with them. I will be glad to share with
them knowledge. I will be glad to make recommendations, if they
ask for some.
I'm interested in getting, I'm interested in making sure
the intelligence gathering works well. (Let me) just give you a
sense of where I am on the intelligence systems of America.
First of all, I strongly believe the CIA is ably led by George
Tenet. He comes and briefs me on a regular basis about what he
and his analysts see in the world.
RUSSERT: His job is not in jeopardy?
BUSH: No, not at all, not at all. We've got people
working hard in intelligence gathering around the world to get
as good an information as possible. Intelligence requires, you
know, all kinds of assets to bring information to the
President, and I want that intelligence service to be strong,
viable, competent, confident, and provide good product to the
President so I can make judgment calls.
RUSSERT: There is another commission right now looking
into Sept. 11.
BUSH: Yeah.
RUSSERT: Will you testify before that commission?
BUSH: We have given extraordinary cooperation with
Chairmen Kean and Hamilton. As you know, we made an agreement
on what's called "Presidential Daily Briefs," and they could
see the information the CIA provided me that is unique, by the
way, to have provided what's called the PDB.
RUSSERT: Presidential Daily Brief?
BUSH: Right. And see, the danger of allowing for
information that I get briefed on out in the public arena is
that it could mean that the product I receive or future
presidents receive is somewhat guarded for fear of it being
revealed, and for fear of people saying, Well, you know, we're
going to second guess that which you told the President.
I need good, honest information, but we have shared this
information with both those gentlemen, gentlemen I trust, so
they could get a better picture of what took place prior to
September the 11th.
And again, we want, I want the truth to be known. I want
there to be a full analysis done so that we can better prepare
the homeland, for example, against what might occur. And this
is all in the context of war, and the more we learn about, you
know, what took place in the past, the more we are going to be
able to better prepare for future attacks.
RUSSERT: Would you submit for questioning, though, to the
9/11 Commission?
BUSH: Perhaps, perhaps.
RUSSERT: Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican
BUSH: Yes.
RUSSERT: said he is absolutely convinced we will capture
Osama bin Laden before the election.
BUSH: Well, I appreciate his optimism. I have no idea
whether we will capture or bring him to justice, may be the
best way to put it. I know we are on the hunt, and Osama bin
Laden is a cold-blooded killer, and he represents the nature of
the enemy that we face. These are people that will kill on a
moment's notice, and they will kill innocent women and
children. And he's hiding, and we're trying to find him.
There's I know there is a lot of focus on Iraq, and there
should be, but we've got thousands of troops, agents, allies on
the hunt, and we are doing a pretty good job of dismantling al
Qaeda better than a pretty good job, a very good job. I keep
saying in my speeches, two thirds of known al Qaeda leaders
have been captured or killed, and that's the truth.
RUSSERT: Do you have a pretty good idea where Osama is?
BUSH: You know, I'm not going to comment on that.
RUSSERT: Let me turn to Iraq. And this is the whole idea
of what you based your decision to go to war on.
BUSH: Sure, sure.
RUSSERT: The night you took the country to war, March
17th, you said this: "Intelligence gathered by this and other
governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to
possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever
devised."
BUSH: Right.
RUSSERT: That apparently is not the case.
BUSH: Correct.
RUSSERT: How do you respond to critics who say that you
brought the nation to war under false pretenses?
BUSH: The first of all, I expected to find the weapons.
Sitting behind this desk making a very difficult decision of
war and peace, and I based my decision on the best intelligence
possible, intelligence that had been gathered over the years,
intelligence that not only our analysts thought was valid but
analysts from other countries thought were valid.
And I made a decision based upon that intelligence in the
context of the war against terror. In other words, we were
attacked, and therefore every threat had to be reanalyzed.
Every threat had to be looked at. Every potential harm to
America had to be judged in the context of this war on terror.
And I made the decision, obviously, to take our case to the
international community in the hopes that we could do this,
achieve a disarmament of Saddam Hussein peacefully. In other
words, we looked at the intelligence. And we remembered the
fact that he had used weapons, which meant he had weapons. We
knew the fact that he was paying for suicide bombers. We knew
the fact he was funding terrorist groups. In other words, he
was a dangerous man. And that was the intelligence I was using
prior to the run up to this war. This a vital question.
RUSSERT: Nothing more important.
BUSH: Vital question. And so we, I expected there to be
stockpiles of weapons. But David Kay has found the capacity to
produce weapons. And when David Kay goes in and says we
haven't found stockpiles yet, and there's theories as to where
the weapons went. They could have been destroyed during the
war. Saddam and his henchmen could have destroyed them as we
entered into Iraq. They could be hidden. They could have been
transported to another country, and we'll find out. That's
what the Iraqi survey group, let me me finish here.
But David Kay did report to the American people that Saddam had
the capacity to make weapons. Saddam Hussein was dangerous
with weapons. Saddam Hussein was dangerous with the ability to
make weapons. He was a dangerous man in the dangerous part of
the world. And I made the decision to go to the United Nations.
By the way, quoting a lot of their data in other words, this is
unaccounted for stockpiles that you thought he had because I
don't think America can stand by and hope for the best from a
madman, and I believe it is essential that when we see a
threat, we deal with those threats before they become imminent.
It's too late if they become imminent. It's too late in this
new kind of war, and so that's why I made the decision I made.
RUSSERT: Mr. President, the Director of the CIA said that
his briefings had qualifiers and caveats, but when you spoke to
the country, you said "there is no doubt." When Vice President
Cheney spoke to the country, he said "there is no doubt."
Secretary Powell, "no doubt." Secretary Rumsfeld, "no doubt,
we know where the weapons are." You said, quote, "The Iraqi
regime is a threat of unique urgency." "Saddam Hussein is a
threat that we must deal with as quickly as possible."
You gave the clear sense that this was an immediate threat that
must be dealt with.
BUSH: I think, if I might remind you that in my language I
called it a grave and gathering threat, but I don't want to get
into word contests. But what I do want to share with you is my
sentiment at the time. There was no doubt in my mind that
Saddam Hussein was a danger to America.
RUSSERT: In what way?
BUSH: Well, because he had the capacity to have a weapon,
make a weapon. We thought he had weapons. The international
community thought he had weapons. But he had the capacity to
make a weapon and then let that weapon fall into the hands of a
shadowy terrorist network.
It's important for people to understand the context in which I
made a decision here in the Oval Office. I'm dealing with a
world in which we have gotten struck by terrorists with
airplanes, and we get intelligence saying that there is, you
know, we want to harm America. And the worst nightmare
scenario for any president is to realize that these kind of
terrorist networks had the capacity to arm up with some of
these deadly weapons, and then strike us.
And the President of the United States' most solemn
responsibility is to keep this country secure. And the man was
a threat, and we dealt with him, and we dealt with him because
we cannot hope for the best. We can't say, Let's don't deal
with Saddam Hussein. Let's hope he changes his stripes, or
let's trust in the goodwill of Saddam Hussein. Let's let us,
kind of, try to contain him. Containment doesn't work with a
man who is a madman. And remember, Tim, he had used weapons
against his own people.
RUSSERT: But can you launch a preemptive war without
ironclad, absolute intelligence that he had weapons of mass
destruction?
BUSH: Let me take a step back for a second and there is no
such thing necessarily in a dictatorial regime of ironclad
absolutely solid evidence. The evidence I had was the best
possible evidence that he had a weapon.
RUSSERT: But it may have been wrong.
BUSH: Well, but what wasn't wrong was the fact that he had
the ability to make a weapon. That wasn't right.
RUSSERT: This is an important point because when you say
that he has biological and chemical weapons and unmanned aerial
vehicles.
BUSH: Which he had.
RUSSERT: And they could come and attack the United States,
you are saying to the American people: we have to deal now with
a man who has these things.
BUSH: That's exactly what I said.
RUSSERT: And if that's not the case, do you believe if you
had gone to the Congress and said he should be removed because
he's a threat to his people but I'm not sure he has weapons of
mass destruction, Congress would authorize war?
BUSH: I went to Congress with the same intelligence,
Congress saw the same intelligence I had, and they looked at
exactly what I looked at, and they made an informed judgment
based upon the information that I had. The same information,
by the way, that my predecessor had. And all of us, you know,
made this judgment that Saddam Hussein needed to be removed.
You mentioned "preemption." If I might, I went to the United
Nations and said, Here is what we know, you know, at this
moment, and you need to act. After all, you are the body that
issued resolution after resolution after resolution, and he
ignored those resolutions.
I thought I'd include it here. The print on the article is hard to read.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Here is a transcript of an
interview aired on Sunday by NBC's Meet the Press with
President Bush. The interviewer was Tim Russert.
RUSSERT: And we are in the Oval Office this morning with
the President of the United States. Mr. President, welcome
back to Meet The Press.
BUSH: Thank you, sir.
RUSSERT: On Friday, you announced a committee, commission
to look into intelligence failures regarding the Iraq war and
our entire intelligence community. You have been reluctant to
do that for some time. Why?
BUSH: Well, first let me kind of step back and talk about
intelligence in general, if I might. Intelligence is a vital
part of fighting and winning the war against the terrorists.
It is because the war against terrorists is a war against
individuals who hide in caves in remote parts of the world,
individuals who have these kind of shadowy networks,
individuals who deal with rogue nations.
So, we need a good intelligence system. We need really
good intelligence. So the commission I set up is to obviously
analyze what went right or what went wrong with the Iraqi
intelligence. It was kind of lessons learned. But it's really
set up to make sure the intelligence services provide as good a
product as possible for future presidents as well. This is just
a part of analyzing where we are on the war against terror.
There is a lot of investigations going on about the
intelligence service, particularly in the Congress, and that's
good as well. The Congress has got the capacity to look at the
intelligence gathering without giving away state secrets, and I
look forward to all the investigations and looks. Again, I
repeat to you, the capacity to have good intelligence means
that a president can make good calls about fighting this war on
terror.
RUSSERT: Prime Minister Blair has set up a similar
commission in Great Britain.
BUSH: Yeah.
RUSSERT: His is going to report back in July. Ours is not
going to be until March of 2005, five months after the
presidential election.
BUSH: Yeah.
RUSSERT: Shouldn't the American people have the benefit of
the commission before the election?
BUSH: Well, the reason why we gave it time is because we
didn't want it to be hurried. This is a strategic look, kind
of a big picture look about the intelligence gathering
capacities of the United States of America, whether it be the
capacity to gather intelligence in North Korea or how we've
used our intelligence to, for example, learn more information
about AQ Kahn. And it's important that this investigation take
its time.
Now, look, we are in a political season. I fully understand
people saying he's trying to avoid responsibility. There is
going to be ample time for the American people to assess
whether or not I made good calls, whether or not I used good
judgment, whether or not I made the right decision in removing
Saddam Hussein from power, and I look forward to that debate,
and I look forward to talking to the American people about why
I made the decisions I made.
The commission I set up, Tim, is one that will help future
presidents understand how best to fight the war on terror, and
it's an important part of the kind of lessons learned in Iraq
and lessons learned in Afghanistan prior to us going in,
lessons learned that we can apply to both Iran and North Korea
because we still have a dangerous world. And that's very
important for, I think, the people to understand where I'm
coming from to know that this is a dangerous world. I wish it
wasn't.
I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval
Office in foreign policy matters with war on my mind. Again, I
wish it wasn't true, but it is true. And the American people
need to know they got a president who sees the world the way it
is. And I see dangers that exist, and it's important for us to
deal with them.
RUSSERT: Will you testify before the commission?
BUSH: This commission? You know, I don't testify? I
will be glad to visit with them. I will be glad to share with
them knowledge. I will be glad to make recommendations, if they
ask for some.
I'm interested in getting, I'm interested in making sure
the intelligence gathering works well. (Let me) just give you a
sense of where I am on the intelligence systems of America.
First of all, I strongly believe the CIA is ably led by George
Tenet. He comes and briefs me on a regular basis about what he
and his analysts see in the world.
RUSSERT: His job is not in jeopardy?
BUSH: No, not at all, not at all. We've got people
working hard in intelligence gathering around the world to get
as good an information as possible. Intelligence requires, you
know, all kinds of assets to bring information to the
President, and I want that intelligence service to be strong,
viable, competent, confident, and provide good product to the
President so I can make judgment calls.
RUSSERT: There is another commission right now looking
into Sept. 11.
BUSH: Yeah.
RUSSERT: Will you testify before that commission?
BUSH: We have given extraordinary cooperation with
Chairmen Kean and Hamilton. As you know, we made an agreement
on what's called "Presidential Daily Briefs," and they could
see the information the CIA provided me that is unique, by the
way, to have provided what's called the PDB.
RUSSERT: Presidential Daily Brief?
BUSH: Right. And see, the danger of allowing for
information that I get briefed on out in the public arena is
that it could mean that the product I receive or future
presidents receive is somewhat guarded for fear of it being
revealed, and for fear of people saying, Well, you know, we're
going to second guess that which you told the President.
I need good, honest information, but we have shared this
information with both those gentlemen, gentlemen I trust, so
they could get a better picture of what took place prior to
September the 11th.
And again, we want, I want the truth to be known. I want
there to be a full analysis done so that we can better prepare
the homeland, for example, against what might occur. And this
is all in the context of war, and the more we learn about, you
know, what took place in the past, the more we are going to be
able to better prepare for future attacks.
RUSSERT: Would you submit for questioning, though, to the
9/11 Commission?
BUSH: Perhaps, perhaps.
RUSSERT: Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican
BUSH: Yes.
RUSSERT: said he is absolutely convinced we will capture
Osama bin Laden before the election.
BUSH: Well, I appreciate his optimism. I have no idea
whether we will capture or bring him to justice, may be the
best way to put it. I know we are on the hunt, and Osama bin
Laden is a cold-blooded killer, and he represents the nature of
the enemy that we face. These are people that will kill on a
moment's notice, and they will kill innocent women and
children. And he's hiding, and we're trying to find him.
There's I know there is a lot of focus on Iraq, and there
should be, but we've got thousands of troops, agents, allies on
the hunt, and we are doing a pretty good job of dismantling al
Qaeda better than a pretty good job, a very good job. I keep
saying in my speeches, two thirds of known al Qaeda leaders
have been captured or killed, and that's the truth.
RUSSERT: Do you have a pretty good idea where Osama is?
BUSH: You know, I'm not going to comment on that.
RUSSERT: Let me turn to Iraq. And this is the whole idea
of what you based your decision to go to war on.
BUSH: Sure, sure.
RUSSERT: The night you took the country to war, March
17th, you said this: "Intelligence gathered by this and other
governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to
possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever
devised."
BUSH: Right.
RUSSERT: That apparently is not the case.
BUSH: Correct.
RUSSERT: How do you respond to critics who say that you
brought the nation to war under false pretenses?
BUSH: The first of all, I expected to find the weapons.
Sitting behind this desk making a very difficult decision of
war and peace, and I based my decision on the best intelligence
possible, intelligence that had been gathered over the years,
intelligence that not only our analysts thought was valid but
analysts from other countries thought were valid.
And I made a decision based upon that intelligence in the
context of the war against terror. In other words, we were
attacked, and therefore every threat had to be reanalyzed.
Every threat had to be looked at. Every potential harm to
America had to be judged in the context of this war on terror.
And I made the decision, obviously, to take our case to the
international community in the hopes that we could do this,
achieve a disarmament of Saddam Hussein peacefully. In other
words, we looked at the intelligence. And we remembered the
fact that he had used weapons, which meant he had weapons. We
knew the fact that he was paying for suicide bombers. We knew
the fact he was funding terrorist groups. In other words, he
was a dangerous man. And that was the intelligence I was using
prior to the run up to this war. This a vital question.
RUSSERT: Nothing more important.
BUSH: Vital question. And so we, I expected there to be
stockpiles of weapons. But David Kay has found the capacity to
produce weapons. And when David Kay goes in and says we
haven't found stockpiles yet, and there's theories as to where
the weapons went. They could have been destroyed during the
war. Saddam and his henchmen could have destroyed them as we
entered into Iraq. They could be hidden. They could have been
transported to another country, and we'll find out. That's
what the Iraqi survey group, let me me finish here.
But David Kay did report to the American people that Saddam had
the capacity to make weapons. Saddam Hussein was dangerous
with weapons. Saddam Hussein was dangerous with the ability to
make weapons. He was a dangerous man in the dangerous part of
the world. And I made the decision to go to the United Nations.
By the way, quoting a lot of their data in other words, this is
unaccounted for stockpiles that you thought he had because I
don't think America can stand by and hope for the best from a
madman, and I believe it is essential that when we see a
threat, we deal with those threats before they become imminent.
It's too late if they become imminent. It's too late in this
new kind of war, and so that's why I made the decision I made.
RUSSERT: Mr. President, the Director of the CIA said that
his briefings had qualifiers and caveats, but when you spoke to
the country, you said "there is no doubt." When Vice President
Cheney spoke to the country, he said "there is no doubt."
Secretary Powell, "no doubt." Secretary Rumsfeld, "no doubt,
we know where the weapons are." You said, quote, "The Iraqi
regime is a threat of unique urgency." "Saddam Hussein is a
threat that we must deal with as quickly as possible."
You gave the clear sense that this was an immediate threat that
must be dealt with.
BUSH: I think, if I might remind you that in my language I
called it a grave and gathering threat, but I don't want to get
into word contests. But what I do want to share with you is my
sentiment at the time. There was no doubt in my mind that
Saddam Hussein was a danger to America.
RUSSERT: In what way?
BUSH: Well, because he had the capacity to have a weapon,
make a weapon. We thought he had weapons. The international
community thought he had weapons. But he had the capacity to
make a weapon and then let that weapon fall into the hands of a
shadowy terrorist network.
It's important for people to understand the context in which I
made a decision here in the Oval Office. I'm dealing with a
world in which we have gotten struck by terrorists with
airplanes, and we get intelligence saying that there is, you
know, we want to harm America. And the worst nightmare
scenario for any president is to realize that these kind of
terrorist networks had the capacity to arm up with some of
these deadly weapons, and then strike us.
And the President of the United States' most solemn
responsibility is to keep this country secure. And the man was
a threat, and we dealt with him, and we dealt with him because
we cannot hope for the best. We can't say, Let's don't deal
with Saddam Hussein. Let's hope he changes his stripes, or
let's trust in the goodwill of Saddam Hussein. Let's let us,
kind of, try to contain him. Containment doesn't work with a
man who is a madman. And remember, Tim, he had used weapons
against his own people.
RUSSERT: But can you launch a preemptive war without
ironclad, absolute intelligence that he had weapons of mass
destruction?
BUSH: Let me take a step back for a second and there is no
such thing necessarily in a dictatorial regime of ironclad
absolutely solid evidence. The evidence I had was the best
possible evidence that he had a weapon.
RUSSERT: But it may have been wrong.
BUSH: Well, but what wasn't wrong was the fact that he had
the ability to make a weapon. That wasn't right.
RUSSERT: This is an important point because when you say
that he has biological and chemical weapons and unmanned aerial
vehicles.
BUSH: Which he had.
RUSSERT: And they could come and attack the United States,
you are saying to the American people: we have to deal now with
a man who has these things.
BUSH: That's exactly what I said.
RUSSERT: And if that's not the case, do you believe if you
had gone to the Congress and said he should be removed because
he's a threat to his people but I'm not sure he has weapons of
mass destruction, Congress would authorize war?
BUSH: I went to Congress with the same intelligence,
Congress saw the same intelligence I had, and they looked at
exactly what I looked at, and they made an informed judgment
based upon the information that I had. The same information,
by the way, that my predecessor had. And all of us, you know,
made this judgment that Saddam Hussein needed to be removed.
You mentioned "preemption." If I might, I went to the United
Nations and said, Here is what we know, you know, at this
moment, and you need to act. After all, you are the body that
issued resolution after resolution after resolution, and he
ignored those resolutions.
I thought I'd include it here. The print on the article is hard to read.
