Mr Bush said he "wanted to go beyond Iraq in dealing with WMD proliferation, mentioning in particular Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan."
My my, what an ambitious little guy, and he was going to do all this in eight years. Sounds like he doesn't intend to leave office.
Posted by Judith at October 16, 2005 05:03 AMMy guess is that Bush is taking some heat from the far right about his hand holding with the Saudis and this is a little sabre reattling, meaningless to the point of absurdity, given the military situation in Iraq. Go after Pakistan & the Saudis & Iran & Syria & upperwhatchacallitstan?
He said these things in 03, and still calls Pakistan our ally?
Bush sounds like an alzhiemers sufferer. Every day is a clean slate.
Oblivious and dangerous.
How in the hell will the next president and his administration clean up the garbage left by GWB? It will take the Democrats being in control for the next 24 years to undo what Bush has accomplished in only four years and ten months.
Posted by Judith at October 16, 2005 06:03 AMGeorge was ready to make war against the Saudis at least by January of 2003
This explains everything, if the excellent adventure in the Iraq sandbox is viewed through the metaphorical lens of a NeoCon game of pool.
The invasion of Iraq and removal of Saddam was the break, intending to put many balls in the pockets, setting the stage to run the table. First Iraq, then Syria, then maybe Jordan, then the big cheese eight ball: Saudi Arabia. And all of this within a year or two. Maybe Iran would come before Saudi Arabia, maybe afterwards. The key is that Gee Dubya and the NeoCon fabulists thought they would run the table, starting with a cakewalk and flower shower in Iraq.
Of course it was going to happen, exactly as they imagined -- they made their plans, they executed their plans, and they would bend reality to their will.
Unfortunately for BushCo, reality has a way of resisting such willfulness.
Posted by ck at October 16, 2005 09:36 AMThe way to wage war on Saudi Arabia has nothing to do with guns and bombs. The best way to fight them is to develop an energy policy that ends our reliance on their oil.
The US imports 12 million barrels of oil a day. We must reduce this number significantly.
Posted by muckdog at October 16, 2005 10:42 AMThe best way to fight them is to develop an energy policy that ends our reliance on their oil.
On this we are in complete agreement, muck. Regardless of the method this goal is achieved, however, I fail to detect any leadership - from anyone - in dealing with this issue. No action will be taken by this nation until someone steps out front and convincingly says 'Follow me'.
Posted by pessimist at October 16, 2005 11:26 AMWe are in Iraq because of oil. Bush I admitted it in 1991 and its even more true now. There have always been a tiny minority in the moslem world that hates the west for our culture and tradition. They are not the reason that the jihad continues. There are not enough moslems who would be willing to die for the abstract principal of killing the infedels. The jihad attracts enough young moslems to continue indefinatily because of what we DO, not who we ARE.
We plan on having troops in moslem countries as long as we need middle eastern oil. In other words, indefinitily. There is no reason to believe that any leader in either party has a serious plan to solve this conundrum.
Posted by rlp at October 16, 2005 05:08 PM