President Bush admits mistakes made in Iraq

[Gravitymaster 0]

For those who complain Bush needs to admit mistakes were made.

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Bush: US overcoming Iraq 'mistakes'

Dec 07 10:10 PM US/Eastern

In a rare concession to critics of the Iraq war, President George W. Bush agreed that "mistakes have been made" but said US-led reconstruction and security efforts were making solid progress. "Reconstruction has not always gone as well as we had hoped, primarily because of the security challenges on the ground," he said in formal remarks on Iraq ahead of the war-torn country's crucial December 15 elections.

Bush cited opposition Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman's support for his Iraq strategy after a trip to see US-led reconstruction and stabilization efforts first-hand.

"The senator says that mistakes have been made. But he goes on to say that he's worried about a bigger mistake," namely a US pullout before Iraqis can keep order themselves, said Bush. "Senator Lieberman is right."

"Withdrawing on an artificial deadline would endanger the American people, would harm our military and make the Middle East less stable," he said. "It would give the terrorists exactly what they want."


The comments came in the second of a series of speeches aiming to reverse a steady slide in public support for his administration's efforts in Iraq, where a deadly insurgency has claimed the lives of more than 2,100 US troops.

Some of Bush's Republicans have worried that the party may pay a steep price for the problems in Iraq when US voters go to the polls in November 2006 legislative and gubernatorial elections.

In the first such speech, on November 30, the president touted much progress despite "some setbacks" in training the fledgling Iraq forces he says will eventually allow Washington to bring home its roughly 160,000 troops.

On Wednesday, Bush said economic reconstruction efforts had yielded "uneven" results but were paying off and blamed ousted Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein for the shabby state of his country's water and electric infrastructure.

"Rebuilding a nation devastated by a dictator is a large undertaking. It's even harder when terrorists are trying to blow up that which the Iraqis are trying to build," he said.

While the process has sometimes moved in "fits and starts," he said, "like our approach to training Iraqi security forces, our approach to helping Iraqis rebuild has changed and improved."


The president specifically pointed to reconstruction efforts in the cities of Najaf and Mosul, where he said Iraqis were "gaining a personal stake in a peaceful future" because of "tangible progress" on economic issues.

Bush said one lesson learned when reconstruction began after the April 2003 fall of Baghdad was that large-scale infrastructure projects sometimes did not meet urgent Iraqi needs and made inviting targets for extremists.

"Delivering visible progress to the Iraqi people required us to focus on projects that could be completed rapidly," like sewer lines and city roads, he said.

Bush said the United States had helped conduct 3,000 school renovation projects, train 30,000 teachers, distribute more than eight million textbooks, rebuild irrigation infrastructure to help some 400,000 Iraqis, and improve drinking water for more than three million Iraqis.

Washington has helped Iraq introduce a new currency, re-open its stock exchange, provide 21 million dollars in credit to small businesses and individuals, leading to the registration of some 30,000 new Iraqi businesses, he said.

"This is quiet, steady progress. It doesn't always make the headlines in the evening news. But it's real, and it's important and it is unmistakable to those who see it close up," said the president.

Democratic lawmakers accused Bush of glossing over problems in Iraq ahead of the elections.

"As he did last week, the president once again failed to provide a strategy for success or speak honestly to the American people about the failures in rebuilding Iraq and the challenges that lie ahead," said Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in the Senate.

Representative Henry Waxman called the president's claims "mindboggling".

And of course we always hear "if the President would just admit he's made mistakes, we could move on from there". Notice how Reid and Waxman react with the typical bashing. Do their reaction indicate they are willing to help and make suggestions? Has anyone ever heard Reid's suggest anything constructive? Other than a cut and run stategy? So why should Bush even bother admiting anything? His political opponents are just going to use it against him.

[narcimund 0]

When I was a little child my mother would tell me to wash the dishes after dinner. The next morning she'd point to the messy kitchen and ask what happened. I'd say:

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The dishes didn't get done.

When she pointed to the mysteriously empty cookie jar, I'd say:

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The cookies got eaten.

I thought I was so smart to say what was perfectly obvious without actually using the word "I" to admit any responsibility. Almost as if I were implying that someone else failed to wash the dishes or ate the cookies.

This could be seen as a subtle linguistic nitpick, except even 8 year olds are clever enough to pull it on their parents. In fact, ONLY 8 year olds use it since everyone else has already figured it out. Only 8 year olds and the President of the United States, that is.

First Class Citizen Twice Over

[kallend 2,148]

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When I was a little child my mother would tell me to wash the dishes after dinner. The next morning she'd point to the messy kitchen and ask what happened. I'd say:

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The dishes didn't get done.

When she pointed to the mysteriously empty cookie jar, I'd say:

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The cookies got eaten.

I thought I was so smart to say what was perfectly obvious without actually using the word "I" to admit any responsibility. Almost as if I were implying that someone else failed to wash the dishes or ate the cookies.

This could be seen as a subtle linguistic nitpick, except even 8 year olds are clever enough to pull it on their parents. In fact, ONLY 8 year olds use it since everyone else has already figured it out. Only 8 year olds and the President of the United States, that is.

Have to disagree here. The GF's 16 year old son told his mother last week (about a $12,000 instrument) "The cello broke".

So I'd say it's kids 16 and under, and the President of the United States.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[AdD 1]

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rebuilding a nation devasted by a dictator is a huge undertaking

Ya, I remember how Saddam bombed Iraq back to the stone age, man that guy was no good... oh wait, that was America... well best forget about that and move on to more important things like pre-emptively nuking Iran and blaming it on Syria.

Life is ez
On the dz
Every jumper's dream
3 rigs and an airstream

[Gravitymaster 0]

Don't you just hate a boss who takes all the credit for the success of the team, when it took a group effort? The only thing worse is those who blame him for all the failures. Even 8 year olds know that's not fair. Of course sometimes it's only fair when it's someone you don't like.

[Mike111 0]

i totally agree with you mate.

People don't seem to realise we are all human and makeno mistakes, + the military phrase " a plan never survives first contact with the enemy".

Of course everything should go to plan when being shot at with RPG's, lol shouldn' it?

[narcimund 0]

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Don't you just hate a boss who takes all the credit for the success of the team, when it took a group effort? The only thing worse is those who blame him for all the failures. Even 8 year olds know that's not fair. Of course sometimes it's only fair when it's someone you don't like.

Uhhhhhh....

I've tried to see how this is relevant to your original point which was that your Bush fellow admitted making a mistake. I really have.

Nice sidestepping, however.

First Class Citizen Twice Over

[Gravitymaster 0]

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Don't you just hate a boss who takes all the credit for the success of the team, when it took a group effort? The only thing worse is those who blame him for all the failures. Even 8 year olds know that's not fair. Of course sometimes it's only fair when it's someone you don't like.

Uhhhhhh....

I've tried to see how this is relevant to your original point which was that your Bush fellow admitted making a mistake. I really have.

Nice sidestepping, however.

Try a little harder then. Just because you don't get it doesn't mean I'm sidestepping.

[artistcalledian 0]

i've only got one thing to say to Bush.....

http://www.phespirit.info/derekandclive/sounds/come_again_04.wav

________________________________________
drive it like you stole it and f*ck the police

[narcimund 0]

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Try a little harder then. Just because you don't get it doesn't mean I'm sidestepping.

Your meaning was quite clear. You've abandoned your claim that Bush admitted something and now you're making a new claim that it's not fair to expect him to do so.

First Class Citizen Twice Over

[billvon 3,116]

Good for him! He still didn't admit that HE has made mistakes, but it is a great start. Once he admits that he's made mistakes, he can take steps to make sure he doesn't make them again.

[Gravitymaster 0]

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Try a little harder then. Just because you don't get it doesn't mean I'm sidestepping.

Your meaning was quite clear. You've abandoned your claim that Bush admitted something and now you're making a new claim that it's not fair to expect him to do so.

Nope. All I said is that Bush admitted mistakes were made. I also said he shouldn't be held solely and personally responsible when mistakes were made at all levels of government including the CIA and FBI Directors. Louis Freeh has already accepted responsibility for the FBI mistakes. He has said we made mistakes, but unfortunately, for some, as evidenced here,no matter what he does it will never be enough. So why should he even bother when this is the reaction he gets?

[Amazon 7]

Oh I long for the days when there was a small plaque on the desk of the President that said " the Buck Stops here" instead of the current one that reads " The Buck gets Passed from here"

[narcimund 0]

Is he saying HE made mistakes or that someone else did?

How does one admit that mistakes were made by someone else?

Can I admit that "cookies are missing"?

This is a big pile on nonsense.

First Class Citizen Twice Over

[Gravitymaster 0]

I love the double standard. During Katrina the general agreement on this site was that mistake were made at all levels and neither Bush, Negin, Landrieu etc should be blamed. Of course the reason nobody specifically was to blame is because that would have encased Negin & Co. with blame.

Now that there is no fear of Democrats having fingers pointed at them, it's all Bush's fault. Not a failure at all levels like during Katrina, but all Bush's fault and he needs to take personal responsibility for the failures of the CIA, FBI etc. Apparently before we can move forward, which I take to mean before he gets any cooperation from Democrats. You think thats a good healthy attitude from those you elected? You think it's good they can't put personal grudges aside and work to make the country better?

Before I opened up my own business, I worked as a manager and had about 25 people working under me. When mistakes were made, nobody would let me take all the blame. We made decisions and acted as a team and when we succeeded, we shared the success. When we didn't peform as well as we had planned, nobody pointed fingers and demanded personal apologies because we all accepted that we failed as a team. We never felt the need to wring our hands and say "It's all my fault". Nobody would allow that. So we agreed we all shared in the lower than planned performance, figured out what areas we needed to improve in and moved on. Thats how successful teams perform. Low performing teams whine and point fingers.

[narcimund 0]

That's a lovely rant and I'm sure there are gems in there. Perhaps you should start a new thread with it so people can discuss these issues of blame and praise and responsibility.

But your original point remains false. Your guy didn't admit a damn thing.

First Class Citizen Twice Over

[Gravitymaster 0]

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That's a lovely rant and I'm sure there are gems in there. Perhaps you should start a new thread with it so people can discuss these issues of blame and praise and responsibility.

But your original point remains false. Your guy didn't admit a damn thing.

He admitted mistakes were made. Read the thread title.

[rickjump1 0]

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That's a lovely rant and I'm sure there are gems in there. Perhaps you should start a new thread with it so people can discuss these issues of blame and praise and responsibility.

But your original point remains false. Your guy didn't admit a damn thing.

He admitted mistakes were made. Read the thread title.

I never thought our Mexican-suckyass- president would admit we have a problem with out border, but he did. Still waiting for Nixon to come clean.OOPs..

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

[likearock 2]

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That's a lovely rant and I'm sure there are gems in there. Perhaps you should start a new thread with it so people can discuss these issues of blame and praise and responsibility.

But your original point remains false. Your guy didn't admit a damn thing.

He admitted mistakes were made. Read the thread title.

I confess. He did it!

[jeiber 0]

There's no winning.... if Bush were to take full responsibility, these people would be accusing him of deceptively trying to cover for other agencies.

From there, it would proceed to, 'how can Bush fix the problem, when he won't acknowledge that they've done anything wrong?!'

Jeff

Shhh... you hear that sound? That's the sound of nobody caring!

[billvon 3,116]

>if Bush were to take full responsibility, these people would be accusing
>him of deceptively trying to cover for other agencies.

Who are "these people?" I'd applaud him if he stood up and admitted his mistakes.

No man can be responsible for everyone's mistakes. They can only be responsible for their own.

[Gravitymaster 0]

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There's no winning.... if Bush were to take full responsibility, these people would be accusing him of deceptively trying to cover for other agencies.

From there, it would proceed to, 'how can Bush fix the problem, when he won't acknowledge that they've done anything wrong?!'

Jeff

Yep. There are many who think Bush is going to be their whipping boy and anything less than a detailed confession of all his sins won't suffice because then they say he wasn't sincere enough. It never ends, and they wonder why.

[narcimund 0]

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anything less than a detailed confession of all his sins

That is something I can't predict. But it would be an interesting experiment if he would -- just once -- admit something -- ANYTHING.

And no, admitting someone else's errors doesn't cut it.

And double no, admitting his own errors in such a way as to make it sound like someone else's errors (the way an 8 year old would) double doesn't cut it.

First Class Citizen Twice Over

[narcimund 0]

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It never ends, and they wonder why.

I don't wonder why it never ends. I KNOW why.

It never ends because it has never started.

First Class Citizen Twice Over