The one thing from the State of the Unions, is the one that sticks in my mind. To wit: Saddam recently tried to buy large quantities of uranium from Africa.  Maybe he said yellowcake.
No matter how you spin it, we were not supposed to be in this mess for this long. Lies, lies and more lies. For example the denial of civil war. I understand that GWB refused ‘til recently to allow the word ‘insurgency.’  Denial, denial, denial!

RickinSF

You at least attempt a dialogue.

W has said lots of things “directly” and often.  But if you don’t listen you can’t know.  A couple of significant examples (my emphasis - within *** since I can’t figure out how to bold):

“A campaign on the harsh terrain of a nation as large as California ***could be longer and more difficult than some predict.*** And helping Iraqis achieve a united, stable and free country ***will require our sustained commitment.***

President Bush Addresses the Nation, March 19,2003

“Americans are asking:  How will we fight and win this war?  We will direct every resource at our command—every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war—to the disruption and to the defeat of the global terror network.

This war ***will not be like the war against Iraq a decade ago, with a decisive liberation of territory and a swift conclusion***.  It will not look like the air war above Kosovo two years ago, where no ground troops were used and not a single American was lost in combat.
Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes.  ***Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen***.  It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success.  We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest.  And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism.  Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.  (Applause.)  From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.”

Address to a Joint Session of congress and the American People, September 20, 2001

I suggest you review a few of his speeches, all at http://www.whitehouse.gov, and read at the level where the policy is set.  This is the level you should listen to if you truly want to understand the goals of this administration.  Speeches quite often are more meaningful than answers to reporters questions slanted by biases both ways.

Actually, it doesn’t matter whether W said anything about the prospects for the war, in fact, he probably didn’t say anything directly.

This is because deniability is all that this admin is about.

W didn’t have to say anything, his “people” did that for him.

You certainly didn’t see the president attempt to correct his minions as they misrepresented the issues prior to the war, did you?

You may parse the issue to Clintonian levels, Mr Krehbiel, but you have been “owned.”

Jim Krehbiel

You’d make a great lemming.

Re my comment #26045:  when I looked this AM their were no responses; by the time I looked at my message, 12 others had been posted previous to mine.  Must be a backlog at the screeners!

Appreciate all of you inputs, although they seem to cover a very narrow set of comments by Rummy, Cheney and one or two others thrown in.  My comment:

CONTEXT IS KING

All of the comments you quote were regarding the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and that very limited and speedy operation and were in response to that question from the media.  Do you really believe if they had been asked “How long do you think the United States will be in Iraq?” they would have said “..6 days, 6 weeks.  I doubt 6 months.”  Be honest!

I suggest you read W’s State of the Union Addresses and his speeches to Congress since 9/11 and see what the Commander in Chief’s belief is.  He has been very consistent.

THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING!

Come on Mr. Scheer, can’t you find enough time from your anti-W tirades to find one little quote.  It might add credibility to you and Al!

Mr. Krehbiel:

The taped footage of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld spouting off 6 days, 6 weeks, but surely not even 6 months.  The Bush official, (name escapes me), who is on tape citing the overall cost of the war being maybe $1 billion.  Other taped footage and written records reflect such cavalier rhetoric at the time, during the run up to Mr. Bush’s War.  Please step pass the state of denial you may happen to be in.  We need your help in getting this Administration to stop hurting our country.  -Kevo

Cheney 3/16/03 “My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.”

Rumsfeld 2/7/03 “It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.”...

Rumsfeld 11/14/02 “Five days or five weeks or five months, but it certainly isn’t going to last any longer than that. It won’t be a World War III.”

“I challenge you all to show us a quote from President Bush or any of his administration that even closely resembles this faulty rememberence.”

How about when asked about the length of the war, Rummy replied “it could last 6 days… 6 weeks… I doubt 6 months…”

When is someone going to ask Tony hiow he works for a guy , the Rev. Moon, who say he is here to finish the work of Jesus ? This means I am not the only one that knows Jesus is NIT coming back

“Franken reminds him that we were repeatedly told before the start of the war that this would be a quick in and out,....”

I challenge you all to show us a quote from President Bush or any of his administration that even closely resembles this faulty rememberence.  Dialogue can only happen if we stay with the facts.  Franken has great difficulty doing this.

I’ll take that challenge—like shooting fish in a barrel.  Here’s the VP Cheney telling us it was going to be a cakewalk and we’d be welcomed as liberators:  Read it and weep!

From Meet the Press March 16, 2003:

VICE PRES. CHENEY: Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is, we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.

MR. RUSSERT: If your analysis is not correct, and we’re not treated as liberators, but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly and bloody battle with a significant American casualties?

VICE PRES. CHENEY: Well, I don’t…I don’t think it’s likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe we will be greeted as liberators.

I challenge you all to show us a quote from President Bush or any of his administration that even closely resembles..”

I guess you don’t get out much (or listen or read much), or perhaps you just have ‘wishful memory’, but this was one of the most common statments made by Cheney and Rummy during the run-up.

JJ

In response to Comment #25892 by Jim Krehbiel

Claims and Facts: Rhetoric, Reality and the War in Iraq:
http://www.americanprogress.org/AccountTempFiles/cf/{E9245FE4-9A2B-43C7-A521-5D6FF2E06E03}/PRIRAQCLAIMFACT1029.HTM

CLAIM: “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.” – President Bush, 5/1/03

CLAIM: The war “could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.” – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld [2/7/03]

CLAIM “We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. . . . I think it will go relatively quickly… (in) weeks rather than months.” – Vice President Cheney [3/16/03]

Also recommend… UNCOVERED: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War (DVD)
http://www.disinfo.com/site/displayarticle6037.html

Donald Rumsfeld, 3/7/03:

“It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.”

Dick Cheney, 3/16/03:

“I think it will go relatively quickly, . . . (in) weeks rather than months.”

Need more?

Franken is as usual right on. He has his facts before he speaks.  How about the big Dick and rumsfeld saying they’d greet us with flowers?
Then the CIA guy, the one who got the FREEDOM medal, saying it would be a “slam dunk.”  I understand that he may have got the medal for changing his assessment on the WMD to save the SOOPREEM commander from having egg on his face.

Rumsfeld: (paraphrasing) “I’m not sure if it will be 6 days, 6 weeks, PROBABLY NOT 6 MONTHS..” and that’s just the first thing off the top of my head. Your comment is so rediculous I won’t spend the time looking up any more of them, but there were NUMEROUS statements from the administration about how this was going to be a cake walk.

Dear Jim,

Sorry you can’t afford to pay attention, maybe some continuing education would help.

Meet the Press March 2002

VICE PRES. CHENEY: Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is, we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.

MR. RUSSERT: If your analysis is not correct, and we’re not treated as liberators, but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly and bloody battle with a significant American casualties?

VICE PRES. CHENEY: Well, I don’t…I don’t think it’s likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe we will be greeted as liberators

Jim,

Feb. 7, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, to U.S. troops in Aviano, Italy: “It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.”

* March 4, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a breakfast with reporters: “What you’d like to do is have it be a short, short conflict. . . . Iraq is much weaker than they were back in the ‘90s,” when its forces were routed from Kuwait.

* March 11, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars: “The Iraqi people understand what this crisis is about. Like the people of France in the 1940s, they view us as their hoped-for liberator.”

* March 16, Vice President Cheney, on NBC’s Meet the Press: “I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. . . . I think it will go relatively quickly, . . . (in) weeks rather than months.” He predicted that regular Iraqi soldiers would not “put up such a struggle” and that even “significant elements of the Republican Guard . . . are likely to step aside.”

“Franken reminds him that we were repeatedly told before the start of the war that this would be a quick in and out,....”

I challenge you all to show us a quote from President Bush or any of his administration that even closely resembles this faulty rememberence.  Dialogue can only happen if we stay with the facts.  Franken has great difficulty doing this.

I don’t know where this new agressive stance among liberals and Democrats came from but I’m loving it. Keith Olberman has been speaking in a tone of historical magnitude against the Bush regime, Bill Clinton tears Chris Wallace a new ass and takes out a piece of Rupert Murdoch, and now Al Franken goes at Tony Blankley without punch lines but plenty of punches. Of course, all of this is long overdue. Maybe the tide is turning and the faux “journalists” will now have to stand toe to toe with fighters rather than punching bags.