Hey Woodward, you’re on our team now…go long …longer…keep going
One of the most memorable behind-the-scenes accounts of pre-Iraq War decision-making was Bob Woodward’s story of an Oval Office meeting on Dec. 21, 2002, when George W. Bush and his top advisers reviewed the CIA’s case against Saddam Hussein for supposedly hiding weapons of mass destruction. […] According to Woodward’s account, CIA director George Tenet then rose from a couch, threw his arms into the air and exclaimed, “It’s a slam-dunk case!”
However, in the two years since publication of Plan of Attack, other evidence has emerged suggesting that Woodward was acting less as an objective journalist than as a stenographer taking down the preferred history of Bush’s inner circle. The legendary hero of the Watergate scandal may have been the one who was slam-dunked.
Bush again was scheming to find excuses for invading Iraq, even as he was publicly telling the American people that he viewed war as a “last resort.”
Bush expressed hope that he still might be able to provoke the Iraqis into some violent act that would serve as a pretext for invading, according to minutes written by Blair’s top foreign policy aide David Manning.
I hadn’t really about Woodward being purposely duped. Reflecting upon it now makes the case that either he was complicit or fooled. In the lead up to the invasion, it appeared to me that Shrub had indeed already decided to invade. The point about selecting the date of March 10 to commence bombing and making everything else fit that schedule also has merit.
Did Woodward get fooled or willingly become part of the plot, I don’t know. Regardless, I still strongly believe Shrub and his shrublets did go to war knowing that Iraq did not have any weapons of mass destruction.
I’ve believed for quite some time now that the Presidential Medal of Freedom was probably an outright quid pro quo for coaxing Tenet to utter the famous “slam dunk” phrase on the record, for publication in Woodward’s book. That high an honor for Tenet makes no sense otherwise, especially now that we know how much dissent there was within the agency regarding the conflicting intelligence. Unfortunately, the Presidential Medal has now been tarnished and the phrase “slam dunk” has become a national joke.
I truly think there’s some sort of vague feeling among Americans that the world forgives and forgets all our sins every time we elect a new president. If only that were so….. but maybe the rapture will help us avoid the consequences for our actions.
See also: Bush personally responsible for the destruction of Pompei, Bush personally responsible for global warming and Bush eats babies. Source: a guy I know at 7-11.
Everyone’s a dupe, everything is a lie, everything is a conspiracy. You know why no one gives a rat’s ass anymore? YOU’VE ALREADY CRIED WOLF 62,348 TIMES.
Oh, and what a frigging surprise: the author of the linked article has an anti-Bush family book to sell.
Well, I never.
Good thing Bush Baby has malren to protect him.
See also: Bush personally responsible for the destruction of Pompei, Bush personally responsible for global warming and Bush eats babies. Source: a guy I know at 7-11.
Everyone’s a dupe, everything is a lie, everything is a conspiracy. You know why no one gives a rat’s ass anymore? YOU’VE ALREADY CRIED WOLF 62,348 TIMES.
Comment by malren — 7/9/2006 @ 4:56 am
Oh, and what a frigging surprise: the author of the linked article has an anti-Bush family book to sell.
Well, I never.
Comment by malren — 7/9/2006 @ 4:57 am
Ya, so what’s your point? You do have a point to make, don’t you? After all, this forum is for people to express their opinions and comments.
Malren, get a life. It is obvious why you are a single, lonely, angry, overweight, friendless, slob. No one wants to be with people the likes of you. Although there may not be a specific medication to help you, I’m sure some intensive therapy will help.
>knowing that Iraq did not have any weapons
I’d say you’re right. That’s why in the State of the Union, he covered himself with ‘can’t wait until the threat is imminent’. PLus right before the Slam DUnk Bush told Tenet, ‘nice try.’
>Presidential Medal of Freedom was probably an outright quid pro quo
I think it was an election ploy. Make the Democrats so irritated they couldn’t think straight.
You can try to insult me all day, douche. Not only would my wife disagree that I’m single…it wouldn’t matter if I was. That has no bearing on the fact that you know what my point is, and you know I’m right. “Bush did it” is so old, so stale, so often used by idiots like you that no one even hears it anymore.
Get a new meme, loser. You burned this one out.
P.S. – You should pay closer attention, nitwit. I’m not defending Bush, and in fact have slammed him as a failure many times. I’m *attacking* the stupidity of the attitude that Bush is the cause of every bad thing in the world and can simultaneously be the dumbest man on earth and fooling everyone into doing his bidding.
I read “Plan of Attack.” I don’t think Woodward was duped, I think he was reporting what happened, or what he was told happened. IMHO, “The One Percent Doctrine” by Ron Suskind seems more accurate and is certainly harder-hitting over the way the administration ignored all the evidence that didn’t support its warlust. BTW, Tenet later denied having uttered the “slam dunk” phrase – but then he would, wouldn’t he.
malren — if we sum up your inability at logical reason and sound debate, ignorance of history (recent or otherwise) plus the fact that you hijack almost any thread you join to dash off an accusation of others unjustly slandering Bush — whether the topic or not — why then shouldn’t we assume you’re just here as another dittohead to defend the dork-in-chief?
Your last sentence is a stellar example of misperception or just plain unwillingness to read what others here have to say. There is no contradiction between characterising Bush as a dolt — and neo-con policies being reactionary and bigoted. Since Bush serves as a well-trained fop for neo-con ideology — he deserves a great deal of the derision and contempt.
#9, the only stupidity I see in this thread so far is that which you yourself introduced into the discussion with amazingly immature and hostile rhetoric. I don’t see the point, it just doesn’t seem very sensible or mature. I think the blog is at worst a pleasant diversion, but you don’t seem to contribute to this and even seem pretty upset yourself – and invoking the same in others. What’s the point?
I am not sure why we are still arguing about this. Dumbya has stated categorically that, even if he knew there were no WMD in Iraq, he would have still ordered the invasion.
Thus, he admits that they were a pretext and not a reason.
#13, doug, agreed. But when backed into a corner, that was perhaps the only way out with any face. The claim takes the spotlight away from “Shrub made a mistake” to “Saddam was such a bad guy”.
Malren, I don’t recall any of your posts NOT defending Bush or castigating those that dare question him. In case you didn’t notice, the subject here is “How Bush ‘Slam Dunked’ Bob Woodward Into Selling the War.” So yes, expect Bush’s name to come up. Also expect to see some discussion about WMDs and the whole reason we went to war. And expect to see a lot of disparaging comments about a President stuck in the very low 30% approval ratings. And don’t expect many favorable posts when so many of the electorate feel he deliberately lied to America.
So you named your right hand “Wife”. How sweet. I noticed you only disagreed with being single, not lonely, angry, overweight, friendless, or slob.
Whats with the personal flaming here guys? This is exactly whats wrong with this country and not only it’s politics but apparently everything we do in a group.
I know I get heated about stuff and have on occasion uttered(written) things that I immediatly regretted. But I notice the trend in this blog seems to be getting very close to the depths of the Yahoo debate boards.
You know, Malren has a point, not for this article, since Bush is the topic(along with Woodward), but this stuff does come up in just about anything brought up in here. I even make jokes about it, because I know that before posting ends there will be at least 1 or more references to Bush, lying, WMD or loss of liberties, even if the topic is about flower arranging.
Cool it guys, agree or disagree, but don’t nuke each other.
[editor: joshua raises a valid point about flaming — see our commenting guidelines. If we have to edit or delete comments — we shall.]
14. AAI – yes it is a beautiful thing, to be backed into such a corner by the Master of the Softball Question, Larry King. Although I am sure that Dumbya has said similar things in the past.
The alternative is the Ken Lay defense – “I wasn’t a liar, I was STUPID!”
In light of the Woodward and Miller “Whitehouse mouthpiece” scandals I am amazed at how many conservatives still talk about the “liberal mainstream media.”
The Bush administration totally led the “MSM” around by the nose before the war.
“liberal mainstream media.”
And how much focus have they put on Project Harmony translating documents from Saddam’s regime? So you think that would have happened the same way if Clinton were the President who invaded Iraq and Republicans were saying he lied about WMD? When Clinton bombed, the media jumped to say this is not a wag-the-dog scenario.
If George Bush were accused of rape, do you think they would let it go after one TV interview, and one question at a press conference?
>>When Clinton bombed, the media jumped to say this is not a wag-the-dog scenario.
Boy, you remember that differently than I do!
My most vivid memory from that era was the conservatives siding with bin Laden and claiming Clinton bombed an asprin factory to change the subject from Monica.
Yeah that’s what conservatives said, but the media didn’t for the most part. They ridiculed it(see Ted Koppel). Today, you have the media talking about how terror alerts are politically motivated.