11-01-2004, 05:37 AM
Hello. My name is George Bush and I'm running for President. Please consider my accomplishments as set forth in the [url "http://monkeydyne.com/bushresume/forward.html"]following resume[/url].
EARLY RECORD [ul] [li][url "http://www.monkeydyne.com/bushresume/early.html"]Please See Attached Page[/url] [/li][/ul]
POLITICAL RECORD (DOMESTIC) [ul]
[li]I ran for President in 2000. My campaign was destined to be a miserable failure until [url "http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/03/21/the_anatomy_of_a_smear_campaign/"]I used a whispering campaign of lies[/url] in the South Carolina Presidential Primary [url "http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20010305&s=dubose"]organized by my chief political strategist, Karl Rove,[/url] to destroy genuine war hero and fellow Republican John McCain, [url "http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2004/07/06/mccain/"]claiming he had fathered an illegitimate negro child[/url] was emotionally unstable due to his torture as a POW in Vietnam[/url] and a possible [url "http://www.scdp.org/blog.php?blog_id=22"]brainwashed Manchurian Candidate[/url].
[li]In July 2001 I [url "http://securities.stanford.edu/news-archive/2002/20020300_Headline16_Knauer.htm"]appointed Harvey Pitt to be the chairman of a "kinder, gentler SEC"[/url] to ease regulation of foreign businesses. The results have been the largest and most miserable failures of corporate accountability in modern corporate history: [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron"]Enron[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldcom"]Worldcom[/url], and now [url "http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/30/news/fortune500/fannie_doj.reut/"]Fannie Mae[/url].
[li]I am the first President to [url "http://www.aclu.org/FreeSpeech/FreeSpeech.cfm?ID=13693&c=86"]unconstitutionally restrict my opponents' First Amendment rights[/url] by [url "http://www.amconmag.com/12_15_03/feature.html"]allowing my supporters to remain at the venue[/url] while [/url]restricting my detractors to "[url "http://reason.com/links/links020504.shtml"]free speech zones[/url]," fenced-off areas up to [url "http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=11796"]half mile away[/url] from the media, the audience, and especially myself.
[li]I've communicated less with the American people than any other president in the history of televised news, holding only [url "http://www.towson.edu/polsci/whc/readings/PressConference.pdf"]one White House press conference every 3.25 months[/url], compared to my father's 1.6 per month.
[li]To prevent activist judges from rewriting the constitution to serve an agenda that Congress would never approve, I attempted to rewrite the constitution to serve an agenda they never came close to approving. My campaign for the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Marriage_Amendment"]Federal Marriage Amendment[/url] was a miserable failure: it failed to pass either house of congress. In the Senate the cloture call to end debate yielded only 48 votes, not the 67 required to pass the Senate, not the 60 votes required for cloture, not even the 50 votes of a simple majority.
[li]My 2004 budget [url "http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=148"]set the record for the largest deficit in history[/url]: either $477 billion or $521 billion ([url "http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=5003&sequence=0"]CBO[/url] and [url "http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/sheets/hist01z3.xls"]OMB[/url] numbers, respectively).
[li][url "http://www.monkeydyne.com/bushresume/dollar_collapse.jpg"]The value of the dollar has collapsed 30% during my term[/url].
[li][url "http://www.openlettertothepresident.org/"]Nearly every major economic indicator has deteriorated since I took office in January 2001. Real GDP growth during my term is the lowest of any presidential term in recent memory. Total non-farm employment has contracted and the unemployment rate has increased. Bankruptcies are up sharply, as is our dependence on foreign capital to finance an exploding current account deficit. All three major stock indexes are lower now than at the time of my inauguration. The percentage of Americans in poverty has increased, real median income has declined, and income inequality has grown.[/url]
[/li][/ul]POLITICAL EXPERIENCE (FOREIGN) [ul]
[li]As president I ignored Clinton's warnings about Al Qaeda, mentioning that organization only once in public statements on national security between January 20, 2001 and September 10, 2001. [url "http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/numbers.asp"]In the same time period I mentioned Saddam Hussein 104 times and missile defense 101 times[/url].
[li]On August 6, 2001 I received a briefing titled "[url "http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/08/rice.transcript/index.html"]Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States[/url]" which warned that "[url "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3617289.stm"]the FBI indicates patterns of suspicious activity in the United States consistent with preparations for hijacking[/url]." For one month I dealt with [url "http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A2676-2004Apr10¬Found=true"]numerous other issues[/url] until the unfolding of the most successful terrorist attack in US history on September 11, 2001.
[li]With broad international approval I temporarily disrupted the Taliban government, which has now re-emerged to control much of southern Afghanistan after I abandoned this campaign for Iraq.
[li]I campaigned strongly for war in Iraq. I claimed that: [ul]
[li]Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (none have been found).
[li][url "http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-1.html"]Iraq had ties to Al Qaeda[/url] (Iraq opposed Al Qaeda and [url "http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/terrornet/12.htm"]successfully kept their operatives out of the country before September 2001[/url]. The strongest claim to support a connection came from [url "http://www.rushonline.com/visitors/linkconfirmed.htm"]Czech intelligence services[/url] and is [url "http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20021020-092811-8185r"]now retracted[/url]. The 9/11 commission [url "http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/16/911.commission/"]"did not believe that such a meeting occurred"[/url].)
[li][url "http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-1.html"]Iraq would give their weapons of mass destruction to terrorists[/url] ([url "http://www.cato.org/dailys/03-05-03.html"]A secular Saddam would never give his "ace card" to religious elements he opposed throughout his life and could not control[/url])
[li][url "http://www.cato.org/dailys/04-21-04.html"]The war would be "self-financing" through oil sales[/url] ([url "http://factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=253"]$200 billion total has been allocated[/url], and [url "http://costofwar.com/"]$138 billion has already been spent[/url] with more to follow).
[li]The war would end quickly, with [url "http://www.cato.org/dailys/04-21-04.html"]troop deployments down to 30,000 troops by Autumn 2003[/url] ([url "http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat.htm"]March 2004 troop deployment: 114,000 US plus 23,000 Coalition troops in Iraq; 26,000 US and Coalition logistical support troops in Kuwait[/url]).
[li]Americans would be greeted as liberators (Public perception of Americans as liberators dropped from [url "http://www.cato.org/dailys/05-18-04.html"]43% at the time of invasion[/url] to [url "http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5223494/"]2% after Abu Ghraib[/url]).
[li]By invading I would make it more difficult for terrorists to obtain Weapons of Mass Destruction (The only WMD 'discovered' in Iraq was [url "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3722255.stm"]successfully obtained by terrorists and used against Americans[/url]. As a result of the invasion, [url "http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6469984"]nuclear equipment and materials in Iraq formerly monitored by the IAEA has disappeared and may have fallen into the hands of terrorists or rogue countries[/url]. [url "http://www.sensibleforeignpolicy.net/letter.html"]The results have been overwhelmingly negative for U.S. interests.[/url]) [/li][/ul]
[li]I punished those who spoke unwelcome truth: [ul]
[li]I sent [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_wilson"]Joseph Wilson[/url] to Africa in February 2002 to investigate claims that Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium, where Wilson determined that those claims were based on [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowcake_Forgery"]forged documents[/url]. Despite his report I continued to make public Iraq/Nigeria statements as late as [url "http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030128-19.html"]January 2003[/url]. When Wilson [url "http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm"]publicly contradicted me[/url], one of my senior officials exposed the CIA cover of Wilson's wife, [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame"]Valerie Plame[/url], in [url "http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/printrn20030714.shtml"]an article written by Robert Novak and printed in the New York Times on July 14 2003[/url]. No one is sure which senior White House official leaked the order or who was aware, but the fact that [url "http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/061404Ramares/061404ramares.html"]I hired James Sharp in June 2004 to represent me[/url] as a personal criminal defense attorney is significant when you consider that [url "http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20040604.html"]there is no attorney-client privilege between a president and a White House counsel that allows the counsel to withhold information from a Federal grand jury.[/url]
[li]I [url "http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20040103.shtml"]fired Lawrence Lindsey[/url] as my economics advisor in early December 2002 for [url "http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/transcripts/2003/feb/030226.ludden.html"]claiming that the Iraq War would cost between $100 and $200 billion[/url]. ($138 billion has been spent and $200 billion has been budgeted... so far)
[li]I [url "http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1171880,00.html"]fired Jay Garner as US Administrator of Iraq in March 2004[/url] for calling for immediate elections instead of allowing American companies to privatize government-owned assets. (American privatization and lack of a legitimate Iraqi government is one of the major reasons for unrest in Iraq.)
[li]I made US Army Chief of Staff [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Shinseki"]General Eric Shinseki[/url] a lame duck in June 2003, defying precedent and [url "http://www.intellivu.com/main.asp?brand=&fnum=142&pathb=/articles1/rnovak/novak050103.htm"]announcing his successor 14 months in advance of his retirement[/url] after he [url "http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/attack/consequences/2003/0228pentagoncontra.htm"]announced that "several hundred thousand troops would be needed in postwar Iraq"[/url].
[li]I [url "http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2004/03/12/rtr1297339.html"]threatened to have Medicare analyst Richard Foster fired[/url] if he [url "http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6339-2004Mar18"]replied to Congressional requests[/url] and reported that the [url "http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031208-2.html"]Medicare Prescription Drug Bill[/url] would [url "http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=22867"]cost $551 billion, $156 billion over the White House's favored estimate of $395 billion[/url].
[li]After the Iraq Health Ministry released figures showing that US and Coalition forces [url "http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/9753603.htm"]killed twice as many Iraqis as the Insurgents the Iraqis are supposedly being protected from[/url], I acted decisively by [url "http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2004/09/23/640763-ap.html"]ordering the Iraq Health Ministry to not release any more figures[/url]. [/li][/ul]
[li]I rewarded those who spoke welcome lies, paying [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Chalabi"]Ahmed Chalabi[/url] and the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_National_Congress"]Iraqi National Congress[/url] $340,000 per month for their [url "http://www.cato.org/dailys/05-27-04-2.html"]false intelligence gathered about Iraq[/url]. Although Chalabi and the INC had been dropped from the CIA payroll in 1996 for being an unreliable source and also dismissed by the DIA ([url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Intelligence_Agency"]Defense Intelligence Agency[/url]) for the same reason, I continued to use Chalabi and the INC to support claims of WMDs in Iraq. Even after [url "http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/11/1078594496135.html?oneclick=true"]their information proved false and no weapons were found[/url] I remained so close to Chalabi that he [url "http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040120-5.html"]sat with Laura Bush as my "Special Guest" during my September 2003 State of the Union address[/url]. I continued to pay the INC regularly [url "http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/20/chalabi.raid/"]until May 2004[/url], when allegations surfaced that Chalabi had passed classified American intelligence to Iran.
[li]I [url "http://www.prospect.org/print-friendly/print/V13/22/dreyfuss-r.html"]put tremendous pressure on the CIA to come up with information to support policies that have already been adopted[/url] (as determined by the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Report_of_Pre-war_Intelligence_on_Iraq#Conclusions_of_the_Report"]Senate Report of Pre-war Intelligence on Iraq[/url]). When the CIA and DIA refused to verify intelligence items I wanted to believe, Donald Rumsfeld and I created the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Special_Plans"]Office of Special Plans[/url]. This independent department within the Pentagon was designed to bypass the CIA and feed the discredited and unreliable [url "http://www.cato.org/dailys/07-12-04-2.html"]information I wanted to believe was true[/url] back into the intelligence stream in order to support conclusions that the CIA and DIA could not. The OSP took much of the discredited information from Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress.
[li][url "http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/19/politics/main522605.shtml"]I opposed the creation of the Department of Homeland Security for nine months, before turning around to take credit for its creation[/url].
[li][url "http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/legislative/sap/107-2/107PDFs/hr4628-h.pdf"]I opposed the creation of an independent 9/11 panel[/url]. After being forced to accept the commission, I gave it only $12 million in funding to do its work ([url "http://www.washingtonfreepress.org/67/administrationsFacade.htm"]compared to $50 million combined for Whitewater and the Monica Lewinsky investigation[/url]) before turning around to take credit for its creation.
[li]My war against Al Qaeda has been a miserable failure:
[ul] [li]The [url "http://www.iiss.org/"]International Institute for Strategic Studies[/url]' most conservative estimate (May 25, 2004) is that [url "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3746205.stm"]the occupation of Iraq has helped Al Qaeda recruit 18,000 operatives in more than 60 countries[/url].
[li]The [url "http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/"]Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University[/url] has found that [url "http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-israel-terrorism,0,788148,print.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines"]The war in Iraq did not damage international terror groups, but instead distracted the United States from confronting other hotbeds of Islamic militancy and actually "created momentum" for many terrorists. On a strategic level as well as an operational level, the war in Iraq is hurting the war on international terrorism.[/url]
[li]By my State Department's own estimates, [url "http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31971-2004May16.html"]world terror attacks are now at their highest level in 20 years, up 36% since 2001[/url]. [/li][/ul]
[li]I have [url "http://www.pollycyber.com/courses/G245-F03/final/NYT-2003N11-Greenhouse.html"]held 660 prisoners in Guantanamo, Cuba[/url] for over two years without trial or formal charge. My prisoners, several of whom were between the ages of 13 and 16, have never been formally charged. They are kept in steel cages, subjected to ongoing torture, and denied access to legal counsel in opposition to Supreme Court rulings ([url "http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/1706/resources"]Rasul v. Bush[/url]). These prisoners are "[url "http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/01/09/usdom6917.htm"]the worst of the worst", "hard core, well trained terrorists[/url]" and their guilt is beyond doubt, which is why I've [url "http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2004/nr20040129-0934.html"]set 87 of them free without explanation or apology[/url].
[li]In the past year I claim to have trained 100,000 Iraqi police forces, but [url "http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=590914§ion=news"]only 8,169 of those have passed the required 8-week training course[/url]. Another 46,176 are listed as "untrained".
[li]My Secretary of Defense is the first in US history to have [url "http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/Evening_Newscasts_June1604.html"]acknowledged ordering an intentional violation of the Geneva Conventions[/url], in which Abu Ghraib prisoners were held "off the books" and hidden from the Red Cross. When this order was made public I refused to discipline him in any way, instead [url "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3699453.stm"]complimenting him on his job performance[/url].
[li]After being informed of abuses at Abu Ghraib on [url "http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040524fa_fact"]January 16[/url] (first reported on [url "http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/may2004/a050704h.html"]January 13[/url]) which included "[url "http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/reports/2004/800-mp-bde.htm"]Threatening male detainees with rape[/url]" and "[url "http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/reports/2004/800-mp-bde.htm"]Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick[/url]" I made "[url "http://slate.msn.com/id/2100014/"]freedom from torture chambers and rape rooms[/url]" a centerpiece in my speeches until April 29 when the story finally broke on 60 Minutes II.
[li]My administration is the first since the Civil War to imprison US Citizens (Jose Padilla) as "enemy combatants" without charges, trial, or access to legal counsel. In a 5-4 decision ([url "http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/1730/"]Rumsfeld v. Padilla[/url]) the Supreme Court dodged the opportunity to rule on the legality, ruling that the case had been improperly filed.
[li]My administration broke new legal ground by using material witness warrants to give effective life sentences to [url "http://www.bluetriangle.org/old/id74.htm"]US citizens[/url] [url "http://secure.cppax.org/Iraq/background/materialWitness11-24-02.html"]without charge, trial, access to legal counsel, or even plans to prosecute[/url].
[li]My justice department was the first in US history to attempt to [url "http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/09/06/airline.id.ap/"]enforce federal regulations while refusing to disclose what those regulations are[/url].
[li]My legal war against terror has been a miserable failure: I have [url "http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=128&wit_id=83"]detained more than 5,000 people[/url] on suspicion of terrorist ties, some of whom have been held without charge or without access to a lawyer. [url "http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041004&s=cole"]I have successfully convicted zero[/url]. [/li][/ul]
[url "http://monkeydyne.com/bushresume/resume.html"]http://monkeydyne.com/bushresume/resume.html[/url]
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EARLY RECORD [ul] [li][url "http://www.monkeydyne.com/bushresume/early.html"]Please See Attached Page[/url] [/li][/ul]
POLITICAL RECORD (DOMESTIC) [ul]
[li]I ran for President in 2000. My campaign was destined to be a miserable failure until [url "http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/03/21/the_anatomy_of_a_smear_campaign/"]I used a whispering campaign of lies[/url] in the South Carolina Presidential Primary [url "http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20010305&s=dubose"]organized by my chief political strategist, Karl Rove,[/url] to destroy genuine war hero and fellow Republican John McCain, [url "http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2004/07/06/mccain/"]claiming he had fathered an illegitimate negro child[/url] was emotionally unstable due to his torture as a POW in Vietnam[/url] and a possible [url "http://www.scdp.org/blog.php?blog_id=22"]brainwashed Manchurian Candidate[/url].
[li]In July 2001 I [url "http://securities.stanford.edu/news-archive/2002/20020300_Headline16_Knauer.htm"]appointed Harvey Pitt to be the chairman of a "kinder, gentler SEC"[/url] to ease regulation of foreign businesses. The results have been the largest and most miserable failures of corporate accountability in modern corporate history: [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron"]Enron[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldcom"]Worldcom[/url], and now [url "http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/30/news/fortune500/fannie_doj.reut/"]Fannie Mae[/url].
[li]I am the first President to [url "http://www.aclu.org/FreeSpeech/FreeSpeech.cfm?ID=13693&c=86"]unconstitutionally restrict my opponents' First Amendment rights[/url] by [url "http://www.amconmag.com/12_15_03/feature.html"]allowing my supporters to remain at the venue[/url] while [/url]restricting my detractors to "[url "http://reason.com/links/links020504.shtml"]free speech zones[/url]," fenced-off areas up to [url "http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=11796"]half mile away[/url] from the media, the audience, and especially myself.
[li]I've communicated less with the American people than any other president in the history of televised news, holding only [url "http://www.towson.edu/polsci/whc/readings/PressConference.pdf"]one White House press conference every 3.25 months[/url], compared to my father's 1.6 per month.
[li]To prevent activist judges from rewriting the constitution to serve an agenda that Congress would never approve, I attempted to rewrite the constitution to serve an agenda they never came close to approving. My campaign for the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Marriage_Amendment"]Federal Marriage Amendment[/url] was a miserable failure: it failed to pass either house of congress. In the Senate the cloture call to end debate yielded only 48 votes, not the 67 required to pass the Senate, not the 60 votes required for cloture, not even the 50 votes of a simple majority.
[li]My 2004 budget [url "http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=148"]set the record for the largest deficit in history[/url]: either $477 billion or $521 billion ([url "http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=5003&sequence=0"]CBO[/url] and [url "http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/sheets/hist01z3.xls"]OMB[/url] numbers, respectively).
[li][url "http://www.monkeydyne.com/bushresume/dollar_collapse.jpg"]The value of the dollar has collapsed 30% during my term[/url].
[li][url "http://www.openlettertothepresident.org/"]Nearly every major economic indicator has deteriorated since I took office in January 2001. Real GDP growth during my term is the lowest of any presidential term in recent memory. Total non-farm employment has contracted and the unemployment rate has increased. Bankruptcies are up sharply, as is our dependence on foreign capital to finance an exploding current account deficit. All three major stock indexes are lower now than at the time of my inauguration. The percentage of Americans in poverty has increased, real median income has declined, and income inequality has grown.[/url]
[/li][/ul]POLITICAL EXPERIENCE (FOREIGN) [ul]
[li]As president I ignored Clinton's warnings about Al Qaeda, mentioning that organization only once in public statements on national security between January 20, 2001 and September 10, 2001. [url "http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/numbers.asp"]In the same time period I mentioned Saddam Hussein 104 times and missile defense 101 times[/url].
[li]On August 6, 2001 I received a briefing titled "[url "http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/08/rice.transcript/index.html"]Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States[/url]" which warned that "[url "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3617289.stm"]the FBI indicates patterns of suspicious activity in the United States consistent with preparations for hijacking[/url]." For one month I dealt with [url "http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A2676-2004Apr10¬Found=true"]numerous other issues[/url] until the unfolding of the most successful terrorist attack in US history on September 11, 2001.
[li]With broad international approval I temporarily disrupted the Taliban government, which has now re-emerged to control much of southern Afghanistan after I abandoned this campaign for Iraq.
[li]I campaigned strongly for war in Iraq. I claimed that: [ul]
[li]Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (none have been found).
[li][url "http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-1.html"]Iraq had ties to Al Qaeda[/url] (Iraq opposed Al Qaeda and [url "http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/terrornet/12.htm"]successfully kept their operatives out of the country before September 2001[/url]. The strongest claim to support a connection came from [url "http://www.rushonline.com/visitors/linkconfirmed.htm"]Czech intelligence services[/url] and is [url "http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20021020-092811-8185r"]now retracted[/url]. The 9/11 commission [url "http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/16/911.commission/"]"did not believe that such a meeting occurred"[/url].)
[li][url "http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-1.html"]Iraq would give their weapons of mass destruction to terrorists[/url] ([url "http://www.cato.org/dailys/03-05-03.html"]A secular Saddam would never give his "ace card" to religious elements he opposed throughout his life and could not control[/url])
[li][url "http://www.cato.org/dailys/04-21-04.html"]The war would be "self-financing" through oil sales[/url] ([url "http://factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=253"]$200 billion total has been allocated[/url], and [url "http://costofwar.com/"]$138 billion has already been spent[/url] with more to follow).
[li]The war would end quickly, with [url "http://www.cato.org/dailys/04-21-04.html"]troop deployments down to 30,000 troops by Autumn 2003[/url] ([url "http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat.htm"]March 2004 troop deployment: 114,000 US plus 23,000 Coalition troops in Iraq; 26,000 US and Coalition logistical support troops in Kuwait[/url]).
[li]Americans would be greeted as liberators (Public perception of Americans as liberators dropped from [url "http://www.cato.org/dailys/05-18-04.html"]43% at the time of invasion[/url] to [url "http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5223494/"]2% after Abu Ghraib[/url]).
[li]By invading I would make it more difficult for terrorists to obtain Weapons of Mass Destruction (The only WMD 'discovered' in Iraq was [url "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3722255.stm"]successfully obtained by terrorists and used against Americans[/url]. As a result of the invasion, [url "http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6469984"]nuclear equipment and materials in Iraq formerly monitored by the IAEA has disappeared and may have fallen into the hands of terrorists or rogue countries[/url]. [url "http://www.sensibleforeignpolicy.net/letter.html"]The results have been overwhelmingly negative for U.S. interests.[/url]) [/li][/ul]
[li]I punished those who spoke unwelcome truth: [ul]
[li]I sent [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_wilson"]Joseph Wilson[/url] to Africa in February 2002 to investigate claims that Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium, where Wilson determined that those claims were based on [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowcake_Forgery"]forged documents[/url]. Despite his report I continued to make public Iraq/Nigeria statements as late as [url "http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030128-19.html"]January 2003[/url]. When Wilson [url "http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm"]publicly contradicted me[/url], one of my senior officials exposed the CIA cover of Wilson's wife, [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame"]Valerie Plame[/url], in [url "http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/printrn20030714.shtml"]an article written by Robert Novak and printed in the New York Times on July 14 2003[/url]. No one is sure which senior White House official leaked the order or who was aware, but the fact that [url "http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/061404Ramares/061404ramares.html"]I hired James Sharp in June 2004 to represent me[/url] as a personal criminal defense attorney is significant when you consider that [url "http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20040604.html"]there is no attorney-client privilege between a president and a White House counsel that allows the counsel to withhold information from a Federal grand jury.[/url]
[li]I [url "http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20040103.shtml"]fired Lawrence Lindsey[/url] as my economics advisor in early December 2002 for [url "http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/transcripts/2003/feb/030226.ludden.html"]claiming that the Iraq War would cost between $100 and $200 billion[/url]. ($138 billion has been spent and $200 billion has been budgeted... so far)
[li]I [url "http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1171880,00.html"]fired Jay Garner as US Administrator of Iraq in March 2004[/url] for calling for immediate elections instead of allowing American companies to privatize government-owned assets. (American privatization and lack of a legitimate Iraqi government is one of the major reasons for unrest in Iraq.)
[li]I made US Army Chief of Staff [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Shinseki"]General Eric Shinseki[/url] a lame duck in June 2003, defying precedent and [url "http://www.intellivu.com/main.asp?brand=&fnum=142&pathb=/articles1/rnovak/novak050103.htm"]announcing his successor 14 months in advance of his retirement[/url] after he [url "http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/attack/consequences/2003/0228pentagoncontra.htm"]announced that "several hundred thousand troops would be needed in postwar Iraq"[/url].
[li]I [url "http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2004/03/12/rtr1297339.html"]threatened to have Medicare analyst Richard Foster fired[/url] if he [url "http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6339-2004Mar18"]replied to Congressional requests[/url] and reported that the [url "http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031208-2.html"]Medicare Prescription Drug Bill[/url] would [url "http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=22867"]cost $551 billion, $156 billion over the White House's favored estimate of $395 billion[/url].
[li]After the Iraq Health Ministry released figures showing that US and Coalition forces [url "http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/9753603.htm"]killed twice as many Iraqis as the Insurgents the Iraqis are supposedly being protected from[/url], I acted decisively by [url "http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2004/09/23/640763-ap.html"]ordering the Iraq Health Ministry to not release any more figures[/url]. [/li][/ul]
[li]I rewarded those who spoke welcome lies, paying [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Chalabi"]Ahmed Chalabi[/url] and the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_National_Congress"]Iraqi National Congress[/url] $340,000 per month for their [url "http://www.cato.org/dailys/05-27-04-2.html"]false intelligence gathered about Iraq[/url]. Although Chalabi and the INC had been dropped from the CIA payroll in 1996 for being an unreliable source and also dismissed by the DIA ([url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Intelligence_Agency"]Defense Intelligence Agency[/url]) for the same reason, I continued to use Chalabi and the INC to support claims of WMDs in Iraq. Even after [url "http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/11/1078594496135.html?oneclick=true"]their information proved false and no weapons were found[/url] I remained so close to Chalabi that he [url "http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040120-5.html"]sat with Laura Bush as my "Special Guest" during my September 2003 State of the Union address[/url]. I continued to pay the INC regularly [url "http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/20/chalabi.raid/"]until May 2004[/url], when allegations surfaced that Chalabi had passed classified American intelligence to Iran.
[li]I [url "http://www.prospect.org/print-friendly/print/V13/22/dreyfuss-r.html"]put tremendous pressure on the CIA to come up with information to support policies that have already been adopted[/url] (as determined by the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Report_of_Pre-war_Intelligence_on_Iraq#Conclusions_of_the_Report"]Senate Report of Pre-war Intelligence on Iraq[/url]). When the CIA and DIA refused to verify intelligence items I wanted to believe, Donald Rumsfeld and I created the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Special_Plans"]Office of Special Plans[/url]. This independent department within the Pentagon was designed to bypass the CIA and feed the discredited and unreliable [url "http://www.cato.org/dailys/07-12-04-2.html"]information I wanted to believe was true[/url] back into the intelligence stream in order to support conclusions that the CIA and DIA could not. The OSP took much of the discredited information from Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress.
[li][url "http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/19/politics/main522605.shtml"]I opposed the creation of the Department of Homeland Security for nine months, before turning around to take credit for its creation[/url].
[li][url "http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/legislative/sap/107-2/107PDFs/hr4628-h.pdf"]I opposed the creation of an independent 9/11 panel[/url]. After being forced to accept the commission, I gave it only $12 million in funding to do its work ([url "http://www.washingtonfreepress.org/67/administrationsFacade.htm"]compared to $50 million combined for Whitewater and the Monica Lewinsky investigation[/url]) before turning around to take credit for its creation.
[li]My war against Al Qaeda has been a miserable failure:
[ul] [li]The [url "http://www.iiss.org/"]International Institute for Strategic Studies[/url]' most conservative estimate (May 25, 2004) is that [url "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3746205.stm"]the occupation of Iraq has helped Al Qaeda recruit 18,000 operatives in more than 60 countries[/url].
[li]The [url "http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/"]Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University[/url] has found that [url "http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-israel-terrorism,0,788148,print.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines"]The war in Iraq did not damage international terror groups, but instead distracted the United States from confronting other hotbeds of Islamic militancy and actually "created momentum" for many terrorists. On a strategic level as well as an operational level, the war in Iraq is hurting the war on international terrorism.[/url]
[li]By my State Department's own estimates, [url "http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31971-2004May16.html"]world terror attacks are now at their highest level in 20 years, up 36% since 2001[/url]. [/li][/ul]
[li]I have [url "http://www.pollycyber.com/courses/G245-F03/final/NYT-2003N11-Greenhouse.html"]held 660 prisoners in Guantanamo, Cuba[/url] for over two years without trial or formal charge. My prisoners, several of whom were between the ages of 13 and 16, have never been formally charged. They are kept in steel cages, subjected to ongoing torture, and denied access to legal counsel in opposition to Supreme Court rulings ([url "http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/1706/resources"]Rasul v. Bush[/url]). These prisoners are "[url "http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/01/09/usdom6917.htm"]the worst of the worst", "hard core, well trained terrorists[/url]" and their guilt is beyond doubt, which is why I've [url "http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2004/nr20040129-0934.html"]set 87 of them free without explanation or apology[/url].
[li]In the past year I claim to have trained 100,000 Iraqi police forces, but [url "http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=590914§ion=news"]only 8,169 of those have passed the required 8-week training course[/url]. Another 46,176 are listed as "untrained".
[li]My Secretary of Defense is the first in US history to have [url "http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/Evening_Newscasts_June1604.html"]acknowledged ordering an intentional violation of the Geneva Conventions[/url], in which Abu Ghraib prisoners were held "off the books" and hidden from the Red Cross. When this order was made public I refused to discipline him in any way, instead [url "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3699453.stm"]complimenting him on his job performance[/url].
[li]After being informed of abuses at Abu Ghraib on [url "http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040524fa_fact"]January 16[/url] (first reported on [url "http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/may2004/a050704h.html"]January 13[/url]) which included "[url "http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/reports/2004/800-mp-bde.htm"]Threatening male detainees with rape[/url]" and "[url "http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/reports/2004/800-mp-bde.htm"]Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick[/url]" I made "[url "http://slate.msn.com/id/2100014/"]freedom from torture chambers and rape rooms[/url]" a centerpiece in my speeches until April 29 when the story finally broke on 60 Minutes II.
[li]My administration is the first since the Civil War to imprison US Citizens (Jose Padilla) as "enemy combatants" without charges, trial, or access to legal counsel. In a 5-4 decision ([url "http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/1730/"]Rumsfeld v. Padilla[/url]) the Supreme Court dodged the opportunity to rule on the legality, ruling that the case had been improperly filed.
[li]My administration broke new legal ground by using material witness warrants to give effective life sentences to [url "http://www.bluetriangle.org/old/id74.htm"]US citizens[/url] [url "http://secure.cppax.org/Iraq/background/materialWitness11-24-02.html"]without charge, trial, access to legal counsel, or even plans to prosecute[/url].
[li]My justice department was the first in US history to attempt to [url "http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/09/06/airline.id.ap/"]enforce federal regulations while refusing to disclose what those regulations are[/url].
[li]My legal war against terror has been a miserable failure: I have [url "http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=128&wit_id=83"]detained more than 5,000 people[/url] on suspicion of terrorist ties, some of whom have been held without charge or without access to a lawyer. [url "http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041004&s=cole"]I have successfully convicted zero[/url]. [/li][/ul]
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