1,001 Reasons Not To Vote For Bush (Vol. 90)
891. "Now my opponent is throwing out the wild claim that he knows where bin Laden was in the fall of 2001, and that our military passed up the chance to get him in Tora Bora. This is an unjustified criticism of our military commanders in the field." (Oct. 25, 2004, via Talking Points Memo)
892. Washington Post, April 17, 2002, page A1: "The Bush administration has concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the battle for Tora Bora late last year and that failure to commit U.S. ground troops to hunt him was its gravest error in the war against al Qaeda, according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge." (Also via Talking Points Memo)
893. From an Oct. 24, 2004, article posted on the Toronto Globe and Mail Web site about how the scientific community, including the journals Nature and Science, has soured on Bush: "As an overt example, the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which is devoted to climate-change research, was shuffled to the Commerce Department. According to Science, not only is the administration's attitude toward global warming a national embarrassment — it is also dangerous."
894. And, geez, this sounds a little familiar. From the Oct. 24, 2004, Globe and Mail article: "Editorials accused the administration of not only ignoring dissenting opinion, but also refusing to hear it in the first place. Furthermore, the journals say the administration tends to distort scientific evidence or rig advisory panels for political purposes. Advisory committees have been stacked with individuals too often in complete agreement with the administration. Politics also determined what science would be publicized."
895. Speaking of ignoring uncomfortable information, USA Today reported Oct. 24, 2004, that the intelligence community warned of an impending Iraqi insurgency, but: "The war plan put together by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Army Gen. Tommy Franks discounted these warnings. Rumsfeld and Franks anticipated surrender by Iraqi ground forces and a warm welcome from civilians. "
896. From that Oct. 24, 2004, USA Today article: "Rumsfeld, in an interview with Fox News Channel, said he had not anticipated the strength of the insurgency 'because no one has a perfect view into the future.' Administration critics have offered a different explanation: 'In the planning phase, officials played down potential postwar problems partly in order to garner support for launching the war,' writes Dominic Johnson in a forthcoming book, Overconfidence and War."
897. So they spun. But did they screw up? Um, yep. From that Oct. 24, 2004, USA Today article: "A critical danger missed by the Bush administration and U.S. war planners was the possibility that the insurgent ranks could grow with resentment to the occupation.
An Army War College report to the Army's No. 2 general a month before the invasion and since made public predicted, 'The longer U.S. presence is maintained, the more likely violent resistance will develop.' "
898. Dick Cheney, Oct. 25, 2004, incredibly (literally) discussing the Iraq situation: "I think it has been a remarkable success story to date, when you look at what has been accomplished overall."
899. Wondering what the president has to say about the missing tons of weapons or the slaughter of Iraqi military recruits? There's a reason, as Dan Froomkin explained Oct. 26, 2004, on the Washington Post Web site: "Bush was out on the stump talking at great length about national security and Iraq and Democratic challenger John F. Kerry yesterday, but, as is his custom, he didn't say a word about the big news story of the day: In this case, the apparent failure by American troops to safeguard hundreds of tons of high explosives in Iraq. Nor did he respond to Kerry's accusation of 'grave incompetence.' It's just like on the previous day, Bush didn't say anything about the slaughter of 49 Iraqi National Guard recruits. Instead, yesterday, he sent out his aides to try to downplay the story."
900. In his Oct. 26, 2004, posting, Froomkin notes that Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman is blasting Kerry for ... talking about the news. He quotes from a Mehlman memo: "Everyday brings a new charge against the President and every charge is pulled right from the headlines of the New York Times."



- posted by Boots @ 10/26/2004 04:09:00 PM