Bush gives meaning to words

In a pair of interviews with foreign journalists during the 10 o'clock hour on Friday (h/t WIIIAI), George Bush showed once again why we cannot permit another such dope to occupy the White House. First he spoke to Israeli reporters:

Q Mr. President, you just mentioned Iraq. Can you clarify to us whether there was any Israeli involvement in your decision to invade Iraq?

THE PRESIDENT: No, not at all. None whatsoever. My decision was based upon U.S. intelligence, based upon the desire to provide security for our peoples and others. It was based upon my willingness to work with the international community on this issue. Remember, if you look back at the history, there was a unanimous vote in the Security Council: disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences. And when he defied, when he refused to allow the inspectors in, when he made a statement by his actions that he didn't really care what the international community said, that I decided to make sure words meant something.

The words "refuse" and "in", however, have no meaning for Bush. Just see if you can follow the logic as he proceeds to explain how he gave meaning to words.

And so I acted based upon our own security interests. And -- but it also fit into this notion of -- and remember, Zarqawi, there was some terrorist connections -- not with the 9/11 attacks, but terrorist connections; Abu Nadal; he had been using -- he'd been funding families of suicide bombers. In other words, as far as we were concerned, he had weapons of mass destruction which could have been used in a deadly way. It turns out he didn't have the weapons, but he had the know-how on how to make weapons, which could easily have been reconstituted. The sanctions regime turns out to have been corrupt and wasn't working. In other words, there's a variety of aspects to my decision, all of which were aimed at making sure that U.S. security, first and foremost, was enhanced.

Hussein had the weapons "as far as we were concerned". Ok he didn't have them, but he did have something else. Thus behind Bush's decision to create a quagmire in Iraq there were "a variety of aspects", otherwise called "delusions" (when words are given their meaning).

In a second interview with Arab reporters, Bush made an even greater ass of himself, if that's possible. The opening is like an Abbott and Costello routine:

Q ...Mr. President, I wanted to ask you, your visit to the region will not include the Maghreb Arab.

THE PRESIDENT: Will not include --

Q The Maghreb Arab --

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, that's right.

Q -- Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Those countries actually played a very important role in the peace process in the past and I think that they are willing to do it again. And my question, Mr. President, if there is any reason for excluding the Maghreb Arab from your visit?

THE PRESIDENT: Only because I ran out of time. It's certainly not as a result of any lack of respect or understanding that the contribution of those -- of that area would be a significant contribution to achieving peace. ...

And having said that, one of my great trips as a civilian -- I guess you'd call me a civilian -- non-President, non-political figure -- was when I went to Morocco. I had the great pleasure of going to Marakesh, for example, and I'll never forget drinking crushed almond milk, and enjoyed the wonders of the desert, and then was able to see snow-capped mountains shortly in the distance, in the short distance. And so it's -- I threw snowballs in Morocco one time in the Atlas mountain range. So I had a wonderful experience there. Not to be kind of nostalgic, looking back, but -- you know, it's interesting -- for example, there are a lot of Moroccan Jews in Israel.

Q And in Morocco also.

THE PRESIDENT: What?

Q And in Morocco.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, and in Morocco, which provides the King an interesting opportunity to be a healer and a unifier. And I believe he's committed to that.

Seven years into his presidency, and Bush still has a child's perspective on the wider world, one in which it's nifty that Moroccan Jews should live in Israel...and if in Israel, then why not in Morocco as well?!

The most disturbing part of these interviews, however, comes later when Bush is asked by a Kuwaiti reporter about prisoners held in Gitmo:

Q ...Now, back in Kuwait, as your visit is approaching, the Kuwaitis are actually wondering if there will be an end to the four Kuwaiti detainees in Guantanamo. There are four of them; to the best of our knowledge all paperwork has been done, all security assurances have been --

THE PRESIDENT: To be transferred back to --

Q To Kuwait.

THE PRESIDENT: -- from Guantanamo to Kuwait. We'll look at it. Our strategy, by the way, is to transfer as many Guantanamo detainees back to their countries of origin as possible, subject to the no torture agreement.

Q The security assurances and the paperwork --

THE PRESIDENT: Security assurances -- right, as well as the assurances that the people will be treated humanely. I just will have to look into this.

Q That will be great news, Mr. President, actually.

Doesn't that just make you cringe? Foreign nationals pleading with the President to intervene personally to liberate men who should have been freed a long time ago. There's an imperial president enjoying the feel of raw, unchecked power.

Nice touch, to worry that Kuwait might torture the men after the U.S. is through working them over.