And here is the Washington Post's story on the Bush press conference. The big surprise in this press conference is President Bush's outburst against one reporter who asked what did Iraq have to do with September 11th. Bush replied, "NOTHING!" And yet for the past four years, the Bush administration has been linking Iraq to September 11th as the primary reason for the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. In other words, the president has finally admitted that he has lied to the American people. Think Progress documents the Bush administration lies of Iraq's involvement into September 11th here.
But there is more. I also have this August 16, 2006 story from the Washington Post, titled Bush Said to Be Frustrated by Level of Public Support in Iraq:
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15--President Bush made clear in a private meeting this week that he was concerned about the lack of progress in Iraq and frustrated that the new Iraqi government--and the Iraqi people--had not shown greater public support for the American mission, participants in the meeting said Tuesday.
Those who attended a Monday lunch at the Pentagon that included the presidentÂ’s war cabinet and several outside experts said Mr. Bush carefully avoided expressing a clear personal view of the new prime minister of Iraq, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.
But in what participants described as a telling line of questioning, Mr. Bush did ask each of the academic experts for their assessment of the prime ministerÂ’s effectiveness.
"“I sensed a frustration with the lack of progress on the bigger picture of Iraq generally--that we continue to lose a lot of lives, it continues to sap our budget," said one person who attended the meeting. "“The president wants the people in Iraq to get more on board to bring success."
Another person who attended the session said he interpreted Mr. BushÂ’s comments less as an expression of frustration than as uncertainty over the prospects of the new Iraqi government. "“He said he really didn'’t quite have a sense yet of how effective the government was," said this person, who, like several who discussed the session, agreed to speak only anonymously because it was a private lunch.
More generally, the participants said, the president expressed frustration that Iraqis had not come to appreciate the sacrifices the United States had made in Iraq, and was puzzled as to how a recent anti-American rally in support of Hezbollah in Baghdad could draw such a large crowd. "I do think he was frustrated about why 10,000 Shiites would go into the streets and demonstrate against the United States," said another person who attended.
The war in Iraq has become a complete mess. The country has destabilized into three ethnic and religious groups that are now engaged in a civil war with each other. The American-backed Iraqi government is powerless to do anything to keep the country together. American public opinion polls have turned against the war. And with the president's own job approval rating polls down in the gutter, there is a lot of worry within the GOP establishment that President Bush's failed policies in Iraq will hurt the GOP in the congressional midterm elections. All of this bad news has been buffeting the Bush White House, forcing the Bush administration to adopt a siege mentality against anyone who questions their policies or their PR-spin. In addition, President Bush has backed himself into a corner by claiming that the American occupation of Iraq will continue to "stay the course." The president refuses to change his policies in Iraq, no matter how much more worst the situation in Iraq degenerates into. Any change in the policy on Iraq by the Bush White House will probably be an admission by the Bush administration that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq was a complete failure. And this president refuses to admit that Iraq is a failure.
So what does all this mean? I would say that President Bush is starting to lose it. Iraq has become an even greater quagmire than the Bush administration could ever handle. It is starting to show now with this press conference. The fact that the Washington Post published a story detailing President Bush's frustration with Iraq shows the inability of the Bush administration to do anything in Iraq without destructive consequences. And as the midterm elections get closer, we can expect Iraq and terrorism to dominate the news headlines. The Bush administration will continue their failed PR-spin of their disastrous war in Iraq, and their incessant, non-existent terror warnings as a means to strike fear in the American public to vote Republican. And yet as the true story of the Iraqi disaster continues to unfold, the facts of the war will contradict the Bush PR-spin and talking points. Will it be enough to dampen the Bush PR-spin and shift control of Congress from the GOP to the Democrats? I can't say yet.
It is going to be interesting.
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