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-- Bush apologises, but says U.S. moral standing not diminished under his watch
Bush apologises, but says U.S. moral standing not diminished under his watch
In the final news conference of his presidency, George W. Bush strongly dismissed suggestions that the United States lost its moral standing during his administration, insisting his most vociferous critics are few.
Bush touched on a range of topics during the press conference, including foreign policy, the economy, criticism of his administration, and the mistakes and disappointments of his presidency. He also mentioned the pressures and challenges facing president-elect Barack Obama, who will be sworn in on Jan. 20.
Bush bristled when asked whether certain policies like the war in Iraq, U.S. interrogation tactics and the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had a negative impact on America's moral standing.
"I strongly disagree with the assessment that our moral standing has been damaged," Bush said. "It may be damaged amongst some of the elite, but people still understand America stands for freedom, that America as a country provides such great hope."
Bush pointed to Africa, India and China as having a positive view of U.S compassion and generosity.
He said only a few European countries disagreed with the decision to invade Iraq. As for the countries criticizing the detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, he said many have refused to accept the prisoners.
Bush said he doesn't worry about his popularity because those types of debates "will matter not if there's another attack on the homeland.
"My view is that most people around the world, they respect America," he said. "And some of them don't like me. I understand that � some of the writers and opiners and all that. That's fine; that's part of the deal. But I'm more concerned about the country and how people view the United States of America."
'Mission Accomplished' slogan a mistake, Bush concedes
In his final news conference, George W. Bush said he regrets a banner reading "Mission Accomplished" while declaring the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1, 2003. (J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press)
Bush was also asked why he sparked such passionate and personal criticism. But he rejected the notion that those critics are in the majority. He said the people he met on his travels throughout the country, including those who disagreed with him, were always civil.
"I view those who get angry and yell and say bad things and, you know, all that kind of stuff, as just a very few people in the country," Bush said.
"I don't see how you can get back home in Texas, and look in the mirror and be proud of what I see if I allowed the loud voices, the loud critics, to prevent me from doing what I thought was necessary to protect this country."
Bush also listed a number of mistakes he believed occurred under his watch, including putting the slogan "Mission Accomplished" on an aircraft carrier shortly after Saddam Hussein was toppled from power. He also cited his attempt to reform social security immediately rather than focusing on reforming immigration.
He said the revelation of U.S. abuses at the Abu Ghraib detention camp in Iraq was a "huge disappointment," and not finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was a "significant disappointment."
Bush referred to the enormous weight on Obama, describing what it might feel like when, after taking the oath of office, he enters the Oval Office for the first time as president.
"There'll be a moment when the responsibility of the president lands squarely on his shoulders," Bush said.
He said the biggest security threat facing Obama will be another attack on the United States.
"That will be the major threat," Bush said. "I wish that I could report that's not the case, but there's still an enemy out there that would like to inflict damage on America � on Americans."
The outgoing president will deliver his farewell address to the nation during prime time on Thursday night, White House press secretary Dana Perino said.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/...ush-newser.html
Ya think a mission accomplished sign on a huge ship was a mistake? You are just seeing all this now... The truth always comes out. Its going to be interesting in the upcoming years to see what this man and his people really did.
lol
great picture
You should be a newspaper editor - you have a definite talent for writing distorted headlines based on one or two sentences from the actual article taken out of context.
Anyway, couldn't you have put this in the other Bush thread?
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DigiNut You should be a newspaper editor - you have a definite talent for writing distorted headlines based on one or two sentences from the actual article taken out of context. Anyway, couldn't you have put this in the other Bush thread? |
Re: Bush says sorry, a little too late
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Inrush Here we go again. I watched the news. A fare bit of story was about him saying he made mistakes and was sorry about it. please dont post on my threads if all you are going to do is try and twist my words and make me out to be someone im not. There is a difference of disagreeing with someone and just going after the person. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Inrush Here we go again. I watched the news. A fare bit of story was about him saying he made mistakes and was sorry about it. please dont post on my threads if all you are going to do is try and twist my words and make me out to be someone im not. There is a difference of disagreeing with someone and just going after the person. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DigiNut There were precisely 3 paragraphs out of 19 that mentioned his "regrets". If you consider that a "fair bit", all the power to ya, but I think this is a case of you twisting the writer's words, not me twisting yours. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Yohan i note that the cbc article's title is 'Bush says U.S. moral standing not diminished under his watch', yet your thread title is something else. What message are you trying to push from the same article? |
changed the heading just for you DigiNut 
JERUSALEM (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was left shame-faced after President George W. Bush ordered her to abstain in a key UN vote on the Gaza war, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday.
"She was left shamed. A resolution that she prepared and arranged, and in the end she did not vote in favour," Olmert said in a speech in the southern town of Ashkelon.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution last Thursday calling for an immediate ceasefire in the three-week-old conflict in the Gaza Strip and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza where hundreds have been killed.
Fourteen of the council's 15 members voted in favour of the resolution, which was later rejected by both Israel and Hamas.
The United States, Israel's main ally, had initially been expected to voted in line with the other 14 but Rice later became the sole abstention.
"In the night between Thursday and Friday, when the secretary of state wanted to lead the vote on a ceasefire at the Security Council, we did not want her to vote in favour," Olmert said.
"I said 'get me President Bush on the phone'. They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn't care. 'I need to talk to him now'. He got off the podium and spoke to me.
"I told him the United States could not vote in favour. It cannot vote in favour of such a resolution. He immediately called the secretary of state and told her not to vote in favour."
Bush has consistently placed the blame for the conflict on Hamas, telling reporters on Monday that while he wanted to see a "sustainable ceasefire" in Gaza, it was up to Hamas to choose to end its rocket fire on Israel.
But a US State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, denied Olmert's claim.
"Mr. Olmert is wrong," the official said.
Even if everything had gone according to plan, "she would have abstained. That was the plan," said the official. "The government of Israel does not make US policy."
Source
United States supports Israel at U.N. News at 11.
"I think its biased"...
The Most Knowledeable person on planet earth.
Re: Bush apologises, but says U.S. moral standing not diminished under his watch
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Inrush |
lol @ "my thread"
| quote: |
| Originally posted by UmmiE "The government of Israel does not make US policy." |
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