Nobody should try and turn the notion of impeaching George Bush for the crime of Iraq into a fringe, oddball idea. Those of us, members of the libertarian community, who chronicled every stage in Bush’s pathological and illogical will to war in Iraq, know the notion of impeachment to have had legal and moral merit.
As for George Bush bearing some culpability for 9/11, as Donald Trump has intimated: Damn straight he did.
We all recall Condoleezza Rice’s unblushing justifications for her dismissive treatment of the critical mass of intelligence pertaining to impending terrorist attacks. Even now, it’s essential that she and President Bush not be allowed to fob their responsibilities for September 11 on their underlings. “HOLD THEIR FEET TO THE FIRE!”, I demanded, in May 29, 2002, in a column that still holds true (most of them do), and which details the case of the Phoenix FBI agent who, in July of 2001, wrote a memorandum about the bin Ladenites who were training in U.S. flight schools. Agent Ken Williams’ report was very specific. Over and above the standard sloth the memo met in the Washington headquarters, it transpired that the FBI was also concerned to avoid “racial profiling.”
Bush, moreover, is ranked one of the America’s worse presidents by Ivan Eland, author of “Recarving Rushmore: Ranking the Presidents on Peace, Prosperity, and Liberty.”
So, while Donald Trump generally had an incoherent and lazy night at the CBS News Republican debate in South Carolina, February 13 (thanks WaPo for the transcript)—he was a beacon of truth when it came to Bush and Iraq.
The exchange:
DICKERSON: … on Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you’ve said tonight, and you’ve often said, the Iraq War and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment.
In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush’s conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn’t try to impeach him.
You said, quote: “which personally I think would have been a wonderful thing.” When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: “For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies.” Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached?
TRUMP: … Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took — it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days.
He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn’t a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, “It was a mistake.” The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don’t even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq with the second-largest oil reserves in the world.
Obviously, it was a mistake.
DICKERSON: So…
TRUMP: George Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East.
DICKERSON: But so I’m going to — so you still think he should be impeached?
BUSH: I think it’s my turn, isn’t it?
DICKERSON: [Clearly quoting Trump] You do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction.
(BOOING)
DICKERSON: All right. OK. All right.
Governor Bush — when a member on the stage’s brother gets attacked…
BUSH: I’ve got about five or six…
DICKERSON: ... the brother gets to respond.
BUSH: Do I get to do it five or six times or just once responding to that?
TRUMP: I’m being nice.
BUSH: So here’s the deal. I’m sick ask tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It’s blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I’m glad he’s happy about it. But I am sick and tired…
TRUMP: He spent $22 million in…
(CROSSTALK)
BUSH: I am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I’m proud of what he did.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: And he has had the gall to go after my brother.
TRUMP: The World Trade Center came down during your brother’s reign, remember that.
(BOOING)
BUSH: He has had the gall to go after my mother.
Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother.
TRUMP: That’s not keeping us safe.
BUSH: Look, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know.
TRUMP: She should be running.
BUSH: This is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander-in- chief that can lead. I’m that person.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
UPDATE I(2/14):
UPDATE II (2/15):
Eric Johnson On Facebook: Have you ever gotten any response from Trump Campaign for your support?
Ilana Mercer: No. Politicians don’t care about the best voices; only the loudest and most famous. Never heard from Ron Paul either and him I REALLY supported.
UPDATE III:
