Bush vs. Facts

[Chris Brady <cdbrady@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

       Bush vs. Facts

___________________________________________________
Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@xxxxxxxxxxxx
___________________________________________________

         PM Wednesday, October 29, 2003

         Interviews Available:

         Bush vs. Facts

    Analysts are available to scrutinize some of President Bush's
claims, including those from Tuesday's news conference, focusing on Iraq
and the recent attacks there:

BUSH: "I would assume that they're [the suicide bombers] either, or, and
probably both Ba'athists and foreign terrorists."

FACT: "There are a growing number of interviews with Iraqi resistance
fighters that establish that many, perhaps most, of them are not
Ba'athists and not foreigners. One interviewed in the San Francisco
Chronicle said that he took up arms after the Fallujah massacre, in
which U.S. troops fired into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators, killing
15," said Rahul Mahajan, author of the book "Full Spectrum Dominance:
U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond."
[Contact information: (718) 398-6567, cell: (512) 589-3435,
rahul@xxxxxx, <http://www.rahulmahajan.com]

[See:
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1061660,00.html,
The Guardian, October 13;
<http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0815/p01s04-woiq.html,
Christian Science Monitor, August 15;
<http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/10/07/MN953.DTL&type=printable,

San Francisco Chronicle, October 7.]

BUSH: "The best way to deal with them [terrorists] is to harden targets,
harden assets as best as you can."

FACT: "Historically, there is no technological fix for terrorism. You
have to deal with the complex sources of terrorism.... If you harden
targets, then there are the vulnerable points, and even hardened targets
are vulnerable; if you harden an entire society, what do you get?" said
Beau Grosscup, author of "The Newest Explosions of Terrorism" and
professor of international relations at California State University in
Chico.
[Contact information: (530) 898-5692, (530) 899-8035,
bgrosscup@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

BUSH: "It's the same mentality, by the way, that attacked us in ? on
September the 11th, 2001. 'We'll just destroy innocent life and watch
the great United States and their friends and allies, you know, crater
in the face of hardship.' It's the exact same mentality. And Iraq is a
part of the war on terror. I said it's a central front, a new front in
the war on
terror."

FACT: "Bush is attempting to link the September 11 atrocities to the
Iraq war in the public mind -- without asserting the link outright.
Administration officials, including Bush, have employed this rhetorical
tactic, an 'enthymematic argument,' time and time again before and since
the war. There is still no evidence whatsoever that the former Iraqi
regime, or any Iraqi, had anything to do with the September 11 attacks,
but
as many as 69 percent of Americans still believe there is a link.
[See:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32862-2003Sep5.html]
Bush achieves this rhetorical trick without telling an outright lie,"
said Chris Toensing, editor of Middle East Report. [Contact information:
(202) 223-3677, (202) 986-8774, ctoensing@xxxxxxxxx,
<http://www.merip.org]

BUSH: "And so this nation is very reluctant to use military force....
Military action is the very last resort for us."

FACT: "The Library of Congress has catalogued over 200 uses of American
military force abroad in the country's short history. Since 9/11, we
have fought two full-scale wars, attempted a military coup in Venezuela,
extended counterinsurgency operations in Colombia and the Philippines,
and created a permanent or semi-permanent military presence in a host of
new countries, particularly in Central Asia," said Mahajan.

BUSH: "And a reminder, when you mention Saddam Hussein, I just want to
remind you that the Saddam Hussein military action took place after
innumerable United Security Council resolutions were passed. Not one,
two or three, but a lot."

FACT: "But of course, since 1990, not one of those UN resolutions
authorized the use of military force against Saddam Hussein's regime,"
said Toensing.

BUSH: "You asked about the [Israeli] fence [in the West Bank]. I have
said the fence is a problem to the extent that the fence is an
opportunity to make it difficult for a Palestinian state to emerge.
There is a difference between security and land acquisition, and we have
made our views clear on that issue."

FACT: "Apparently not clear enough, since the Israeli cabinet is
proceeding with construction of the illegal wall-and-fence complex,
which bites deep into the territory that would constitute a future
Palestinian state.  Israel has also instituted a special permit system
for Palestinians living 'behind' the wall -- giving them the 'right' to
live in their own homes,"  said Toensing.
[See: <http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1071768,00.html]

BUSH: "I have also spoken to Prime Minister Sharon in the past about
settlement activities. And the reason why that we have expressed concern
about settlement activities is because we want the conditions for a
Palestinian state on the ground to be positive..."

FACT: "Apparently not often enough, because Israel has just undertaken
yet more expansion of settlements, in direct violation of the
U.S.-sponsored 'road map,'" said Toensing.

BUSH: "First step was to remove Saddam Hussein because he was a threat
?a gathering threat, as I think I put it."

FACT: "Of course, the 'threat' allegedly posed by Saddam Hussein was
related to his alleged weapons of mass destruction. U.S. officials now
believe that Iraq did not attempt to reconstitute its nuclear program
after 1991 -- no 'gathering threat' there.
[See:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A17707-2003Oct25?language=printer]

Nor have any chemical or biological weapons been found. The
administration is now reduced to arguing that, left to its own devices,
the Iraqi regime might have restarted active programs on weapons of mass
destruction because it retained the know-how. But before the war, the
debate was not about whether Iraq might have such weapons, or might
rebuild them, but about whether war was the only way to avert that
possibility. The U.S. has been proven conclusively wrong on that score,"
said Toensing.

BUSH: "I said right after September the 11th, this would be a different
kind of war. Sometimes you'd see action and sometimes you wouldn't. But
it's a different kind of war than what we're used to. And Iraq is a
front on the war on terror. And we will win this particular battle in
the war on terror."

FACT: "Again, Bush mentions September 11 and skips to Iraq being 'a
front in the war on terror.' The middle link in the syllogism -- the
argument that Iraq and September 11 were related -- is missing. So Bush
gets the misleading message across without telling an outright lie,"
said Toensing.

BUSH: "[Saddam Hussein] just destroyed their economy and destroyed their
infrastructure, destroyed their education system, destroyed their
medical system, all to keep himself in power."

FACT: "While few would dispute that the former regime's policies
exacerbated Iraqi economic woes, the bulk of the damage to Iraqi
infrastructure was done by U.S. bombs in the 1991 Gulf War and the
sanctions of the ensuing decade. In U.S. pronouncements, it's as if the
sanctions never happened. The U.S. must share the blame for the
dilapidation of Iraq's electrical, educational and medical systems, and
that's why it should also share the expense of fixing it," said
Toensing.

BUSH: "The electricity -- the capacity to deliver electricity to the
Iraqi people is back up to pre-war levels."

FACT: "Six months into the occupation, Bush is boasting about having
electrical power up to prewar levels -- a prewar situation where Iraq
had been under the most stringent economic sanctions in modern history
for over 12 years and where the United States systematically undermined
Iraqi efforts to rebuild infrastructure," said Mahajan.
[see:
[<http://harpers.org/online/cool_war]

BUSH: "We want to work with Chairman Kean and Vice-Chairman Hamilton [of
the 9/11 commission].?

FACT: "The administration has repeatedly put roadblocks in the way of
the 9/11 commission's investigation, from severe underfunding (it balked
at a request from Kean for $11 million, whereas the Challenger
commission got $50 million) to denial of necessary documents -- in fact,
Kean has had to threaten to sue to get documents," said Mahajan.
See:
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1071711,00.html


                                    --------------------------------

    Interviews are available with:

RAHUL MAHAJAN, (718) 398-6567, cell: (512) 589-3435, rahul@xxxxxx,
http://www.rahulmahajan.com
Mahajan is author of the book "Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in
Iraq and Beyond."

CHRIS TOENSING, (202) 223-3677, (202) 986-8774, ctoensing@xxxxxxxxx,
http://www.merip.org
Toensing is editor of Middle East Report.

BEAU GROSSCUP, (530) 898-5692, (530) 899-8035, bgrosscup@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Grosscup is author of "The Newest Explosions of Terrorism" and professor
of
international relations at California State University in Chico.


                                    --------------------------------

    For some previous critiques of Bush's claims, see:

* "Responses to Bush's 2003 'State of the Union' Address," January 30,
2003:
http://www.accuracy.org/2003

* "Detailed Analysis of October 7, 2002 Speech by Bush on Iraq," October
8, 2002:
http://www.accuracy.org/bush

* "White House Claims: A Pattern of Deceit," March 18, 2003:
http://www.accuracy.org/press_releases/PR031803.htm

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541)
484-9167



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