Bush Owes No Apology
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| Wed, 04-14-2004 - 6:35pm |
But Hannity, who was on hand to promote his book "Deliver Us From Evil," would have none of it.
"Let's talk about critics and the question of whether he owns up to mistakes," Holt began. "Has he made mistakes in the war on terror?"
"Why should he apologize, number one, for the terrorist attack that was brought to this country?" Hannity shot back.
"We've got to face reality here - America is at war and they attacked us," the conservative host reminded, noting that critics of Bush's handling of the war on terror seem to want it both ways.
"We're criticizing the president for not responding to a memo five weeks . But yet we knew that Saddam wasn't abiding by 17 resolutions in 12 years' period of time. And he didn't abide by a cease-fire agreement."
Hannity told "Today" that had Bush allowed Saddam to remain in power and his continued efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction resulted in an attack on the U.S., "would we not have a commission a year and a half later" blaming Bush for ignoring the threat.
Holt complained that Hannity's scenario was "theoretical."
Just like the August 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing that warned Osama bin Laden wanted to attack America.

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We did find WMD capabilities, and the jury's still out on whether there were any WMD's. In any case there were huge stockpiles of conventional weapons Saddam was not supposed to have. I watched a huge crowd of cheering Iraqis dancing in the streets after Baghdad fell, guess you must've missed that. The majority of Iraqis support what we did and feel their lives are better now, with huge majorities saying their lives will be better still a year from now. As far as no stable society, I don't think anyone expected an easy and smooth transition from Saddam's brutal rule to democracy, though certainly we didn't expect the level of foreign terrorism and resistance from Iraqi fringe elements and that was a mistake. It's only been a year, Rome wasn't built in a day as they say.
I don't think anyone could possibly capture all of the terrorists on the plaent, but the more that are captured and killed the safer we will be, IMO.
Which is why democracy in Iraq is so vital to the world's security. Only when a culture of freedom and prosperity exists in the middle east will the despair that fosters terrorism be conquered. Iraq will be a huge first step, much of the rest of the middle east will fall like dominos just like the Eastern European nations after the end of the Cold War. The desire of all humans for freedom and self-determination will eventually triumph.
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