BUSH TAKES "PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY"
FOR NIGER URANIUM CLAIM

From the Washington Post:

Bush's aides have been struggling since July 7 to explain why he declared in his Jan. 28 address to Congress that Hussein "recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa" despite earlier CIA warnings to avoid the claim. Bush since then had deflected questions about whether he took responsibility for the claim, which administration officials have alternately described as wrong and unsubstantiated.

The president amended his answer yesterday. "I take personal responsibility for everything I say, of course," Bush said. He then shifted to the broader defense of the war he had previously made. "I also take responsibility for making decisions on war and peace," he said. "I analyzed a thorough body of intelligence, good, solid, sound intelligence that led me to come to the conclusion that it was necessary to remove Saddam Hussein from power."

For the full story, click here.

What a pathetic, sniveling, dodge of an admission. What exactly does he mean when he says that he takes "personal responsibility?" There are still some big questions that he needs to answer; somehow, I don't think that he will be talking anytime soon. Does he mean that he's still taking the "bad intelligence" line, but that the buck stops with him? Or is he admitting that he knew the statement was false, but said it anyway?

If he didn't know, then he's utterly incompetent, because it seemed like everyone else in the White House did know--National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, who's job is to brief the President on intelligence, knew it; she's already admitted as much. The Secretary of State knew it, too. My best guess is that Rumsfeld also knew it.

Either the President is unfit to lead because he's an idiot, or he straight-up lied. In either case, he needs to be thrown out of office. Here's an essay from the Nation magazine from July 15th, before the President's taking of "personal responsibility" for the affair, that, assuming Bush knew and lied, makes yet another good case for impeachment.

One more thing from the Washington Post story:

When a CBS News correspondent attempted a follow-up question on the sensitive subject of the Iraq weapons intelligence, Bush dispatched the questioner by saying, "I'm kind of finding my feet." When the correspondent tried again, Bush cut him off with a curt "you're through." Discussing "frustration" in the media about a lack of results in Iraq, Bush said in an aside to an NBC News correspondent: "You don't look frustrated to me at all."

It is beginning to appear that Bush is the frusterated one, and it's making him start to adopt Rumsfeld's butthole attitude. This attitude apparently goes far beyond simply snapping at journalists. Check this out, again from the Nation:

Did senior Bush officials blow the cover of a US intelligence officer working covertly in a field of vital importance to national security--and break the law--in order to strike at a Bush administration critic and intimidate others?

It sure looks that way, if conservative journalist Bob Novak can be trusted.

The "Bush administration critic" is former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, the guy who went to Niger for the CIA back in 2002 and found out that the uranium story was bogus. This retaliation against him is pretty hard core. If it's true, it adds fuel to the impeachment fire.

Click here.

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