Card dismisses questions over prewar intelligence as `moot'

[CatWoman]

oh really, Andy??

President Bush's chief of staff dismissed as "a moot point" any lingering question about whether Bush relied on faulty intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq.

Andy Card also rejected charges from fellow Republican Newt Gingrich that the administration's postwar policies went "off a cliff" after an impressive invasion that deposed Saddam Hussein's government.

Overall intelligence has been "very, very good," Card said Sunday. But, he added, "Intelligence is a collection of dots, and then an analysis on how those dots might be connected. Some of those dots may not be what they appear to be, and some of the connections may not have been what people would have suggested."

More than seven months after Bush declared major combat over, American inspectors have not found the weapons of mass destruction, which Bush accused Iraq of hiding and used as a major reason for going to war. Searchers have found quantities of chemicals and substances that could be used to make both weapons and legitimate civilian items.

Card deflected questions about the intelligence that led Bush to issue the warnings that Iraq was a threat to the United States because of its illegal weapons. In October 2002, Bush said Iraq had "a massive stockpile of biological weapons that has never been accounted for and is capable of killing millions."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/12/07/national1353EST0494.DTL

[UpInArms]

1. UpInArms dismisses Card as "irrelevant"

:puke:

Mr. "The US is under attack" Card can shove his worthless opinions up his arse.

This is merely another ploy for all those "conspiracy" theorists who would deny the WMD link to Iraq - the fabrications made are "moot" - what a hoot.

(in a very bad mood which no icon can describe)

[aquart]

2. I'm in a great mood and Card is still a lying sack of pasture pastry.

[hang a left]

3. Yeah really people, "get over it"!

The nerve of these people just never seems to amaze me.

[theorist]

4. Isn't Andy Card the President's "spiritual advisor"?

If Bush feels that all those innocent Iraqis who die "are all going to Hell" because they are not Christians, it is because of Card. What an unfortunate state of affairs.

Card must be testing the waters with this statement. Let's just hope the sharks bite don't bite off his foot before he dives in, because then it will be that much easier to defeat these fake Christians.

[librechik]

11. Card sounded like a total weasel and months out of date

on his own talking points. It was like they turned on a tape recording of Richard Perle in mid June.

He sounded empty and unconvincing. It's hard to believe that this is the best they can come up with after all their boasting.

[Just Me]

5. Just a bunch of wishful bullsh*t,...

,...pansy Andy (neo-con mouthpiece) sincerely wishes the WMD issue will go away,...but,...I DON'T THINK SO!!!!

[truthisfreedom]

6. part of bushco's (and general rethug's) method is to tell everyone what to

think. we aren't allowed to figure things out for ourselves. it works on sheeple... on dittoheads... but not on thinking people. card is preaching to his own choir, who want to bury their heads in the sand even as they hear the noise of our marching around their necks.

[pinto]

7. they present this tripe as intelligent political discourse?

"some of those dots may not be what they appear to be, and some of the connections may not have been what people would have suggested."

"it's a moot point"

"all I can tell you is, his intent was not very good"

and the ever popular "taking an appropriate line"

I did better when my mother asked me where my lunch money went when I was ten.

He says nothing and we are expected to say, Well thank you, Mr. Card. That's made everything much clearer.

I hope some Dems jump his verbal ass.

[librechik]

8. 8 months ago I killed my neighbor

because I thought he was aiming to kill me and had lots of weapons hidden in his house. When the cops went to look they found no weapons and no sign that my neighbor had intended me any harm. When I killed him I also blew up his house, half the block and a few other people who had nothing to do with either of us. A few children were in the batch.

But gee,that was eight month ago and all those people are dead and the block is destroyed. It's over. Did my neighbor have any weapons so my claim that it was right to attack him was specious? It's a moot point. Should I be prosecuted for murder? Certainly not! It's a moot point! and BTW, I'm rich, so I couldn't be guilty!

And woe to any who dispute my moot point, or any other point for that matter. They could wind up like my neighbor.

[theorist]

10. You forgot to mention something.

How did you find out that your neighbor was trying to off you? Didn't you ask that homeless guy on the other side of town, "Hey I'll give you a pile of cash if you tell me that my neighbor is going to nuke me."?

Anyway, it's not really that important if the info you got was wrong; it wasn't your fault he was lying.

[Jacobin]

27. And, oh, by the way.....that dead neighbor?

He didn't keep up his lawn very well, a lot of people on the block didn't like him, he played his stereo too loud, and he had b.o.

So, actually, they're glad he's gone.


What? Do you want a sloppy neighbor who plays his stereo too loud, and has b.o.???

By the way....now I get his parking spot.

[Cocoa]

9. moot for him, maybe

so he'll vote for Bush even though he lied to get us into war. For other voters, the jury is still out.

[jmaier]

12. Really?

Well, Andy Card would say this. Nothing leading up to the pre-Iraq invasion is favorable for this administration EXCEPT for how they could hoodwink most of the nation into going along!

At the same time, being against the war in Iraq isn't a particularly strong election platform on its own -- anti-war candidates haven't fared particularly well in U.S. history.

The important thing is to offer a credible foreign policy alternative vision. Regardless of the candidate you support, I'd recommend reading Wes Clark's 10-point pledge.

http://www.clark04.com/issues/10pledges/

Also, the Democratic candidate must keep hitting on Bush's credibilty regarding how the war decision was made AND why. GW is going to wrap himself in the "President at War protecting the American People" theme incessantly during the campaign -- this message needs combatted at every turn.

[young_at_heart]

13. Is this moot also....... "We're taking him out"

This is on another thread.......said by W in the summer of 2002.

[pinto]

14. here's what's moot -

B*sh's campaign promises about unifying the country, disavowing "nation building", being a compassionate conservative,
cutting government spending, telling the truth....

This administration's moot in '04 and out the door.

[proud patriot]

32. Welcome Underground pinto ... That was a great post

:D

[acmavm]

15. Just like civil liberties, freedom of speech, and the right to privacy are

all a "moot point" after this bunch of thugs have trounced all over the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

This guy is just another arrogant nutcase like the rest of them. Thinks he can say anything and get away with it. I hope they just keep talking like this. More fodder for the democrats running for election.

[radfringe]

16. Well Andy

I don't think the families of the 427 dead see it as a moot point
nor do I think the families of the 2,150 wounded see it as a moot point
and I really don't think the families of 9,766 dead Iraqi civilians see it as a moot point



http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/USfatalities.html

[Gman]

17. Moot my ass

that's what the 2004 election will be about.

[opihimoimoi]

18. THE BUSH IS MOOT

He will soon be moot.

The bluff was called and he came out the loser, not even a pair.

He is the Moot Prez

I luv it,

[Fridays Child]

19. Evidently, it's not exactly moot to the Iraqi Resistance and...

...as a matter of fact, it still matters to a few of us outside Iraq, as well.

[PurityOfEssence]

20. Can you say "Jackmoot"?

I knew that you could...

[kentuck]

21. It is "moot" whether or not our GIs died because of a lie?

Is that what he is saying?

[Bridget Burke]

22. MOOT: "You keep using that word......

"I do not think it means what you think it means." (I. Montoya)

Because questioning what led us into Iraq is, indeed a "moot" point. The definition from Merriam Webster online is "a deliberative assembly primarily for the administration of justice; especially : one held by the freemen of an Anglo-Saxon community."

We aren't all free Men & we surely aren't all Anglo-Saxon, but I think a deliberative assembly & administration of justice sound pretty good right now. Let's schedule the moot!

For another cinematic reference, please remember the afermath of the Ent Moot....

www.m-w.com/home.htm

[librechik]

23. Iraq is a Mootmire! n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

24. What a Card!

[realFedUp]

25. Like Arnie saying sexual assaults are "old news"

and like pedophile priests getting away with
charges too long in the past...

[Rex]

26. Card can get away with this because America doesn't have a free

press. :(

[sistersofmercy]

28. Connect the dots, ay? Well gee, Card, I think that is what we've been

doing and our big picture reveals a bunch of lying thugs!

[snippy]

29. I can see how an argument can be made that such questions are moot

on the basis that Bush fucked up and we are stuck there for the forseeable future. However, that argument fails miserably when one remembers the plans to wage war against additional countries. From the November 17, issue of Newsweek:

. . .

Accused of overstating the Iraqi threat by politicians and pundits, Cheney is publicly and privately unrepentant. He believes that Al Qaeda is determined to obtain weapons of mass destruction and use them against American civilians in their cities and homes. To ignore those warnings would be “irresponsible in the extreme,” he says in his speeches. His staffers are not unmindful of the risk of crying wolf, however, and acknowledge that if weapons of mass destruction are never found in Iraq, the public will be much less likely to back pre-emptive wars in the future. Cheney still believes the WMD will turn up somewhere in Iraq—if they aren’t first used against us by terrorists.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/991212.asp

[AndyTiedye]

30. Our Opinions and Our Votes are Moot

If the Bushes and the Cards and the FauxNews and the Diebolds have their way.

[drfemoe]

33. That's chilling

Cheney still believes the WMD will turn up somewhere in Iraq—if they aren’t first used against us by terrorists.

If the terrorists get them from Ira* now, who is responsible for that?
And if they had them before we bombed the snot out of Ira*, what was the point?

[grytpype]

31. Can't we just move on?

Can't we just forget about the lies and deception, and get behind the President's plan to revolutionize the Middle East at gunpoint?

Why do you people hate democracy so much?

[PennyLane]

34. Sure!

Why not?