I believe his "Im not worried" comment was FULLY taken out of context...put it together and you'll see the whole thing and not just a snippet of what was chosen to be pulled out of a press conference. He had explained his stand on it in the question before hand, and the comment was just touched upon again after the first question had already been asked.
March 2002 Press Conference:
Q Mr. President, in your speeches now you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that? Also, can you tell the American people if you have any more information, if you know if he is dead or alive? Final part -- deep in your heart, don't you truly believe that until you find out if he is dead or alive, you won't really eliminate the threat of --
THE PRESIDENT: Deep in my heart I know the man is on the run, if he's alive at all. Who knows if he's hiding in some cave or not; we haven't heard from him in a long time. And the idea of focusing on one person is -- really indicates to me people don't understand the scope of the mission.
Terror is bigger than one person. And he's just -- he's a person who's now been marginalized. His network, his host government has been destroyed. He's the ultimate parasite who found weakness, exploited it, and met his match. He is -- as I mentioned in my speech, I do mention the fact that this is a fellow who is willing to commit youngsters to their death and he, himself, tries to hide -- if, in fact, he's hiding at all.
So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you. I'm more worried about making sure that our soldiers are well-supplied; that the strategy is clear; that the coalition is strong; that when we find enemy bunched up like we did in Shahikot Mountains, that the military has all the support it needs to go in and do the job, which they did.
And there will be other battles in Afghanistan. There's going to be other struggles like Shahikot, and I'm just as confident about the outcome of those future battles as I was about Shahikot, where our soldiers are performing brilliantly. We're tough, we're strong, they're well-equipped. We have a good strategy. We are showing the world we know how to fight a guerrilla war with conventional means.
Q But don't you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.
But once we set out the policy and started executing the plan, he became -- we shoved him out more and more on the margins. He has no place to train his al Qaeda killers anymore. And if we -- excuse me for a minute -- and if we find a training camp, we'll take care of it. Either we will or our friends will. That's one of the things -- part of the new phase that's becoming apparent to the American people is that we're working closely with other governments to deny sanctuary, or training, or a place to hide, or a place to raise money.
And we've got more work to do. See, that's the thing the American people have got to understand, that we've only been at this six months. This is going to be a long struggle. I keep saying that; I don't know whether you all believe me or not. But time will show you that it's going to take a long time to achieve this objective. And I can assure you, I am not going to blink. And I'm not going to get tired. Because I know what is at stake. And history has called us to action, and I am going to seize this moment for the good of the world, for peace in the world and for freedom.
Of course thats just my opinion....I could be wrong. (Dennis Miller)
"You might be the toughest little whacker. . .but in my world, you're about as worrisome as a cloudy day." (Dutch Dooley)
I spoke to a Republican friend of mine right after the debate and I predicted to him, "Just wait and see how your party spins the Bin Laden remark as being taken out of context." I thought it would take a day or so, not an hour.
Just imagine Kerry making the exact same remark! Then imagine him denying it at the debate.
AZIdolfan said this in post #2 : I spoke to a Republican friend of mine right after the debate and I predicted to him, "Just wait and see how your party spins the Bin Laden remark as being taken out of context." I thought it would take a day or so, not an hour.
Just imagine Kerry making the exact same remark! Then imagine him denying it at the debate.
Just imagine!
.
It WAS taken out of context...read it! You can see Kerry took that one sentence and made it sound as if he said it with nothing else.
At least I had the guts to go read it and make sure that he didnt say it without something added to it.
I had to see it for myself...and I did, and I think it was taken out of context..its plainly written right here...
You just dont want to admit that it was!
Of course thats just my opinion....I could be wrong. (Dennis Miller)
"You might be the toughest little whacker. . .but in my world, you're about as worrisome as a cloudy day." (Dutch Dooley)
but of course you neocons never take anything out of context, do you?
just look at what you made of the 'we have to get back to where terrorists are not the focus, but a nuisance.'
hypocritical views, one and all.
my take on the three debates:
1. kerry 10 bush 3
2. kerry 9 bush 6
3. kerry 10 bush 7
sounds like about 29 to 16 to me. kerry should pull away now and win hands down. then again, depending on whatever republican dirty tricks they have up their sleeve, it might not be quite the landslide it should be.
Inner City Blue said this in post #6 : Well again, Bush just didn't know what he said. As usual he's just unaware.
ICB...I can see that if he would have just said that comment and then ended it..but seriously...when a person says something in a different context as was supposedly addressed tonight by Kerry, I could see that he wouldnt have remembered a comment such as this.
First off, it was said 2 years ago, and it wasnt just a comment...it was surrounded by a totally different point than Kerry led people to believe this evening.
I looked because I had to know if he just said it as Kerry stated..I felt it was important enough to look into.
Now I know that the phrase was taken well out of its original point and made into something different.
Of course he would forget it...it wasnt the point of the answer he was giving.
Do you remember something that you said two years ago? What if that slight comment was taken from a comment you said in an hour or more long speech you gave and it wasnt the point...would you remember that?
Be serious.
Of course thats just my opinion....I could be wrong. (Dennis Miller)
"You might be the toughest little whacker. . .but in my world, you're about as worrisome as a cloudy day." (Dutch Dooley)
Inner City Blue said this in post #8 : Hmm...much like the global test comment, much like Kerry's health plan, much like the tax plan? Things taken out of context, interesting...
Big difference ICB...
Those things arent taken out of context...they are what they are.
This is funny though...
You ALL know this what Kerry did was wrong....and you are basically submitting to that fact....you just arent coming out and saying it in black and white.
I find that utterly hilarious!
Of course thats just my opinion....I could be wrong. (Dennis Miller)
"You might be the toughest little whacker. . .but in my world, you're about as worrisome as a cloudy day." (Dutch Dooley)
Those things arent taken out of context...they are what they are.
This is funny though...
You ALL know this what Kerry did was wrong....and you are basically submitting to that fact....you just arent coming out and saying it in black and white.
I find that utterly hilarious!
No, what Kerry said in the debate is correct, in that quote above the president downplayed bin Laden's ability as if the war in Afghanistan so incapacitated him that he no longer is a threat. So because of that, they can focus on other terrorists. The problem is that's just not true. They don't really even know how many al Qaeda leaders they've killed; they say 75% and when asked out of how many, they're clueless.
Bin Laden, along with Zarwahiri, is still alive and well and still play a role in planning attacks. You have Ukraine, Spain, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Russia (though it is uncertain if they played a role there), etc., etc. It seems bin Laden is still at it and al Qaeda really isn't "on the run."
There was nothing wrong with Kerry's comment. When Bush made that statement, he made it seem like not hearing from bin Laden for a month or so means he's done. Kerry understands that they're patient, that they'll wait to hit again. Look at the span between the WTC attacks. Just because you don't hear from bin Laden for a few months doesn't mean that he's out of the picture and is suddenly not as important. He's very important because he's a chief leader in global terrorism.
There's was nothing wrong with Kerry's comment at all.
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
- Bill Cosby
The guy who takes a chance, who walks the line between the known and unknown, who is unafraid of failure, will succeed.
- Gordon Parks
Every single news sourec says the statement was out of context as they did about the nusence statement.
I understand both, do you? Or do you just not want to believe either. Bush is pretty clear on where he stands on OBL. 15,000 troops in his back yard pretty much tells the story. It's not about one man as they say. Politically, you libs agreed that if OBL is caught now, it's a political tactic anyway. Damned if he does and damed if he doesn't. Kerry wants it both ways too that is evident with his record. We all know that can't be done.
The course of action is clear on OBL, terrorism and the War in Iraq. It is moving forward with John Kerry's input.
"Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those who say this are witless." ~Ayatollah Khomeini
USA1 said this in post #13 : Every single news sourec says the statement was out of context as they did about the nusence statement.
I understand both, do you? Or do you just not want to believe either. Bush is pretty clear on where he stands on OBL. 15,000 troops in his back yard pretty much tells the story. It's not about one man as they say. Politically, you libs agreed that if OBL is caught now, it's a political tactic anyway. Damned if he does and damed if he doesn't. Kerry wants it both ways too that is evident with his record. We all know that can't be done.
The course of action is clear on OBL, terrorism and the War in Iraq. It is moving forward with John Kerry's input.
I stopped reading as soon as you started labelling...
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
- Bill Cosby
The guy who takes a chance, who walks the line between the known and unknown, who is unafraid of failure, will succeed.
- Gordon Parks
the neocons (me too. i'll stop labeling the day USA1 stops slandering kerry by calling him a traitor) have a way of excusing away evrrything and anything bush does wrong. he can do no wrong in their eyes. if they witnessed him committing a murder, they'd find a way to say it was 'taken out of context.' come to think of it, he HAS committed murder. quite a few of them. righties are beginning to disgust me more and more.
10-14-2004 04:34 AM
