[Mb-civic] Michael Moore on the 20 yr history of Bush family flipflop

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

9/22/04
Dear Mr. Bush,
I am so confused. Where exactly do you stand on the issue of Iraq? You, 
your Dad, Rummy, Condi, Colin, and Wolfie -- you have all changed your 
minds so many times, I am out of breath just trying to keep up with you!
Which of these 10 positions that you, your family and your cabinet have taken 
over the years represents your CURRENT thinking:
1983-88: WE LOVE SADDAM. On December 19, 1983, Donald Rumsfeld 
was sent by your dad and Mr. Reagan to go and have a friendly meeting with 
Saddam Hussein, the dictator of Iraq. Rummy looked so happy in the picture. 
Just twelve days after this visit, Saddam gassed thousands of Iranian troops. 
Your dad and Rummy seemed pretty happy with the results because ‘The 
Donald R.’ went back to have another chummy hang-out with Saddam’s 
right-hand man, Tariq Aziz, just four months later. All of this resulted in the 
U.S. providing credits and loans to Iraq that enabled Saddam to buy billions 
of dollars worth of weapons and chemical agents. The Washington Post 
reported that your dad and Reagan let it be known to their Arab allies that the 
Reagan/Bush administration wanted Iraq to win its war with Iran and anyone 
who helped Saddam accomplish this was a friend of ours.
1990: WE HATE SADDAM. In 1990, when Saddam invaded Kuwait, your dad 
and his defense secretary, Dick Cheney, decided they didn't like Saddam 
anymore so they attacked Iraq and returned Kuwait to its rightful dictators.
1991: WE WANT SADDAM TO LIVE. After the war, your dad and Cheney 
and Colin Powell told the Shiites to rise up against Saddam and we would 
support them. So they rose up. But then we changed our minds. When the 
Shiites rose up against Saddam, the Bush inner circle changed its mind and 
decided NOT to help the Shiites. Thus, they were massacred by Saddam.
1998: WE WANT SADDAM TO DIE. In 1998, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and 
others, as part of the Project for the New American Century, wrote an open 
letter to President Clinton insisting he invade and topple Saddam Hussein.
2000: WE DON'T BELIEVE IN WAR AND NATION BUILDING. Just three 
years later, during your debate with Al Gore in the 2000 election, when asked 
by the moderator Jim Lehrer where you stood when it came to using force for 
regime change, you turned out to be a downright pacifist:
    “I--I would take the use of force very seriously. I would be guarded in 
    my approach. I don't think we can be all things to all people in the 
    world. I think we've got to be very careful when we commit our troops. 
    The vice president [Al Gore] and I have a disagreement about the use 
    of troops. He believes in nation building. I--I would be very careful 
    about using our troops as nation builders. I believe the role of the 
    military is to fight and win war and, therefore, prevent war from 
    happening in the first place. And so I take my--I take my--my 
    responsibility seriously.” --October 3, 2000
2001 (early): WE DON'T BELIEVE SADDAM IS A THREAT. When you took 
office in 2001, you sent your Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and your 
National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, in front of the cameras to 
assure the American people they need not worry about Saddam Hussein. 
Here is what they said: 
    Powell: “We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be 
    looking at those sanctions to make sure that they have directed that 
    purpose. That purpose is every bit as important now as it was 10 
    years ago when we began it. And frankly, they have worked. He has 
    not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of 
    mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against 
    his neighbors.” --February 24, 2001
    Rice: “But in terms of Saddam Hussein being there, let's remember 
    that his country is divided, in effect. He does not control the northern 
    part of his country. We are able to keep arms from him. His military 
    forces have not been rebuilt.” --July 29, 2001
2001 (late): WE BELIEVE SADDAM IS GOING TO KILL US! Just a few 
months later, in the hours and days after the 9/11 tragedy, you had no 
interest in going after Osama bin Laden. You wanted only to bomb Iraq and 
kill Saddam and you then told all of America we were under imminent threat 
because weapons of mass destruction were coming our way. You led the 
American people to believe that Saddam had something to do with Osama 
and 9/11. Without the UN's sanction, you broke international law and invaded 
Iraq.
2003: WE DON’T BELIEVE SADDAM IS GOING TO KILL US. After no 
WMDs were found, you changed your mind about why you said we needed to 
invade, coming up with a brand new after-the-fact reason -- we started this 
war so we could have regime change, liberate Iraq and give the Iraqis 
democracy!
2003: “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!” Yes, everyone saw you say it -- in 
costume, no less!
2004: OOPS. MISSION NOT ACCOMPLISHED! Now you call the Iraq 
invasion a "catastrophic success." That's what you called it this month. Over 
a thousand U.S. soldiers have died, Iraq is in a state of total chaos where no 
one is safe, and you have no clue how to get us out of there. 
Mr. Bush, please tell us -- when will you change your mind again?
I know you hate the words "flip" and "flop," so I won't use them both on you. 
In fact, I'll use just one: Flop. That is what you are. A huge, colossal flop. The 
war is a flop, your advisors and the "intelligence" they gave you is a flop, and 
now we are all a flop to the rest of the world. Flop. Flop. Flop. 
And you have the audacity to criticize John Kerry with what you call the 
"many positions" he has taken on Iraq. By my count, he has taken only one: 
He believed you. That was his position. You told him and the rest of congress 
that Saddam had WMDs. So he -- and the vast majority of Americans, even 
those who didn't vote for you -- believed you. You see, Americans, like John 
Kerry, want to live in a country where they can believe their president. 
That was the one, single position John Kerry took. He didn't support the war, 
he supported YOU. And YOU let him and this great country down. And that is 
why tens of millions can't wait to get to the polls on Election Day -- to remove 
a major, catastrophic flop from our dear, beloved White House -- to stop all 
the flipping you and your men have done, flipping us and the rest of the world 
off. 
We can't take another minute of it.
Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint at aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com 

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Action is the antidote to despair.  ----Joan Baez
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