100 Facts: Non-Arguable Case Against the Bush Administration

100 Facts
The Non-Arguable Case Against the Bush Administration
by Judd Legum
Click http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041108&s=facts to download,
circulate and distribute a PDF version of this article.

excerpts:


IRAQ

1. The Bush Administration has spent more than $140 billion on a war of
choice in Iraq.

Source: American Progress

2. The Bush Administration sent troops into battle without adequate body
armor or armored Humvees.

Sources: Fox News, The Boston Globe

3. The Bush Administration ignored estimates from Gen. Eric Shinseki that
several hundred thousand troops would be required to secure Iraq.

Source: PBS

4. Vice President Cheney said Americans "will, in fact, be greeted as
liberators" in Iraq.

Source: The Washington Post

5. During the Bush Administration's war in Iraq, more than 1,000 US troops
have lost their lives and more than 7,000 have been injured.

Source: globalsecurity.org

6. In May 2003, President Bush landed on an aircraft carrier in a flight
suit, stood under a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished," and
triumphantly announced that major combat operations were over in Iraq. Asked
if he had any regrets about the stunt, Bush said he would do it all over
again.

Source: Yahoo News

7. Vice President Cheney said that Iraq was "the geographic base of the
terrorists who have had us under assault for many years, but most especially
on 9/11." The bipartisan 9/11 Commission found that Iraq had no involvement
in the 9/11 attacks and no collaborative operational relationship with Al
Qaeda.

Source: MSNBC , 9-11 Commission

8. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that high-strength
aluminum tubes acquired by Iraq were "only really suited for nuclear weapons
programs," warning "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."
The government's top nuclear scientists had told the Administration the
tubes were "too narrow, too heavy, too long" to be of use in developing
nuclear weapons and could be used for other purposes.

Source: New York Times

9. The Bush Administration has spent just $1.1 billion of the $18.4 billion
Congress approved for Iraqi reconstruction.

Source: USA Today

10. According to the Administration's handpicked weapon's inspector, Charles
Duelfer, there is "no evidence that Hussein had passed illicit weapons
material to al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations, or had any intent to
do so." After the release of the report, Bush continued to insist, "There
was a risk--a real risk--that Saddam Hussein would pass weapons, or
materials, or information to terrorist networks."

Sources: New York Times, White House news release

11. According to Duelfer, the UN inspections regime put an "economic
strangle hold" on Hussein that prevented him from developing a WMD program
for more than twelve years.

Source: Los Angeles Times

TERRORISM

12. After receiving a memo from the CIA in August 2001 titled "Bin Laden
Determined to Attack America," President Bush continued his monthlong
vacation.

Source: CNN.com

13. The Bush Administration failed to commit enough troops to capture Osama
bin Laden when US forces had him cornered in the Tora Bora region of
Afghanistan in November 2001. Instead, they relied on local warlords.

Source: csmonitor.com

14. The Bush Administration secured less nuclear material from sites around
the world vulnerable to terrorists in the two years after 9/11 than were
secured in the two years before 9/11.

Source: nti.org

15. The Bush Administration underfunded Nunn-Lugar--the program intended to
keep the former Soviet Union's nuclear legacy out of the hands of terrorists
and rogue states--by $45.5 million.

Source: armscontrol.org

16. The Bush Administration has assigned five times as many agents to
investigate Cuban embargo violations as it has to track Osama bin Laden's
and Saddam Hussein's money.

Source: sfgate.com

17. According to Congressional Research Service data, the Bush
Administration has underfunded security at the nation's ports by more than
$1 billion for fiscal year 2005.

Source: American Progress

18. The Bush Administration did not devote the resources necessary to
prevent a resurgence in the production of poppies, the raw material used to
create heroin, in Afghanistan--creating a potent new source of financing for
terrorists.

Source: Pakistan Tribune

19. Vice President Cheney told voters that unless they elect George Bush in
November, "we'll get hit again" by terrorists.

Source: Washington Post

20. Even though an Al Qaeda training manual suggests terrorists come to the
United States and buy assault weapons, the Bush Administration did nothing
to prevent the expiration of the ban.

Source: sfgate.com

21. Despite repeated calls for reinforcements, there are fewer experienced
CIA agents assigned to the unit dealing with Osama bin Laden now than there
were before 9/11.

Source: New York Times

22. Before 9/11, John Ashcroft proposed slashing counterterrorism funding by
23 percent.

Source: americanprogress.org

23. Between January 20, 2001, and September 10, 2001, the Bush
Administration publicly mentioned Al Qaeda one time.

Source: commondreams.org

24. The Bush Administration granted the 9/11 Commission $3 million to
investigate the September 11 attacks and $50 million to the commission that
investigated the Columbia space shuttle crash.

Source: commondreams.org

25. More than three years after 9/11, just 5 percent of all cargo--including
cargo transported on passenger planes--is screened.

Source: commondreams.org

NATIONAL SECURITY

26. During the Bush Administration, North Korea quadrupled its suspected
nuclear arsenal from two to eight weapons.

Source: New York Times

27. The Bush Administration has openly opposed the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty, undermining nuclear nonproliferation efforts.

Source: commondreams.org

28. The Bush Administration has spent $7 billion this year--and plans to
spend $10 billion next year--for a missile defense system that has never
worked in a test that wasn't rigged.

Sources: www.gao.gov/new.items/d04409.pdf, Los Angeles Times

29. The Bush Administration underfunded the needs of the nation's first
responders by $98 billion, according to a Council on Foreign Relations
study.

Source: nationaldefensemagazine.org

CRONYISM AND CORRUPTION

30. The Bush Administration awarded a multibillion-dollar no-bid contract to
Halliburton--a company that still pays Vice President Cheney hundreds of
thousands of dollars in deferred compensation each year (Cheney also has
Halliburton stock options). The company then repeatedly overcharged the
military for services, accepted kickbacks from subcontractors and served
troops dirty food.

Sources: The Washington Post, The Tapei Times, BBC News

31. The Bush Administration told Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan about plans
to go to war with Iraq before telling Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Source: detnews.com

32. The Bush Administration relentlessly pushed an energy bill containing
$23.5 billion in corporate tax breaks, much of which would have benefited
major campaign contributors.

taxpayer.net, Washington Post

33. The Bush Administration paid Iraqi-exile and neocon darling Ahmad
Chalabi $400,000 a month for intelligence, including fabricated claims about
Iraqi WMD. It continued to pay him for months after discovering that he was
providing inaccurate information.

Source: MSNBC

34. The Bush Administration installed as top officials more than 100 former
lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they oversee.

Source: Source: commondreams.org

35. The Bush Administration let disgraced Enron CEO Ken Lay--a close friend
of President Bush--help write its energy policy.

Source: MSNBC

36. Top Bush Administration officials accepted $127,600 in jewelry and other
presents from the Saudi royal family in 2003, including diamond-and-sapphire
jewelry valued at $95,500 for First Lady Laura Bush.

Source: Seattle Times

37. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge awarded lucrative contracts to
several companies in which he is an investor, including Microsoft, GE,
Sprint, Pfizer and Oracle.

Source: cq.com

38. President Bush used images of firefighters carrying flag-draped coffins
through the rubble of the World Trade Center to score political points in a
campaign advertisement.

Source: The Washington Post

THE ECONOMY

39. President Bush's top economic adviser, Greg Mankiw, said the outsourcing
of American jobs abroad was "a plus for the economy in the long run."

Source: CBS News

40. The Bush Administration turned a $236 billion surplus into a $422
billion deficit.

Sources: Fortune, dfw.com

41. The Bush Administration implemented regulations that made millions of
workers ineligible for overtime pay.

Source: epinet.org

42. The Bush Administration has crippled state budgets by underfunding
federal mandates by $175 billion.

Source: cbpp.org

43. President Bush is the first President since Herbert Hoover to have a net
loss of jobs--around 800,000--over a four-year term.

Source: The Guardian

44. The Bush Administration gave Accenture a multibillion-dollar border
control contract even though the company moved its operations to Bermuda to
avoid paying taxes.

Sources: The New York Times, cantonrep.com

45. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush said "the vast majority of my tax cuts
go to the bottom end of the spectrum." He passed the tax cuts, but the top
20 percent of earners received 68 percent of the benefits.

Sources: cbpp.org, vote-smart.org

46. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to pay down the national debt
to a historically low level. As of September 30, the national debt stood at
$7,379,052,696,330.32, a record high.

Sources: www.georgewbush.com , Bureau of the Public Debt

47. As major corporate scandals rocked the nation's economy, the Bush
Administration reduced the enforcement of corporate tax law--conducting
fewer audits, imposing fewer penalties, pursuing fewer prosecutions and
making virtually no effort to prosecute corporate tax crimes.

Source: iht.com

48. The Bush Administration increased tax audits for the working poor.

Source: theolympian.com

49. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to protect the Social
Security surplus. As President, he spent all of it.

Sources: georgewbush.com, Congressional Budget Office

50. The Bush Administration proposed slashing funding for the largest
federal public housing program, putting 2 million families in danger of
losing their housing.

Source: San Francisco Examiner

51. The Bush Administration did nothing to prevent the minimum wage from
falling to an inflation-adjusted fifty-year low.

Source: Los Angeles Times

EDUCATION

52. The Bush Administration underfunded the No Child Left Behind Act by $9.4
billion.

Source: nwitimes.com

53. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to increase the maximum
federal scholarship, or Pell Grant, by 50 percent. Instead, each year he has
been in office he has frozen or cut the maximum scholarship amount.

 

Bush is a bad little boy but post it in an appropriate group, please.

--
Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.

 

Sorry won't happen again! I just couldn't resist this one.

 

I like these better...

http://nyc99.com/weblog/

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

http://www.homelandsecurityus.com

B-

 

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=16391

 

13. The Bush Administration failed to commit enough troops to
capture Osama

General Tommy Franks disagrees with this statment on the op ed page of
the NYtimes. I think He would know since he was there and really does
not seem to be a big Bush guy anyway and the NYtimes is pretty liberal
as well

this thread pretty much sucks just go see the 911 movie and you can
cook up some more wacky stuff

 

13. The Bush Administration failed to commit enough troops to
capture Osama

General Tommy Franks disagrees with this statment on the op ed page of
the NYtimes. I think He would know since he was there and really does
not seem to be a big Bush guy anyway and the NYtimes is pretty liberal
as well

this thread pretty much sucks just go see the 911 movie and you can
cook up some more wacky stuff

 

Oops...I guess these "Facts" are refutable then, aren't they?

 

This is funny as hell about Bush!

Dumb show
Charlie Brooker
Saturday October 23, 2004
The Guardian

Heady times. The US election draws ever nearer, and while the rest of the
world bangs its head against the floorboards screaming "Please God, not
Bush!", the candidates clash head to head in a series of live televised
debates. It's a bit like American Idol, but with terrifying global
ramifications. You've got to laugh.

Or have you? Have you seen the debates? I urge you to do so. The exemplary
BBC News website (www.bbc.co.uk/news) hosts unexpurgated streaming footage
of all the recent debates, plus clips from previous encounters, through
Reagan and Carter, all the way back to Nixon versus JFK.

Watching Bush v Kerry, two things immediately strike you. First, the opening
explanation of the rules makes the whole thing feel like a Radio 4 parlour
game. And second, George W Bush is... well, he's... Jesus, where do you
start?

The internet's a-buzz with speculation that Bush has been wearing a wire,
receiving help from some off-stage lackey. Screen grabs appearing to show a
mysterious bulge in the centre of his back are being traded like Top Trumps.
Prior to seeing the debate footage, I regarded this with healthy scepticism:
the whole "wire" scandal was just wishful thinking on behalf of some amateur
Michael Moores, I figured. And then I watched the footage.

Quite frankly, the man's either wired or mad. If it's the former, he should
be flung out of office: tarred, feathered and kicked in the nuts. And if
it's the latter, his behaviour goes beyond strange, and heads toward
terrifying. He looks like he's listening to something we can't hear. He
blinks, he mumbles, he lets a sentence trail off, starts a new one, then
reverts back to whatever he was saying in the first place. Each time he
recalls a statistic (either from memory or the voice in his head), he
flashes us a dumb little smile, like a toddler proudly showing off its first
bowel movement. Forgive me for employing the language of the playground, but
the man's a tool.

So I sit there and I watch this and I start scratching my head, because I'm
trying to work out why Bush is afforded any kind of credence or respect
whatsoever in his native country. His performance is so transparently
bizarre, so feeble and stumbling, it's a miracle he wasn't laughed off the
stage. And then I start hunting around the internet, looking to see what the
US media made of the whole "wire" debate. And they just let it die. They
mentioned it in passing, called it a wacko conspiracy theory and moved on.

Yet whether it turns out to be true or not, right now it's certainly
plausible - even if you discount the bulge photos and simply watch the
president's ridiculous smirking face. Perhaps he isn't wired. Perhaps he's
just gone gaga. If you don't ask the questions, you'll never know the truth.

The silence is all the more troubling since in the past the US news media
has had no problem at all covering other wacko conspiracy theories, ones
with far less evidence to support them. (For infuriating confirmation of
this, watch the second part of the must-see documentary series The Power Of
Nightmares (Wed, 9pm, BBC2) and witness the absurd hounding of Bill Clinton
over the Whitewater and Vince Foster non-scandals.)

Throughout the debate, John Kerry, for his part, looks and sounds a bit like
a haunted tree. But at least he's not a lying, sniggering, drink-driving,
selfish, reckless, ignorant, dangerous, backward, drooling, twitching,
blinking, mouse-faced little cheat. And besides, in a fight between a tree
and a bush, I know who I'd favour.

On November 2, the entire civilised world will be praying, praying Bush
loses. And Sod's law dictates he'll probably win, thereby disproving the
existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four more years of
idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to
watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley
Jr - where are you now that we need you?

 

It's amazing how easily you can disagree with the facts on the
ground, isn't it? If there were enough troops, then why didn't
they capture bin Laden? I mean, surely if there were enough
properly trained and equipped troops then Osama's been captured
already, so where is he?

"Against a diseased imagination demonstration goes for nothing."
-Mark Twain, "The Private History of a Campaign that Failed"

--Jeff

--
When I give food to the poor
they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have
no food, they call me a
Communist.
--Dom Helder Camara

The people who cast the votes
decide nothing. The people who
count the votes decide everything.
--Josef Stalin

"It's all connections. If dung beetles didn't eat cow shit we'd
be knee
deep in flies by now. Eating cow shit is a dirty job, but
somebody's got
to do it. Luckily, either by divine plan or cosmic coincidence,
at the
dawn of creation the dung beetle said, 'Oh, for God's sake, I'll
eat the
cow shit, if no one else will.'" - Ben Elton

 

The NY Times may be "liberal" but as demonstrated in many studies,
their idea of "liberal" is still center right in the real world (at
best) with foreign policy and finance quite conservative...unless
compared to the general far right tenor of US corporate media.In fact,
the Iraq war would probably not have happened if the NY times were
open and honest …and really "liberal".


(to begin with, see ":Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the
Media" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...4/104-2500106-7732719?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846),.



Regarding cross posting; well perhaps bicycle racers should post race
results on political groups? On the other hand, Bush supporters are
always posting ads where I would prefer not to hear or read them, and
there is not much I can do about it -or the fact they can outspend the
opposition many times over.

 

Democrats

Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.
Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army
journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.
Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat
V, Purple Hearts.
Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam.
Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.
Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars,
and Soldier's Medal.
Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and
Legion of Merit.
Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze
Star with Combat V.
Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
Chuck Robb: Vietnam
Howell Heflin: Silver Star
George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but
received #311.
Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 Clusters.
Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg.
Manuel Padilla: Served United States Marine Corps. Honorable Discharge



Republicans


Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
Tom Delay: did not serve.
Roy Blunt: did not serve.
Bill Frist: did not serve.
Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
Rick Santorum: did not serve.
Trent Lott: did not serve.
Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.
John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
Jeb Bush: did not serve.
Karl Rove: did not serve.
Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." The man who attacked
Cleland's patriotism.
Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
Vin Weber: did not serve.
Richard Perle: did not serve.
Douglas Feith: did not serve.
Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
Richard Shelby: did not serve.
Jon Kyl: did not serve.
Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
Christopher Cox: did not serve.
Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.
George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard; got
assigned to Alabama so he could campaign for family friend running
for U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam,
disappeared from duty.
Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role
making movies.
B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.
Phil Gramm: did not serve.
John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart
and Distinguished Flying Cross.
Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
John M. McHugh: did not serve.
JC Watts: did not serve.
Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee problem," although continued in NFL
for 8 years.
Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.
Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
George Pataki: did not serve.
Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
John Engler: did not serve.
Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base
Sean Hannity: did not serve.
Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst.')
Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.
Michael Savage: did not serve.
George Will: did not serve.
Chris Matthews: did not serve.
Paul Gigot: did not serve.
Bill Bennett: did not serve.
Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
John Wayne: did not serve.
Bill Kristol: did not serve.
Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
Clarence Thomas: did not serve.
Ralph Reed: did not serve.
Michael Medved: did not serve.
Charlie Daniels: did not serve.
Ted Nugent: did not serve.


--
Didier A Depireux
20 Penn Str - S218E http://neurobiology.umaryland.edu/depireux.htm
Anatomy and Neurobiology Phone: 410-706-1272 (lab)
University of Maryland -1273 (off)
Baltimore MD 21201 USA Fax: 1-410-706-2512

 

I think your objectivity is belied by the fact that you have not included
Ollie North, Colin Powell, or John Edwards. I also don't see any singers and
actors on the Democrats list of military service. Finally, Chris Mathews
(who worked for Jimmy Carter) being on your Republicans list demonstrates
your ignorance far better that I ever could.

Mmbridge