The Pharos-Tribune Online Edition
Sunday, July 20, 2003, 10:08:23 PM

Most callers say president misled nation
Sunday, July 20, 2003




By DAVE KITCHELL

Pharos-Tribune staff writer






Diane Kepner borrowed a line from a famous comedian to describe her thoughts on President George W. Bush and the American occupation of Iraq.

"I can fill your editorial pages with comments on 'who to believe' but will simplify my response to this week's Sound Off by borrowing a quote from Groucho Marx," she said. "'What are you going to believe, what we tell you or what you see with your own two eyes?'"

Based on what respondents to the Pharos-Tribune Sound Off line have either seen, heard or read, most say the president lied to the American people in his State of the Union Address this year when he emphasized the reasons for invading Iraq. Some even said Bush's speech misled the country so much, he should be impeached.

Bush supporters also made their thoughts known.

"No, I do not believe President Bush misled the people," said Elaine Hall of Logansport. "I believe he is a man of great principle and character."

Phillip Carmichael of Logansport said the Iraq invasion was the right thing to do.

"Misled or not, if we hadn't gone into Iraq, Iraq would have come into us. Saddam needed to be taken out."

Don Freehafer of Logansport said criticism of Bush is partisan wrangling.

"This whole thing is Democrat politics. Bush only repeated what he had been told was true and he thought it was true when he said it."

More callers did not agree, however.

"He most certainly did," said Dennis Kuritz of Logansport.

"The President has lied to us. (Secretary of Defense Don) Rumsfeld lied to us. (National Security Adviser Condoleeza) Rice has lied to us and so has (Secretary of State) Colin Powell. We have been deceived by lies before the war started right through the 18th of July."

Hank Easley said American forces should not have been sent to Iraq.

"I think the Bush Administration has misled the American people and we have no business over there. The rest of the world would not go over there and do anything, and they won't even help us now that they're taking potshots at our boys over there. These people have been fighting since the world began, and they'll still be fighting. They hate Americans. We've got no business over there. They talked about Hitler and Mussolini and Stalin wanting to fight the world. I don't know what they can call Bush. He's misleading the American people. I feel sorry for those guys over there. I really feel sorry for them."

William Lytle Sr. of Logansport also questions the validity of Bush's comments.

"I definitely think George Bush lied to the American people and I don't think he was the only one in the American government that did. Saddam Hussein didn't have any nuclear weapons or he would have used them when we first went in there."

Phillip Penn of Burrows was among callers who said Bush should be punished.

"My opinion is that President Bush misled the people. I think that he and Dick Cheney should both be impeached."

Rick Snay of Logansport was even more emphatic.

"President Bush lied. Let's get that straight. Let me repeat it. He lied. He shamelessly used people's paranoia about another terrorist attack so that he could support his Iraq habit. After what we impeached Bill Clinton for, if this does not result in an impeachment, there is no justice in this country. President Bush lied."

Mark Camp compared Bush's actions if he did lie to Bush's predecessor.

"President Bush has lied to the American people long enough. If the Congress can try to impeach Bill Clinton for an infidelity which he lied about, then Bush surely should be impeached for having American people killed for a war that is just for oil."

Mercedes Brugh of Logansport said the 16 words cited in the State of the Union address that is at the center of controversy are not the only misleading statements in the speech.

"There were more deceptions in the President's State of the Union address than the assertion that Iraq had a viable nuclear weapons program," she said. "Bush also linked Saddam to the 9/11 attacks. But no credible evidence has ever been presented linking Saddam to Sept. 11, and claims about an Al Qaeda cell operating in Iraq were never substantiated. The State Department, CIA, and other U.S. agencies repeatedly stated that there was no link between Iraq and Al Qaeda, and that Iraq was not engaging in terrorist attacks on the US. A few brave members of the intelligence community, both in the US and in Britain, complained that their work was being distorted to make the case for war. Yet Bush, in his State of the Union address, said that Saddam 'could provide one of his hidden weapons' to terrorists, and invited us to 'imagine those 19 hijackers ... armed by Saddam Hussein ..." President Bush's suggestion that Saddam would give precious military assets to a terrorist network beyond his control was never credible. Bush's 'selling of the war' included not only long-discredited 'intelligence' on a nuclear weapons program, but also a link between Saddam and 9/11 conjured out of thin air. America's fine sons and daughters, who are fighting in Iraq, deserve the truth."

Dave Kitchell may be contacted at 722-5000, Ext. 5150, or via e-mail at david.kitchell@pharostribune.com.


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©2000 The Pharos-Tribune. A cnhi Newspaper

Only 10,000 Dead.

The Pharos-Tribune????

Hahahhahahha

How ridiculous and stupid to post a stupid article like this from a source no one ever heard of as if it was relevant to the debate.

I listened to a call-in radio talk show today here in San Diego and 4 out of 5 callers think the Chargers will win the Super Bowl next year.

...when you cannot refute the article attack the messenger.

That even a Modest Daily gets a negative reaction to Bush Lies is significant.

The Tide is turning.

Keep pushing. Keep informing people.

The Tower of Bush will not topple easily but it will topple. The weight of the truth is too much for it to sustain.

BUSH LIED AND THOUSANDS DIED.

"The Tide is turning. "

The tide turned when the arabs attcked us on 9-11.

Two minor military actions in an effort to defend ourselves.

What "tide" do you speak of?

...frescaw. You think Oblivion is a town in Kansas not your state of mind?

TIME magazine, of all places, publishes a cover story called "Untruth and Consequences,"
questioning the Bush Administrations motivations against Iraq. Fuck 911! The end is coming
for the shitheads who have hijacked this country (Bush et. al.). The problem is that when
immature loser neo-cons see they've been had by their own demigod, they get all defensive and
shit and dig in their feet like nazis. Y'all some sad Americans, get a life and get a real president!

I'm actually waiting on some mature republicans to step up and admit they've been played
like a ho by their own pseudo-icon. The rest of you need to grow up and smell the petrol.

...disingenuous. I think you meant OBLIVIOUS as a modifier of "state of mind".

Anyway, I feel I'm safe in stating that denying the history of arab attacks on America over the last couple of decades, culminating in 9-11 sorta puts YOU in the OBLIVIOUS camp, doncha think?

...was intentional as it conveyed the point better.

P.S. You're not in Kansas anymore.

PPS. Hows Tel Aviv this morning?

Time is a left-wing rag?

I guess you must think that Reader's Digest is a communist front...

...now you can stop wondering...it's not that you don't know where the political center is...it's just that you don't know your left from your right...or your ass from a hole in the ground for that matter....

TIME is a left-wing rag. So is Newsweek, the NYT, the LA Times, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, NPR, CNN and a few others. When you're so far to the left that you actually believe that these listed above are right-wing, then you don't know where the political center is, and you demonstrated that quite well, thank you.

all you guys are left wing loonies.
Who left this blade of grass?

But not right enough!
We should burn their presses and chain gun the copy boys.
Then go after that left leaning National Review who let
Ann Coulter go.