president bush: no apologies, no mistakes and no p

President Bush: No Apologies, No Mistakes and No Plan

April 14, 2004

President Bush's press conference last night provided him ample time to reassure Americans that his national security plans are on track. Instead, the public witnessed a rambling, disjointed defense of past actions and no clear vision for what lies ahead for American citizens and troops. Even more disconcerting, the president refused to level with the public about past mistakes and failed to provide any evidence that he has made necessary adjustments to suspect policies.

President Bush refused to offer any apologies for 9/11 or the ongoing crisis in Iraq. The president was given four separate opportunities last night to extend his apologies for security failures on his watch. He offered nothing. Not even acknowledgement of a collective failure of our government to act on threat assessments before 9/11. No apologies to the families of American troops who have died because of the administration's failure to anticipate the insurgency. And no apology to the troops who are fighting in a vacuum in Iraq without a larger political strategy.
President Bush refused to admit any mistakes in his handling of national security over the last three years. Incredibly, the president appears to be the only one in America who thinks the pre-9/11 period and the war in Iraq unfolded without a hitch. Nothing about failing to follow-up decisively after the Aug. 6, 2001 PDB. Nothing on the administration dragging its feet in fighting al Qaeda. Nothing on the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. And nothing about the misleading "Mission Accomplished" claim last year or the rising nationalist uprising in Iraq.
On top of this callousness and stubbornness on national security, the president still has no viable plan for Iraq. With the transition to Iraqi sovereignty set to occur in less than three months, the president has no idea who will assume authority in Iraq. No idea if the nation will be secure enough to establish a functioning government. He reiterated a timetable that is increasingly divorced from reality on the ground in Iraq. He made no attempt to honestly tell the American people how long our troops will be there or how costly our commitment will be in lives and funding.