Mistakes Were Made (By Others, But Not by Me or My Daddy)

The briefly contrite President Bush has left the building. In his place we find the familiar guy we all know and the NY Sun and the "Creator of Wind and Water" undoubtedly love. The president is now shifting any responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks to pretty much everyone on this list except himself and this guy.

President Bush said today that mistakes made by three of his predecessors, including the Reagan administration's response to the Marine barracks bombing in Lebanon, had emboldened global terrorists and helped set the stage for the 9/11 attacks.

Bush said he was determined not to repeat the pattern by pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq before terrorists are contained and Iraqi forces are able to provide their own security.

"To leave Iraq now would be to repeat the costly mistakes of the past that led to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001," Bush said in remarks at the Pentagon after a two-hour briefing by Defense Department officials on the status of the U.S. offensive in Iraq and the war on terrorism.

He cited as examples the U.S. response to the hostage crisis in Iran during the Carter administration, the Lebanon bombing under Reagan, and four crises that occurred during the Clinton administration: the first World Trade Center attack, the killing of American soldiers in Somalia, the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa, and the attack on the Cole.

[...]

Bush did not mention any events during the first Bush administration, such as his father's decision to end the first Gulf War without sending coalition troops on to Baghdad to topple Saddam Hussein's regime.

LA Times story here.

[Cross-posted at The Agitator.]