Bush jokes about his false Iraqi
weapons claims that led to war
BBC News
March 26, 2004
US President George W Bush has sparked a political row by making a joke about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
At a black-tie dinner for journalists, Mr Bush narrated a slide show poking fun at himself and other members of his administration.
One pictured Mr Bush looking under a piece of furniture in the Oval Office, at which the president remarked: "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere."
After another one, showing him scouring the corner of a room, Mr Bush said: "No, no weapons over there," he said.
And as a third picture, this time showing him leaning over, appeared on the screen the president was heard to say: "Maybe under here?"
The audience at Wednesday's 60th annual dinner of the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association obviously thought the quips hilarious - there were laughs all round - but the next morning, in the cold light of day, things looked far less amusing.
The joke about the fruitless search for Iraqi WMDs so far, Washington's prime justification for the US-led invasion, has been branded as tasteless and ill-judged.
Mr Bush's election challenger Senator John Kerry described the president's attitude as "stunningly cavalier".
Commentary by Helen & Harry Highwater:
Giving President Bush every possible benefit of every possible doubt -- assuming his numerous claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction were enormous mistakes, not lies -- even in the best possible light, this 'skit' shows a callousness beyond comprehension.
Hundreds of Americans and thousands of Iraqis are dead because of Bush's mistake, there seems to be no exit strategy, and no way out of this mistaken war and ongoing occupation. America is now more despised in the Middle East than ever, a hatred which seems sadly understandable and will obviously lead to more terrorism and more death in the future. Bush has never apologized for his mistake, and indeed he seems utterly un-bothered by any of this. He's cracking wise?
While hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are in peril in Iraq, the man responsible for all this loss of life jokes about it? Some will call this a political miscalculation, but that much ignorance of political reality requires more benefit of more doubt than we can give to any politician shrewd enough to become President of the United States.
Instead, we're wondering aloud whether this 'comedy skit' is yet another sign of the President's more and more obvious insanity.
Helen & Harry
"If George Bush thinks his deceptive rationale for going to war is a laughing matter, then he's even more out of touch than we thought," he said in a written statement.
"Unfortunately for the president, this is not a joke."
Mr Kerry's statement also included a comment from Iraq war veteran Brad Owens, who said: "War is the single most serious event that a president or government can carry its people into.
"This cheapens the sacrifice that American soldiers and their families are dealing with every single day."
More than 500 US soldiers have died in the war and thousands more have been injured.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked what he thought of this incident at a press conference on Friday, but he dodged the issue, saying that he couldn't comment as he hadn't been at the event.
in·san·i·ty n. 1 a : a deranged state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder (as schizophrenia) and usually excluding such states as mental retardation, psychoneurosis, and various character disorders
b : a mental disorder
2 : such unsoundness of mind or lack of understanding as prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or as removes one from criminal or civil responsibility
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