"I Think It's Important For The President To Lay Out A Timetable..."

On the day before Bush is set to veto a war funding bill that includes a withdrawal timetable for US troops, let's examine some past remarks from our Dear Leader...

This post's title words were said by current president George W. Bush, way back in 1999 when he was just a lowly governor from Texas and not the Decider-in-Chief.

The full quote, published in the Seattle P-I, and referencing the Clinton Administration's actions and policies in Kosovo, is:

"I would strongly urge that if there are U.S. troops involved, they be under U.S. command or NATO command. I think it’s also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn. If there needs to be a residual force, it is important that over time U.S. troops are withdrawn and our European allies carry the majority of the load.”

Bush also lamented Clinton's "lack of an exit strategy" in this Houston Chronicle quote:

"Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is."

(thanks to ThinkProgress for the articles.)

Yet in his very own war, Bush has turned around 180 degrees, much as Cheney did when he cautioned against going to Baghdad after Gulf War I only to aggressively pursue war with Iraq after coming aboard as Vice-President.

Recent quotes from Bush:

"I believe artificial timetables of withdrawal would be a mistake. … I will strongly reject an artificial timetable withdrawal and/or Washington politicians trying to tell those who wear the uniform how to do their job. " [President Bush, 4/23/07]

The double-standard is obscene, but the rationale is clear. Kosovo wasn't an oil nation, nor did it fit into any kind of biblical end-times scenario. Iraq satisfies both of those criteria for far right evangelical foreign policy aims. And Bush is the most far right, evangelical, biblical literalist we've ever had sitting in the Oval Office.

Oh, and he's also a dirty rotten liar, a double-talking politician, and a wannabe theocratic despot.

(cross posted at Bring It On! )