Pirate's Cove

It’s easy for folks on the Left, including President Neophyte, to criticize President Bush 43 for waterboarding and using fraternity row hazing tactics to attempt to get vital information out of stone cold terrorists, but, they forget – usually willingly – what it was like in the few years from the aftermath of 9/11. Dubya has always been the kind of person who rarely attacks back and/or defends his policies, which, in politics, is not always a good thing, and he even soft peddles his answers in Michigan. But, the point is made

Former President George W. Bush on Thursday repeated Dick Cheney’s assertion that the administration’s enhanced interrogation program, which included controversial techniques such as waterboarding, was legal and garnered valuable information that prevented terrorist attacks.

Bush told a southwestern Michigan audience of nearly 2,500 — the largest he has addressed in the United States since leaving the White House in January — that, after the September 11 attacks, “I vowed to take whatever steps that were necessary to protect you.” (snip)

….he described how he proceeded after the capture of terrorism suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in March 2003.

“The first thing you do is ask what’s legal?” Bush said. “What do the lawyers say is possible? I made the decision, within the law, to get information so I can say to myself, ‘I’ve done what it takes to do my duty to protect the American people.’ I can tell you that the information we got saved lives.”

Bush avoided the sharp tone favored by Cheney in recent weeks and stressed he does not want to disparage Obama.

That’s just GWB’s way. Minimal, if any, attacks, on his critics. It was a different world back then, and the pain and fear faded. Even though it was less then a decade ago, it’s still a bit foggy. Thinking about terrorism against the United States these days is almost academic, because we haven’t been attacked on our own soil since 9/11…….hmmm, perhaps he did do his duty in protecting the American People. You have to agree with that, right, Democrats?

Switching over to the Michigan Messenger, which takes some typical liberal shots early on, writes

Bush spoke without a teleprompter and took questions from the audience and avoided gaffes — for which he is famous — steering clear of any commentary about his successor’s Oval Office performance, which has come under intense fire from Bush’s vice president, Dick Cheney.

Impressive. A shot at Obama, but still didn’t mention Obama’s gaffes, which he is famous for.

But the former president spoke indirectly of his administration’s authorization of the use of torture against detainees captured during the War on Terror, avoiding the words “torture” and “abuse.”

“You have to make tough decisions,” Bush said. “They’ve captured a guy who murdered 3,000 citizens … that affected me … They come in and say he may have more information …and we had an anthrax attack … and they say he may have more information. What do you do?“

Bush was firm and defended his record as president: “I will tell you that the information gained saved lives.”

Perhaps if President Buttercup would release the appropriate documents, we would have definitive proof. But, that would damage the Liberal Narrative.

He acknowledged that weapons of mass destruction were not found in Iraq but said that this was not the only rationale he gave for the 2003 invasion.

One of the things that always bothered me was that Bush did not stress the plight of the Iraqi people more in his 2003 SOTU speech. It was there, but, almost an afterthought. And the media ran with WMD claims, which, if memory serves, most Democrats made as well, as did most intelligence agencies around the world and their countries leaders.