For those who say our president is leading the war on terror with resolve and determination, I ask: Why doesn't he seem to care at all about the bastard who was most directly responsible for the 9/11 deaths, Osama bin Laden?
The Unnamed Enemy
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, August 12, 2004; 11:19 AM
In his brand new campaign ad, President Bush vows to "bring an enemy to justice before they hurt us again." (Here's the video. Here's the text.)
An enemy? Any enemy in particular?
Although there are certainly lots of enemies out there, public enemy number one is obviously al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
But Bush didn't mention bin Laden -- who, just six days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks Bush said he wanted "dead or alive," and who, almost three years later, is still at large.
Reader Frank Grunder e-mailed me a while back to ask: Just when was the last time Bush did actually speak about bin Laden explicitly?
So I did some research (using the very handy and highly recommended Compilation of Presidential Documents database.)
And what I found is that Bush treats bin Laden a lot like those wizards in the Harry Potter books treat He Who Must Not Be Named.
Since the beginning of 2003, in fact, Bush has mentioned bin Laden's name on only 10 occasions. And on six of those occasions it was because he was asked a direct question.
In addition, there were four times when Bush was asked about bin Laden directly but was able to answer without mentioning bin Laden's name himself.
Not once during that period has he talked about bin Laden at any length, or said anything substantive.
During the same period, for comparison purposes, Bush has mentioned former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on approximately 300 occasions.
Link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...ml?nav=rss_politics/administration/whbriefing
The Unnamed Enemy
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, August 12, 2004; 11:19 AM
In his brand new campaign ad, President Bush vows to "bring an enemy to justice before they hurt us again." (Here's the video. Here's the text.)
An enemy? Any enemy in particular?
Although there are certainly lots of enemies out there, public enemy number one is obviously al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
But Bush didn't mention bin Laden -- who, just six days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks Bush said he wanted "dead or alive," and who, almost three years later, is still at large.
Reader Frank Grunder e-mailed me a while back to ask: Just when was the last time Bush did actually speak about bin Laden explicitly?
So I did some research (using the very handy and highly recommended Compilation of Presidential Documents database.)
And what I found is that Bush treats bin Laden a lot like those wizards in the Harry Potter books treat He Who Must Not Be Named.
Since the beginning of 2003, in fact, Bush has mentioned bin Laden's name on only 10 occasions. And on six of those occasions it was because he was asked a direct question.
In addition, there were four times when Bush was asked about bin Laden directly but was able to answer without mentioning bin Laden's name himself.
Not once during that period has he talked about bin Laden at any length, or said anything substantive.
During the same period, for comparison purposes, Bush has mentioned former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on approximately 300 occasions.
Link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...ml?nav=rss_politics/administration/whbriefing