What is your reaction to Bush's memoir?

'He also said the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 was right...'

For whom, exactly?

I shall not be reading it - I expect it to contain a whole new Bush interpretation of language and made up words - and will be full of nonsense!

I don't believe a word that comes out of this "man".

How annoying that such an incompetent politician can now sell a book to make even more money out of his lack of talent. Is he even giving any money to charity like the true "Christian" he claims to be ?

I bet the book will contain lots of pictures and big print and will be kept in the children's department.

Good old George, the man who put the genie back in it's bottle.Pity we can't keep the cork on.

What is your reaction to Bush's memoir?

At best he was manipulated during his presidency, at worst he's a liar.

He spewed a million platitudes and excuses about keeping America safe from foreign enemies,to justify his oppurtunistic wars, but when a natural disaster struck at home it became crystal clear how very unimportant the safety and well being of average American citizens was to his regime.

Now let us never speak of Bush or his Neo-Con puppet masters ever again.

Asking Bush to write a book about his time as President would be like asking a ventriloquist's dummy to write an autobiography about the ventriloquist.

I will not be reading this book!

I still remember something Bono said when attending the U2 concert in Paris on the weekend after the 7/7 bombing.
"My prayer is that we don't become the beast in order to defeat it."
Dubya, have some humility and pay attention to these inspired words. If you have to resport torture then you are no better than them.

It's as self serving as his comrade in arms Blair's memoirs -- 'legacy' is all that they hope for i.e. that the two wars will eventually turn out to lead to better conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The chances are poor for that at the moment, but who knows in 50 yrs time?

Strangely the other controversial aspects of his presidency

1) The family ties to the Saudis and by extension the 'Bin Laden's' being allowed to fly from the US when all other flights grounded after 9/11, and
2) The role of his Brother Ged Bush, in his second term 'victory' over Al Gore (hanging chads).

Are both apparently ignored ....

Jeez, he just doesn't know when to stop, eh? Please, please go away George W. Go and play with your friend Tony, pat each other on the back, but get out of my life at last, you're like a bad aftertaste. No matter what you say, the image of you that is forever ingrained in my memory is that puzzled, totally out of your depth look when you were told about the 9/11 attacks. Oops, who is that kicking in my door? The Waterboarding Brigade?

Waterboarding saved british lives? Well the bombing on the US army base saved Afghan lives, does that make it ok?

Everybobdy knows this war was about securing a foothold over the middle east's oil supply.

Just like everbody knows western countries will do pretty much anything to convince us we need to be at war.

I just hope there is a limit to the tolerance we have for our warmongering leaders.

Do you agree with President Bush's reasons for making such decisions? Can torture ever be justified if it saves lives? What is your assessment of his legacy?
........................................................................
No!No!Mistrust across the western world.

this is a republican ex-president who;
- convinced Congress that Iraq was responsible for 9-11 and had WMD which threatened the US
- created the medicare D entitlement program that'll cost the US billions
- cut taxes while running 2 wars
- put the actual cost of the wars on an "off-balance sheet" (not included in the annual budget), asking the Congress for "supplimental funds" to pay for it (balooning the national deficit)

then left the whole mess for the next guy (and next generation).

now he writes a book and when asked pointed questions, says; "Read the book"

No thank you, actions speak louder then words.

Listening to his interview this morning was like listening to Edith Piaf, 'no regrets'.
Saddam's regime had no links to the Al Q'Aida 9/11 attack, no WMD, sanctioning the use of torture ,abuction and imprisonment without trial,the complete abdication of responsibilities as occupying power in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, no regrets.

I will endeavourate to comprehendify the decisionisms made while the misunderestimation of this trulifically great president presidated over a justificated war on Iraque and also the Afghanators

Congratulations to GWB on having written more books than he's read. A suitable epitaph for his presidency.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

An extremely dull HYS question so allow me to ask a far more interesting one instead:


"Is Water Boarding torture and is it justified?"


My answer to this would be Yes and Yes.

If the information gained from torturing a terrorist suspect has helped to save even a single life then it would be entirely justified but as it is - the needs of the many must always outweigh the needs of the few.

Ruthlessly Utilitarian but completely and utterly necessary if we are serious about defending ourselves from those who dedicate themselves to mass murder.

I fully understand the motivation to use torture, particularly when the enemy has no regard for human life and rejoices in mass murder of civilians.
But I think he made a big mistake when he devastated Iraq and I understand that he accepts that opinion.
The real issue is Israel and its criminal treatment of the indigenous Palestinians that they have ethnically cleansed. This is the reason why some Muslims have been driven to use desparate measures against the supporters of Israel.

There, there Georgie, take your pill, it's all over now....

In condoning torture we become the enemy not worth saving.

George Bush should be consigned to the dustbin of history. He was an evil, dangerous man.

George W who, oh yes the war criminal, not interested.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Bush thinks thinks history will prove him right and Blair, even with the guidance of hind-sight, would 'do it again'. Not only have their failings as political leaders caused misery for millions but they want to cash in on their failures by writing about it. Between rubbish politicians and religious lunatics is it any wonder the world is up to its ears in crap.

It's difficult for anybody to give a well judged view on anyone's memoirs without reading them. Off the cuff, on Iraq, the brief accounts we've had so far don't seem to contain anything unexpected; after all, it's his story and he's sticking to it.
I was surprised, though, by the apparent direct linkage between waterboarding and specific plots against the UK . My understanding from sensible commentators is that it doesn't really happen that way and that torture usuallys end up with the victim telling the torturer what he or she thinks the torturer wants to hear.

13. At 09:04am on 09 Nov 2010, U14403753 wrote:
Waterboarding saved british lives? Well the bombing on the US army base saved Afghan lives, does that make it ok?

Everybobdy knows this war was about securing a foothold over the middle east's oil supply.

Just like everbody knows western countries will do pretty much anything to convince us we need to be at war.

I just hope there is a limit to the tolerance we have for our warmongering leaders.

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Totally agree, war crimes have been committed an 10,000 came out over night, yet the media is on ful alert waiting for some rapist to be sentenced to death in China or Nth Korea! or Better still a christian experiencing racism in iran! forget the torture the civilian murders the sleep depravation, the house to house slaughter in haditha! iraqis will seek justice even if they are aware the hague is only there to convict anyone but europeans and americans!

Given some of the claims made in the book there needs to be an independant international investigation into whether Bush and others are potentially guilty of war crimes and/or torture and/or breach of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. if there is then it should be brought before the The International Criminal Court.
Since some Americans (somewhat suprisingly) consider the President to be appointed by god and infallible, any US enquiry cannot be considered impartial. _ (sounds like they're confusing president with Pope and I suspect they only apply it to Republican Presidents but I have heard them say it myself.)

Review, elaboration and documentation of his personal perspective may have helped Bush himself, but I can't imagine that it will do anything to change anyone else's opinion about him or the actions of his administration. Memoir writing in general seems to be a process of self admiration through the lens of the historical mirror while seeking to explain, justify, and/or elaborate 'for the record' and in order that oneself be remembered in the best possible light. Bush admirers will likely enjoy the book and applaud; detractors are likely to find more to dislike. I don't intend to read it, although I do find it interesting that he has finally 'spoken'.

Someone needs to take this mans liberty and Blairs too, and show them that their crimes wont go unpunished, but im afraid money and elitism has protected them from prosecution!

No comment about Bush's memoirs - agree with most of the earlier posters that it will be self serving.

Just a thought - I'm intrigued about the timing of their release - the week AFTER the congressional elections.

Perhaps the 'Powers that Be' in the Republican Party had a say in this? A reminder of the Bush debacle vis-a-vis the economy (among other things) may have cost them some votes last week ...

Sadly, I think whatever George W. Bush now says has to be seen in the context of the campaign for the next U.S. Presidential elections. It is clearly aimed at undermining President Obama's position on these matters.

Personally, I don't believe it is possible to say more than that these techniques "may" have prevented some deaths, given that people are likely to say anything - true or not - when they are put in fear of death, and the interrogators must realise this. It also does not take account of the many people who are likely to have died as a result of the unavoidable exposure of the use of these methods.

Let's wait and read the small print rather than jumping to conclusions based on these 'sound bites'.

'Mr Bush, who is publicising his memoir Decision Points, told US network NBC that using the interrogation technique of waterboarding had prevented terrorist attacks and saved lives.'

He said it had saved lives in Britain.

Its not like Tony Blair's going to contradict him is it?

Not when Tony Blair's sycophantic, blindly pro-US actions as Prime Minister have been financially rewarded(purely in my opinion of course), to the tune of several million dollars from various US institutions, starting pretty much the moment he left office.

George W Bush was possibly the worst President the USA ever had and his decision in my opinion to go into Iraq was for him to go one better than his father and finish the job. He didn't and the west will suffer for generations to come because of his poor decision making.

He will go down in history but for all the wrong reasons.

By condoning torture he brings himself and all of America down to the level of the terrorist. Perhaps Bush, Bliar and the Clown should be handed over to the Iraqi people. We shall then see if justice prevails.

The book's revelations confirm my impressions about this ignorant, cruel, arrogant, childish man. That he and his hegemonic, neocon henchmen were ever allowed to attain high office is a profound criticism of the American political system.

So Bush believes that it is right to torture a man who authorises attacks that claim thousands of lives.

Mmmm. I wonder if he really wants people want to take him at his word?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

All the HYS armchair warriors who salivate at the use of torture on terrorist suspects should consider this, if someone applied a blow torch to the soles of your feet or held your head underwater until your lungs were bursting, just what would you confess to?

The entire world now knows who the real "axis of evil" is: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. These three sad excuses of human beings are personally responsible for the death's of hundreds of thousands of people including innocent women and children. They are guilty of war crimes. They are guilty of crimes against humanity. They should ALL be in prison! This book should be titled "Delusions of a War Criminal". This book is a complete waste of good paper.

I've as much interest in his memoirs as he'd have in mine. I have to say though, as a person, I liked his style.

A very difficult question - of course if information is received that can prevent a terrorist outrage it must be acted upon, however that information is obtained.
However, can I defend torture, in a word no - 2 wrongs do not make a right with the invasion of Iraq being the first wrong.
In my opinion Bush and Blair's actions have made the world a far more dangerous place, allowing Al Qaeda into Iraq - for all his evils (previously encouraged by the west of course), Saddam was not harbouring terrorists. The illegal war has left behind a fertile breeding ground for Al Queda that will probably breed many terrorist attacks for a generation. Afghanistan was and is different, it was the previous Soviet invasion and CIA backed resistance that destabilised the country, and the international community did need to try and sort out the mess it created.
Bush's legacy - that's simple, the worst American President in history, period - no debate required.

So he told them to use torture - at last the admission. The frightening thing is the majority in the US, as shown by the recent elections, want a Republican president like him!

They should put Bush's book with Blairs under children's fantasy section next to Harry Potter. In fact JK Rowling's books are more credible than the bilge these two come with. Poltics clearly distorts the brain more than alcohol.

Bush and Blair should have the book thrown at them for what they have done.
Bush is not capable of writing a book so who did it?

I don't think he achieved much to have been worthwhile writing about. He had a job reading from prepared text so I wonder what his style as author offers. I suppose having seen Tony published he thought it a wheez worth a few more million.

I do hope that this isn't going to degenerate into a lot of mud-slinging which will in turn generate intemperate replies from US contributors. There are serious issues here. Personally I couldn't stand Mr. Bush, but he was President of the world's most powerful country and deserves respect for that alone, even if we disagree with him.
That doesn't mean to say he was right and the war was right. I opposed the war bitterly and believe we were let down and misled by those who should have known better - among which Bush and Blair together were the worst culprits.
On this subject we need more light and less heat if we're not going to see it repeated somewhere else in the world in the near future.

George Dubya Bush was a complete "muppet" and you don't need to read his book to know that.

Why should any of us believe a word of what's in that book?

Using water boarding techniques to prevent bomb attacks etc is outrageous. How dare we condone such practices in an effort to safe innocent lives. I wholeheartedly condemn such barbaric methods. Well; as long as its not my family or friends who are killed and maimed.

More Fiction from the USA - Not interested in reading just a bunch of lies

Bush was and is a smart man.He completed two terms of Presidency by fooling every one and exploited the weaknesses of certain sect of population to his maximum advantage. He succeeded. Now he is hiding his short comings/failures behind the shield of HISTORY'S JUDGEMENT. Enough to silence critics.

Most British commentors see US Presidents as fools. I guess this is a compensation for being ruled by them.

I would say that despite the evidence that Bush - and Blair - lied about WMD at least they saw the threat to the freedom enjoyed by the civilised world. Others will have to finish the job or we go under.

I am amazed at Mr Bush's belief that he was able to read other people's minds and know they have information to divulge.

He should give this gift to police forces around the world.

Or else confess that torture produces as many terrorists as it is designed to stop

Using torture to extract information makes you no better than those you oppose.
Nothing justifies it, even though Dubya seems to think the ends justifies the means. Oddly, a few despots in history have used the same excuse. In reality they are trying to silence those who don't agree with them.

From this springs the roots of terrorism. Those who are desparate enough to kill others to get themselves noticed, since any other way they are ignored or shut out of the debate.

Of course Bush believes that the terrorists just want to destroy the western way of life, because that's waht he was told to believe.

This is like listening to Blair!

This is nothing other than an attempt by Bush to promote his (ghost-written) book.

All he's saying is "Give me more of your money."

NO!

He says he took the advice of Lawyers.

He's more of a fool than even I mistook him for.

I would be very interested to know in what terms GWB thinks the invasion of Iraq will be judged a success in the long term.
Surely it will not be by establishing the reputation of the U.S.A. as the strongest bully in the World?

Waterboarding saved British lives? Did it save more than we lost to so called "Friendly Fire" from his forces?

I think it's disgusting that he should attempt to justify the use of torture by suggesting it was done in the UK's best interest. We should never have been there in the first place.

I would allege that Ex President George W Bush is not only a VERY dangerous man, he is also a warmonger and a danger to the peace we presently enjoy in the West.
How can anyone with half a brain condone torture - for that's what water-boarding is, blatant torture. It is not acceptable in today's society and is simply inexcusable! If I was subjected to it, I would gladly declare that I was the Man in the Moon if my torturers asked me to!
If it's not torture, why does the CIA do it? To extract information!
Will someone please incarcerate this idiot before he does some more harm.

My dining room table has a dodgy leg that will ideal for this book !! how this man along with Blair can sleep at night I have no idea ; justifying his own actions what a joke !! his actions saved lives yeh right ; bye

My opinion?

Wrong on the war.

Right on the waterboarding.

20. At 09:14am on 09 Nov 2010, ChaosMagick wrote:

An extremely dull HYS question so allow me to ask a far more interesting one instead:


"Is Water Boarding torture and is it justified?"


My answer to this would be Yes and Yes.

If the information gained from torturing a terrorist suspect has helped to save even a single life then it would be entirely justified but as it is - the needs of the many must always outweigh the needs of the few.

Ruthlessly Utilitarian but completely and utterly necessary if we are serious about defending ourselves from those who dedicate themselves to mass murder.
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So torturing innocent people who do not know anything is just a price they must be prepared to pay?

And if you condone torture you presumably agree that torturing members of the family is ok to make someone talk.

The Russians did this under Stalin, claimed it was quite effective. Parent had to be present of course.

When you agree torture of any kind is justified you also of course agree the enemy has the right to torture as well.

He can lie in speech and now in word. But the truth will always stay with him. He was the commander in chief which means he is ultimatly responsible for his actions. Was it the right idea to go to war ? We still dont really know why ? Apparently there were WMD'S and apparently links to international terrorism. But really we'll never know why and without tangible eveidence of these claims we cannot really agree that war was the only option. As the old saying goes ,'the road to hell is paved with good intentions.'

Unfortunately this book will be a sad reminder of what happens when the wrong people get put into power ..... he has and always will have the opinion that he was right to do the things he did ... as is his Poodle Blair. Both of them are responsible for the tragedy that is Iraq and Afghanistan. Both of them are responsible for the economic chaos and both of them should be held to account for it ... not given book deals. We all have the right to speak our minds but they abused the power that went with it.

A bit of halo-polishing, and otherwise a lukewarm "oh, gee, I really felt bad about not finding WMD".... That idea sticks in my throat as one of the most disingenuous things I have read in ages. How dare that man say that after hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed by American bombs. Do we Americans EVER realize what we have done? We sanctify people like Ronald Reagan, who were at the souce of huge massacres. We are not a nation of sheep. We are a nation of vicious, forgetful beasts, and the plain fact that Bush was elected twice, TWICE, and Obama can hardly make it through two years without everybody clamoring for more, shows that the USA has not deserved a good president. At some point, folks, the chicken(hawk)s come home to roost.

As expected, Bush defends his policies and his (inspired revelations) like his servant Tony Blair, and this shows how the man disregards human lives basing his judgment on lies!!
1 ALQAIDA was not there neither weapon of mass destructions except your illusions
2 Killed so many thousands of innocents directly or in directly
3 Opened hell of Guantanamo Bay(s) everywhere!
4 Abughraib and all secret prison you tortured innocents including children!
History will judge you and all war criminals like you fairly and your place is cell of hell of Guantanamo Bay and likes!!
We respect culture, education and values of American people, but we hate your narrow minded and unfair foreign policies

Torture to induce extreme fear and pain is illegal under UN Conventions. Bush couldn't see anything wrong in waterboarding because his lawyer said so, umm, such a decisive fella !!..So, its OK now to practise it the world over, even against coalition troops captured by the enemies. He's even claiming to have saved Heathrow Airport, Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf etc...and I suppose he'll soon be claiming to have saved Buckingham Palace, The Queen and the whole of England too. Sounds like, this book echoes what Tony Blair said in his last book. The denials are all there, and they were both right in the invasion of Iraq despite no WMDs. Dubya is of course hoping History will not judge him too harshly, but sadly both he and Blair have left the their countries in a hell of a mess financially, under recession and in many other ways too. Its laughable for him to claim the Iraqis are now free and better off than under Saddam. Where has this guy been given the amount of violence and murder that's ongoing in that country on daily basis? Saddam was a dictator who had many opponents in Iraq, but there were also law and order there in Iraq. Though the country was frowned upon by the outside world, it did not stop the Americans from befriending Saddam and using him to attack America's enemy, Iran. Not just Waterboarding, how about Rendition Flights and Guantanamo Concentration Camp?...the International Courts at The Hague ought to be looking closely at the past activities of both Bush and Blair, and issue summons to answer for themselves.

don't buy it (or the book!). a man so stupid he believes someone who tells him waterboarding isn't torture shouldn't be publishing anything. and blaming legal advisers is a convenient parallel of the decision to invade iraq: he was only following (cheney's) orders.

I cannot believe what he says. He represents all that is bad about the West. His Grandfather was indicted in the 30's for lending money to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. That's true and I bet you don't put this up.
Waterboarding may have saved lives. I cannot say 'yes it was a good thing to do to another human being.'
We are a great race with such potential yet we squander it by being slaves to evil.
All I am interested in is the truth. So should everyone including the BBC

If this man and others didnt take a stance or action then we probably would be in a worse state in the western world, Islam being thrust upon us, whilst i do not like this fella or what he has done, i do agree with the war on terror and why we are still fighting it. I work in the oil industry..i can assure you the last thing the west need is middle east oil reserves, the economic gain is offset but the tapping/production. this is the farse that joe bloggs wishes to believe why they went to war ! Its certainly not

Being like George W I will wait until it is on Audiobook in the library, hopefully read by himself for my amusement.

I've done all of the colouring in, I'm now on the dot-to-dot puzzles.

The good thing about his memoirs being published is, people like David Beckham, Jordan, Britney Spears, etc who love attempting to publish books about their lives can rest assure that they are no longer lowest IQ primates to be printed on paper.

We should show impartiality and judge the book by its merits. Terrorists are totally evil and have no respect for the sanctity of life. Stopping terrorists on their tracks was vital but some methods used by the Bush Administration went against the grain of the Declaration of Human Rights. Until the former President is prepared to admit those mistakes, the debate will rage on. The President needs to make a clean breast of policy failures. Journalists will pour through his memoirs and he will be praised for his bold steps and harangued for his shocking treatment of prisoners! Guantanamo was his Achille's heel.

59. At 09:52am on 09 Nov 2010, Often Rejected wrote:
He says he took the advice of Lawyers.

He's more of a fool than even I mistook him for.
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This was very, very chilling. He did not ask or question whether it was right, took no view of the morality of such conduct, took no view what signal it sent about the US, took no view of the inhumanity of the action and how the innocent would suffer.

He simply asked a couple of lawyers if it was legal.

The Stalinist purges were "legal", Saddam Hussein was assured by his lawyers that mass murder of rebels was "legal".

I have read that this man has a manufactured image of a bumbling idiot, when in fact he is quites smart, (He graduated higher than Al Gore).

He realised that he was just a rich kid with a sneer and no-one would vote for him so he re-invented himself in a Ronald Reagan 'aw shucks!' image.

It allowed him to give the image that he was a 'regular' guy and not an ex-drunk who couldn't hold down a job, or run a company without help from his family & friends.

And it worked, elected twice using the most blatent examples of election fraud in modern history and pushing through an agenda so incompetent that a country like the US (which has a past steeped in racial bigotry) elects an African-American to succeed him.

The question that should be raised is what will history make of this man?

Don't forget, in the US the right venerate Ronald Reagan, who supprisingly never had a popularity over 56%, which is pretty average for a president.

The problem with the political right in the US is they believe they have a god-given right to rule. Refuse to accept election results that go against them. Have no intention of ever compromising with the Democrats for the good of the country.

And seriously thinking that torturing their 'enemies' is a good thing.

The world is a better place by having leaders like George Bush. This constant bombardment by those who want to continually appease those who wish to destroy hard won freedoms is shocking and simply stupid. In all things we must take the high ground which is hard to win, but we should remember that the Islamic terrorists give no quarter and they should not expect any in return and while some innocents suffer along the way it is a sad but necessary reality of the fight that is before us. Well done George for standing up for freedom, a lesson perhaps many of our own politicians should learn from.

52. At 09:46am on 09 Nov 2010, hannibal wrote:
Using water boarding techniques to prevent bomb attacks etc is outrageous. How dare we condone such practices in an effort to safe innocent lives. I wholeheartedly condemn such barbaric methods. Well; as long as its not my family or friends who are killed and maimed.
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And its not your innocent son being tortured because the torturers cannot tell who is guilty and who is not.

Where do people get this weird notion that torturers have suoperhamn abilities.

Even Stalin did not think this.

We all knew that he and his cronie Blair had committed war crimes but now that we have the confession what is to prevent a trip to the Hague for both of them. With regard to his book I will not read it as it falls into two catagories that I do not read, fiction and childrens books.

If justice isn't done as I am sure it wont be I wish them both all that is bad for the rest of their miserable lives.

Er! why are we giving this person free publicity for his book? He never had anything sensible or worthwhile to say when he was President why should we expect anything different now?

Mr Bush is always right from his point of view. I just read about the waterboarding technique which is very dangerous to use. One will become physically and psychologically sick for many years. No religion and law in the world says such kind of technique should be used to extract truth except Mr Bush and his laws. I guess if India start using this technique on Mr Kasab the Pakistani militant of Mumbai attacks then they would get lot of facts about Pakistani militant groups and the Pak government involvement in the militant operations aganist India.

With respect to the decisoin on invade Iraq: I pity my American brother and sister. The American tax payers money is been invested on war aganist Iraq just to kill all the innocent people and made the US army personnel to suffer. There were no weapons of mass distruction and no Biological weapons were found in Iraq. The country is has been made a burial ground by Mr Bush.

Our American cousins seem to want more of this judging by the recent elections in the States. How can they be forgiving the Republicans so quickly !
There is one thing I miss about Bush, it gave the comedians and mimics so much material to work with.
I imagine he is still struggling with trying to Locate Iraqistan on the map.

I wonder if Mr Bush would confess to crimes against humanity if he was waterboarded? Presumably this would be legitimate testimony.

Well talk about blowing your own trumpet! I think history will judge him a total failure and one of the worst American presidents. Let’s take Iraq – complete failure and on the brink to civil war as different factions compete for power.

Somebody should waterboard him until he tells us the truth about Iraq.

A controversial statement for sure because without giving some proof ( which will we locked away in secret files) it will just yet again draw attention to the awful way we were manipulated into going to war.

The Bush/Blair saga brought to an end any belief we had in what our political leaders say.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

@LeftieAgitator wrote:


"All the HYS armchair warriors who salivate at the use of torture on terrorist suspects should consider this, if someone applied a blow torch to the soles of your feet or held your head underwater until your lungs were bursting, just what would you confess to?"


Not being a terrorist mastermind who has plotted mass murder, with no contacts or knowledge of terrorists cells or networks or not having been picked up fighting allies in a war zone then I would have nothing to confess to that the authorities could possibly be interested so would not be tortured as you well know.

Torture is merely a tool to achieve an end - normally saving lives.

Yes, it may make people who do not know anything to confess to anything (although any intelligence agency can soon verify if that information is actually reliable or not) but what it will nearly always do is force those who do know something to confess because there are, in reality, very few human beings that are capable of resisting this form of interrogation.

The only armchair generals are those who insist in tying the hands of armed forces to aid the enemy and make sweeping generalisations that torture never ever works (how can they possibly know? It certainly proved effective during the 2nd world war).

Let them concern themselves with the so-called "human rights" of terrorists murderers whilst the rest of us support our armed forces to use any means necessary to keep us safe from them.

The needs of the many will always outweigh the needs of the few or the one murderous, terrorist whack job. It's called Real Politik and it will always trump the lofty, abstract idealism that the stupid delude themselves with in a vain, narcissistic attempt to convince themselves that they are somehow better than anyone else who doesn't agree with them.

It's easy to criticize this man. But Americans are a whole culture apart from Europeans now.

This man went to the people with a war cry of 'might is right' and won...TWICE. His words and actions are a reflection on the people who voted for him as much as his presidency.

At least he is saying what he thinks. If that shocks you then you are far too weak to be a political cynic.

The majority of comments here are critical of Bush and history will be the best judge.

Who will judge the American people and the American system that allowed him to do what he did without any check for two presidential terms?

The only time I'll be interested in this person is when I see him in court in The Hague.

Trying to justify waterboarding is about what I'd expect from him.

The invasion of Iraq was based purely on the preservation of the petrodollar, upon which the Bush family personal fortunes are dependent.
This decision to invade was an abuse of the office of the US President for personal family gains.
Charges of gross misconduct and abuse of office should be presented to the former President

Presidential memoirs, are by their very nature, self serving. I don't read 'em. As a right wing nut job, I'm not interested in looking backwards; the future is what interests me.

20. At 09:14am on 09 Nov 2010, ChaosMagick wrote:

An extremely dull HYS question so allow me to ask a far more interesting one instead:


"Is Water Boarding torture and is it justified?"


My answer to this would be Yes and Yes.

If the information gained from torturing a terrorist suspect has helped to save even a single life then it would be entirely justified but as it is - the needs of the many must always outweigh the needs of the few.

Ruthlessly Utilitarian but completely and utterly necessary if we are serious about defending ourselves from those who dedicate themselves to mass murder.

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Presumably you hold the same view if the boot is on the other foot? The torture of a British soldier by Afghan fighters to get him to reveal attack plans or bombing raids thereby saving the lives of other Afghani men women and children?

All this user's posts have been removed.Why?

no, I'll wait for "My pet Goat" part II

how about organizing a public book burning?

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