# Nonpartisan Iraq Questions for Bush **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 24, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367 "2005-08-24T01:49:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/21 "2005-08-24T13:33:43Z")
> [@furt](#): > > So glad to see the maturity of so many on display… Well, you have a point, to be frank, **furt**. But the OP itself presents a virtual impossibility: how to ask non-partisan questions of the single most divisive figure in current politics, its like asking someone to interview Beethoven for an hour and never mention music! ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/22 "2005-08-24T13:50:24Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Mr. President, at a time when the Department of Defense is having difficulty meeting its recruitment goals, why haven’t your children set a good example for the youth of our country and volunteered to serve in Iraq? > > What would be your response if the Iraqi government denies full citizenship status to women? > > What will you do for the prisoners in Guantanamo who are tried and not convicted? > > Why aren’t the names of the thousands of military women and men injured, sometimes severely or fatally, in non-combat situations in Iraq, listed on the Pentagon’s website as casualties? > > Why haven’t you called upon the American people to unite in conserving oil? > > Which one of the beatitudes is your favorite? Good questions Zoe. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/23 "2005-08-24T13:55:19Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > “And, finally, Mr. President, as regards Iraq…what the fuck, dude?” > [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Dude…Iraq? Seriously…what the fuck? Heh. I always knew you two shared a brain. 😃 * * * My questions: (I would ask a couple about Iraq, but everyone else seems to be covering that so I’ll focus on other areas.) My President, as you know several governors of southern border states have recently declared a state of emergency due to the out of control situation with illegal immigrants flowing over our porous borders. What do you plan to do to stop the chaos? Mr President, it’s clear that the size of government has grown under your leadership, with the help of the republicans in the senate. Why is it that you have ignored the conservative notions of smaller government? Will you make any effort in your remaining years to create a permanent control to the size and scope of government by proposing a balance budget ammendment or law? Mr President, John Roberts looks to be sailing well through the media storm towards comfirmation on the SCOTUS. Will your next appointment(s) be true constuctionists who will return the laws of the land to an interpretation of the constitution? * * * It’s tough to come up with questions for Bush. He’s a direct and honest guy. If you want to know his thoughts on a particular subject just listen to him when he speaks about it. He perfectly spells out his plans and ideas most of the time. I’d almost be tempted to treat my question and answer session as more of an opportunity to convince him that certain areas are more important than he is treating them. (IE Border control, government spending/debt, appointing constuctionist judges.) ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/24 "2005-08-24T14:08:08Z")
Considering that China has a horrific record of human rights violations, proven capability for Weapons of Mass Destruction, and just as tenuous a connection to Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden as Iraq, why haven’t we invaded China? Not that I want us to, but hey - don’t pretend to be carrying out a war for moral reasons when its really the result of a (faulty) cost-benefit analysis. Oh, which administration drone was it that recently tried to connect Iraq to Al-Qaeda by saying the two ‘shared an ideology’? That quote made me chuckle. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/25 "2005-08-24T14:56:51Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > It’s tough to come up with questions for Bush.\*\* He’s a direct and honest guy\*\*. If you want to know his thoughts on a particular subject just listen to him when he speaks about it. He perfectly spells out his plans and ideas most of the time. He is obviously doing a decent job of appearing to be just that. As time goes by more and more people are seeing that this personna of his is a facade. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/26 "2005-08-24T15:27:42Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > Heh. I always knew you two shared a brain… _With the thoughts you’d be thinkin’ The bloggers would be linkin’ If you only shared a brain…_ > [@](#): > > …It’s tough to come up with questions for Bush. He’s a direct and honest guy… **Debaser** has a gift for droll irony! Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/27 "2005-08-24T16:50:06Z")
Don’t waste your time. There are plenty of questions worth asking, but none that would get an answer worth a damn. Every blessed one of those listed would get either some version of his “Hard work, war on terra, enemies of freedom” chant, or else some non sequitur in his trademark unprepared-schoolboy stammer/smirk. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/28 "2005-08-24T18:54:17Z")
I’d ask something about the Downing Street Memo, but I suspect he’d just pull a Cheney and deny having read it. (Then again, with George, that may be the honest truth 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/29 "2005-08-24T21:46:22Z")
Mr President, women in pre-invasion Iraq had more rights than their counterparts in any other Arab country. Is the United States going to leave Iraq knowing that those women have lost many of the rights they enjoyed under Saddam Hussein’s regime? ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/30 "2005-08-25T01:29:51Z")
Some VIPS have [a memo](http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0824-32.htm) for Bush which asks a couple of quite pertinent questions. If given the opportunity, I think I might pass these along for the President’s consideration: > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by **Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity** :_ > > Here are the names, ages, and hometowns of the eight soldiers, including Casey Sheehan, killed in the ambush in Sadr City, Baghdad on April 4, 2004: > > Specialist Robert R. Arsiaga, 25, San Antonio, Texas > Specialist Ahmed A. Cason, 24, McCalla, Alabama > Sergeant Yihjyh L. Chen, 31, Saipan, Marianas > Specialist Israel Garza, 25, Lubbock, Texas > Specialist Stephen D. Hiller, 25, Opelika, Alabama > Corporal Forest J. Jostes, 22, Albion, Illinois > Sergeant Michael W. Mitchell, 25, Porterville, California > Specialist Casey A. Sheehan, 24, Vacaville, California > **Questions** > > …Those eight fine soldiers were killed by forces loyal to the fiercely anti-American Muqtada al-Sadr, the young Shia cleric with a militant following, particularly in Baghdad’s impoverished suburbs. The ambush was part of a violent uprising resulting from US Ambassador Paul Bremer’s decision to close down Al Hawza, Al-Sadr’s newspaper, on March 28, 2004… > > …You may wish to come prepared to answer specific questions like the following: > > 1. Closing down newspapers and arresting key opposition figures seem a strange way to foster democracy. Please explain. And how could Ambassador Bremer possibly have thought that al-Sadr would simply acquiesce? > > 2. Muqtada al-Sadr seems to have landed on his feet. At this point, he and other Shiite clerics appear on the verge of imposing an Islamic state with Shariah law and a very close relationship with Iran. With this kind of prospect, can you feel the frustration of Gold Star mothers when the extremist ultimately responsible for their sons’ deaths assumes a leadership role in the new Iraq? Can you understand their strong wish to prevent the sacrifice of still more of our children for such dubious purpose? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/31 "2005-08-25T01:44:58Z")
My question would be how can we expect to win with our own media only reporting the ‘anti-US’ side of the war. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/32 "2005-08-25T02:06:06Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > My question would be how can we expect to win with our own media only reporting the ‘anti-US’ side of the war. Say Whaa??? Clean up isle 3!! ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/33 "2005-08-25T02:13:43Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > **Debaser** has a gift for droll irony! Who knew? And **kanicbird** too! Seriously, my question would be: Mr. President, you led us into the war with Iraq because you claimed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and that they posed a real danger of being used against us either directly or by being given to terrorists. At the same time, the CIA was apparently telling you that these scenarios were highly unlikely. Since then, evidence has come to light showing that we apparently did little to protect potential WMD sites from looting and in fact allowed the looting of nuclear-weapons-grade conventional explosives that had been tagged and locked down by the IAEC. To some of us, it appears that we were very lucky that you were wrong about Saddam having WMD because if you had been right then such weapons would now likely be in the hands of terrorists. Given all this, can you explain to us in detail how you planned this aspect of the invasion and specifically what efforts you made to protect WMD sites so that the war would have made us more rather than less secure if the WMD had in fact existed? And, how would you counter critics who argue that your handling of this matter shows either that you really weren’t concerned about the dangers of WMD ending up in terrorist hands or, alternately, that you were mind-boggling inept and put our nation at grave risk? [Okay, so it is sort of a long question…which probably partly explains (in addition to the media lapdog theory) why noone has tried to probe this issue.] ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/34 "2005-08-25T02:31:29Z")
Obviously spotting droll irony is not my strong suit :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/35 "2005-08-25T02:32:12Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > My question would be how can we expect to win with our own media only reporting the ‘anti-US’ side of the war. Jeff Gannon? Is that you? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/36 "2005-08-25T02:42:05Z")
I keep reading the title as “Neapolitan” for some reason. My question would hence be “Mr President, do you prefer chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla ice cream?” ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/37 "2005-08-25T13:57:40Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > Obviously spotting droll irony is not my strong suit :smack: Don’t feel too bad…While the only sense that we can make of their comments is to interpret them as droll irony, the known beliefs of these two posters suggests to me that they were probably serious and sincere in their statements. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/38 "2005-08-25T19:55:10Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > It’s tough to come up with questions for Bush. He’s a direct and honest guy. If you want to know his thoughts on a particular subject just listen to him when he speaks about it. He perfectly spells out his plans and ideas most of the time. Riiiiight. The guys from Spinsanity disagree. [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743262514/spinsanity-20/103-7200797-6565465](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743262514/spinsanity-20/103-7200797-6565465) I find their argument FAR more convincing than yours. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/39 "2005-08-25T20:18:12Z")
“Could you provide some advice for your successors: If war breaks out between Turkey and Kurdistan, what should the US response be?” Or: “If you could be a tree, what kind of tree would you be?” ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367/40 "2005-08-26T12:33:26Z")
> [@jshore](#): > > Don’t feel too bad…While the only sense that we can make of their comments is to interpret them as droll irony, the known beliefs of these two posters suggests to me that they were probably serious and sincere in their statements. Oh no! I think I’d rather believe the droll irony. Thinking that they were completely serious is too scary. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonpartisan-iraq-questions-for-bush/318367.md?page=3)