You know....there was a time when the President seemed very optimistic about Iraq. After we got past the whole missing WMD's there and Osama had Bin Forgotten, all eyes were on Iraq and the important steps that were to come in the future as we secured that country.
There was the ever important capture of Saddam Hussein and his removal from power. Then there were the elections. And then there was the completion of the Transitional Administrative Law for Iraq.
I congratulate the Iraqi Governing Council and the Iraqi people on completing the Transitional Administrative Law for Iraq. This document is an important step toward the establishment of a sovereign government on June 30. It lays the foundation for democratic elections and for a new constitution, which will be written by an elected Iraqi assembly and approved by the Iraqi people.
This law provides a framework for continued cooperation among Iraq, members of the international Coalition, and the United Nations as the Iraqi people make progress towards democracy. And it provides the essential freedoms and rights to all Iraqis regardless of gender, religion, or ethnic origin -- including freedom of religion, freedom of speech and assembly, the right to a fair trial, and the right to choose their own representatives.
The adoption of this law marks a historic milestone in the Iraqi people's long journey from tyranny and violence to liberty and peace. While difficult work remains to establish democracy in Iraq, today's signing is a critical step in that direction.
Yet even before we got to this point, Bush had made very clear how he felt about these important steps and how important it was for the Iraqi people with regards to their own future that they be responsible for these matters and that they decide how to handle them.
U.S. President George W. Bush says it should be up to the Iraqis how Saddam Hussein will be tried and punished now that he's been captured.
"I've got my own personal views about how he should be treated," Bush told reporters in Washington. "But my personal views aren't important. What matters is the views of the Iraqi citizens."
...
"The nightmare of the Baathist tyranny is finally over," said Bush.
But all the details of that nightmare need to come out in a trial, he said.
...
"There needs to be a public trial and all the atrocities need to come out and justice needs to be delivered."
Even Tony Blair was on-board with that kind of sentiment.
"It was people inside Iraq who were gassed. The mass graves inside of Iraq are full of Iraqis," said a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair. "It is just that his fate should rest with Iraqis."
So, um...wtf happened??
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Tuesday the unruly execution of Saddam Hussein "looked like it was kind of a revenge killing," making it harder to persuade a skeptical U.S. public that Iraq's government will keep promises central to Bush's plan for a troop increase.
In his toughest assessment yet, Bush criticized the circumstances of Saddam's hanging last month, as well as Monday's execution of two top aides, including Saddam's half brother.
"I was disappointed and felt like they fumbled the — particularly the Saddam Hussein execution," the president said in an interview with PBS' Jim Lehrer.
A cell phone video of Saddam's Dec. 30 hanging showed the deposed Iraqi leader being taunted as he stood on the gallows with a noose around his neck. An official video of the execution of Saddam's half brother showed that the hangman's noose decapitated him. Both hangings provoked outrage around the world, but particularly among Saddam's fellow Sunnis in Iraq.
Bush said he had expressed his displeasure about the way Saddam's execution was handled to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The president announced what he called a new strategy for the war last week, with much of it hinging on his trust in al-Maliki's government to make radical changes.
"It basically says to people, `Look, you conducted a trial and gave Saddam justice that he didn't give to others. But then, when it came to execute him, it looked like it was kind of a revenge killing,'" the president said.
Let's recap!
Then...
"But my personal views aren't important. What matters is the views of the Iraqi citizens."
And now...
"I was disappointed and felt like they fumbled the — particularly the Saddam Hussein execution,"
George W. Bush. In the end, just another flip-flopper.