Questions of Credibility

From J. Smith:

"Mr. President, when it comes to interpreting the Constitution you claim to be a strict constructionist, insisting that JUDGES not read things into the Constitution that aren't there. Yet when it comes to interpreting your powers under Article II, you want to interpret the phrase 'Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces' so broadly that that phrase becomes virtually a blank check to do anything you want -- such as tap phones without warrants or imprison people forever with trials. Mr. President, how can you seriously claim that YOU PERSONALLY aren't also guilty of reading things into the Constitution that clearly aren't there?"

On Torture

From Karen McLauchlan:

"How can you sign into Law the McCain Amendment while at the same moment provide a 'Presidential Signing Statement' that claims your authority to IGNORE that very law? How can the public believe in your assertion NOT to be approving the torture of prisoners under these circumstances? Or have any belief you will obey this law?"

From Tracy:

"Mr. President, the CIA had described waterboarding, used with administration approval on several Al Queda suspects, as the following: 'The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.' If this were done to an American soldier, sir, would you consider it torture?"

On the Run-Up to War

From Adam Blackwell:

"Many people, including officials in your own administration, have claimed that you decided to go to war in Iraq long before you announced you had given up on diplomacy. Are they all lying?"

From Steve Shepherd:

"You repeatedly said you had not made any decision to invade Iraq in the run-up to the actual invasion. Yet numerous sources, including administration insiders such as Richard Clarke and Paul O'Neil, say otherwise. And for more than 10 years, invading Iraq had been a publicly stated goal of the so-called 'neoconservatives', including Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld, within your administration. Wasn't it always your intention to invade Iraq but you first had to fix 'the intelligence and the facts around the policy,' as the Downing Street Memo suggests?

From Phillip Daniel:

"President Bush, according to Bob Woodward's book 'Plan of Attack,' you attended a presentation by then-CIA Director George Tenet regarding WMD at the end of which you reportedly said words to the effect of 'nice try, but I'm not convinced.' This led Mr. Tenet to his now infamous 'It's a slam dunk' endorsement. However, this meeting came months after your administration, led by yourself and Vice President Cheney, had been asserting to the American people that there was no doubt that Iraq held WMD. How do you think these revelations of private doubt affect your credibility when the American people recall your trying to convince them there was no doubt about WMD, and therefore no choice but to go to war?"

From Don and Charlotte Lamp:

"Did you tell Tony Blair on Jan 31, 2003, that you were prepared to invade Iraq regardless of whether the inspectors were able find evidence of weapons of mass destruction? Did you tell him that you were considering sending a U.S. plane, painted in U.N. colors, over Iraq, so that if Iraq fired on it there would be a pretext for charging it with a violation of U.N. resolutions?' This is based on an alleged memo cited by Prof. Phillip Sands of University College London in the revised edition of his book, 'Lawless World.' "

On the Cause of War

From Steve Walach:

"Referring to intelligence that claimed Iraq had an extensive program to construct and use weapons of mass destruction, you, Mr. President, now sheepishly admit that those assertions were plain wrong. However, by way of disclaimer, Mr. President, you attach this bizarre epilogue: 'Knowing what I know today, I'd make the decision again.'

"Taken to its logical conclusion, Mr President, your statement means that the casus belli -- the WMDs -- mattered not a lick in your decision to invade. Doesn't your statement mean that you would have invaded Iraq regardless what the CIA and all the other spy agencies said about WMDs, making the war in Iraq your decision entirely and a decision based only on your desire to attack Iraq and eliminate Saddam?"

Iraq and Terrorists

Reader Barbara Reid pointed me toward this exchange from a Feb. 2 Live Online discussion with Washington Post national security reporter Dana Priest :

"Fairfax County, Va.: Dana, What could you tell us about the intelligence community's view of the President's persistent claim that the war in Iraq is not creating more terrorists? It has been my impression that the war was at the very least contributing to radicalization in much of the Arab and Muslim world. Is the president being, at the least, disingenuous in continuing his emphasis only on the potential benefits of the intervention, and not on the costs? Thanks as always.

"Dana Priest: It is now a core belief, among every single intelligence person--inside and outside government, both foreign and domestic--that the Iraq war is pouring fuel on the fire, boosting recruitment and given individuals an anti-American ideology and the commitment to undertake suicide bombings. There is no dispute here."

Reid suggests: "I think that could be the background for an excellent question on the unanimity of view from the intelligence community that challenges Bush's persistent claim that the war in Iraq is not creating more terrorists."

From Phillip Daniel:

"President Bush, many times you and your administration has claimed that a significant fraction of the Al-Qaeda leadership has been captured or killed. But when you consider that none of those persons were captured or killed in Iraq, were from Iraq, or, to the best of our knowledge, have ever been to Iraq, how can Iraq be 'the central front in the War on Terror?'"

On Osama bin Laden

From Oliver Griswold:

"Once you said Osama was 'like those posters in the old West: Wanted dead or alive.' Later you said you were really not that concerned about him. In your recent State of the Union address, you said, 'Terrorists like bin Laden are serious about mass murder -- and all of us must take their declared intentions seriously.'

"Which is it, Mr. President? And why is he still at large?"

From Steven Shackman:

"As a New Yorker, the one simple question I would like to see someone ask the President is 'Why is Osama Bin Laden still breathing?' "

The Plame Game

From Jane Savoca Gibson:

"You promised you would fire anyone involved in the leaking of CIA agent Plame's name. Your standard then was not whether a senior administration official 'committed a crime' but rather 'was involved in the leak'. You stated that you considered this a very serious matter and yet you praised Libby following his indictment. Why have you not fired Karl Rove who testified that he talked about Plame's employment with two reporters?"

From Katherine and Jack Archer:

"Mr. President, you have often said that you want to know the truth about the outing of Valerie Plame, and that if anyone in your administration did it, that person would be fired. You also claim to be a man of action and conviction, and a strong president. Why haven't you called in your top White House staff and demanded to know whether any of them were involved in revealing the covert status of Ms. Plame? If you haven't done so, why should the American people credit your claim to be a strong president?"

From Nancy Koprowski:

"When did you learn about Joe Wilson's trip to Africa? With whom did you discuss it? Who told you Wilson's wife worked at the CIA? When?"

What Would Jesus Do?

From Mary Beth Hastings:

"Mr. President, you have spoken often and with conviction of your Christianity and how you bring Christian principles to bear on your conduct of foreign and domestic policy. The 2007 budget you have just proposed extends tax cuts that mostly benefit upper income Americans, while drastically cutting programs that help the poor, including sick children. As news sources have pointed out, the cost of these tax cuts is far greater than the cost savings coming from entitlement program cuts. Given the number of times the Bible, and Jesus himself, references lifting up the poor and tending to the sick, how do you reconcile this proposed budget with your Christianity?"

On Dividing and Uniting

From Sheila Lindores:

"As a self-described 'uniter -- not a divider' what specific steps have you, personally, taken to ensure that people within your administration and the Congress stop the partisan/and slanted rhetoric and work together with those whose views do not mirror your own? Do you invite Democratic members of Congress to join you in confidential frank and open discussions of your differing opinions? Differences are more easily resolved when the majority reaches out to the minority."

From Don Friedman:

"Why do you allow senior members of your administration to accuse the Democratic Party of being 'soft' on terrorism? Why have you not spoken out publicly to criticize statements like this? Isn't your administration, in effect, politicizing the war on terror and seeking to use it for political gain? Shouldn't the president have the responsibility to foster an atmosphere of bipartisanship when it comes to national security issues?"

On Democracy in Action

From Phillip Daniel:

"President Bush, you are currently exhorting the Shiite majority (about 60 percent of Iraqis) to include the Sunni minority (about 20 percent) in the new government's structure and policies. Yet in the United States, where your best showing in an election was a minimal majority of 51 percent, you and your party have ignored and excluded Democrats whose percentage of the voting population is twice that of Iraq's Sunnis. Aren't you and the rest of the Republican leadership setting a bad example for inclusive democracy? Can you fault the Iraqis for considering you a 'do as I say, not as I do' hypocrite?"

On Accountability

From George Battle III:

"Given the emphasis you put on accountability as an indispensable virtue for the occupant of the White House, can you name three instances in which you have accepted responsibility or compelled members of your administration to be accountable for some mistake?"

From Shannon Campbell:

"Why was CIA Director George Tenet given a medal of freedom/honor after the failures of 9/11 and WMD intelligence? For an administration that uses the word responsibility and accountability why has no one been fired/held accountable for those failures?"

From John Dunsmore:

"Given your background as the holder of an MBA, how do you account for the fact that so many initiatives in your administration remain incomplete or have been launched with what appears to be poor planning and are now floundering? For example, the No Child Left Behind act, Hurricane Katrina recovery, your Social Security plan, and the Medicaid prescription plan have all fallen far short of lofty expectations."

On Leadership

From J. Harley McIlrath:

"You pride yourself on your leadership abilities, but in moments of national crises you present yourself as just an ordinary guy wondering what the hell is going on. On 9/11 you wandered around the country in an airplane because that's what someone told you to do. Your administration's position on the attack was this: Who could have known someone would hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings?

"During Katrina, you sat on vacation and then said, who could have known those levees would break?

"On our failures in Iraq: I'm just giving the generals whatever they ask for. You know, I'm not on the ground. What do I know?

"On torture: What torture? We don't torture. Whatever it is we're dong, I asked Gonzales and he says it's ok.

"On the Plame leak: Hey, I'd like to know who did it as much as the next guy. I understand there's an investigation underway. . . .

"On invading Iraq on misinformation: Hey, I was just acting on what they told me. I didn't know the information was bad.

"My question is, isn't it your job as president to be prepared for these things? Isn't it your job to know that your intelligence is trustworthy, to know that disaster preparedness is in place, to understand the limitations of the law, to know that the White House is being run efficiently and legally? Isn't it your job to have a thorough understanding of the conduct of the war? If it's not your job, then whose job is it?"

On Oil Profits

From Charles Posner:

"The turmoil of the Iraq war, since 2003, has contributed significantly to the tightening of the world oil market and a steep run-up in the price of oil. During this war, major U.S. oil companies have reaped record profits and U.S. consumers have paid inflated fuel prices because of this. Please explain why a portion of the oil profits should not be recouped by the U.S. government (e.g. windfall tax) to help pay for the $2 trillion war debt?"

On Vetoes

From J.S.:

"In addition to, or in lieu of, your call for a line-item veto, why don't you veto any and all legislation that is loaded with earmarks, thereby letting Congress know that you won't tolerate unnecessary additions to federal expenditures?

On Al Jazeera

From Ray Black:

"Did you suggest bombing the al Jazeera headquarters while meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair, as the minutes of the meeting are alleged to confirm?"

On Trust

From Robert Kabakow:

"How does it feel to be considered less trustworthy than Bill Clinton by the American people?"

And Finally

From Garret Romaine:

"What was the bulge, really?"