I can’t believe he said it. I can’t believe I didn’t record it the 3 times I saw the clip yesterday…
When asked by NBC’s Matt Lauer about the war on terrorism “Can we win it?”
Bush replies:
I don’t think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the – those who use terror as a tool are – less acceptable in parts of the world.
Sounds like a flip-flop to me. I wish I could find a clip from one of his speeches where he says something along the lines of “we are going to win this war on terrorism.”
Ironically there are two French reporters being held hostage in Iraq due to the French government’s ban on headscarves in state schools. (I am personally against the ban because it interferes with freedom of religion) Right now terrorism (in the form of taking hostages to make a political statement) is being used as a tool in a place where Bush supposedly liberated. I wonder if the French government rescinds this ban, will the terrorists have won? or will it simply be the French government realizing the errors of its ways? I predict that the journalists will probably end up dying becuase the French government will try to make a stand and refuse to overturn their whack-ass law. Regardless, this one small battle in the “war on terrorism” is exactly what Bush is trying to prevent, and it poignantly shows how unwinnable this ill named war really is. See “drug war” for more info on unwinnable wars :-)