Bush's Hate Speech

"But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. As your President, I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq. Yet it was right to remove Saddam Hussein from power." - Bush in his December 18, 2005 speech

This is another instance in which the President has admitted the mistakes of others, the intelligence agencies, but denied that he is responsible for anything. His Administration, despite his denials, manipulated and cherry-picked intelligence. Congress did not have the same intelligence as he did, as the Congressional Research Service confirmed (pdf). He led the country to war on claims of WMD and Saddam-9/11 links. Later in his speech, he spoke about opponents of the war:

We will continue to listen to honest criticism, and make every change that will help us complete the mission. Yet there is a difference between honest critics who recognize what is wrong, and defeatists who refuse to see that anything is right.
Defeatism may have its partisan uses, but it is not justified by the facts.

This is an unhelpful strategy that does nothing to encourage any honest debate about the future of American presence in Iraq. It is a an ideology of "I'm right, you're wrong and anything you say helps our enemies". Bush is in the corner, about to be knocked out by one after another scandals caused by his and his party's obsession with power.