Reflections on a Presidential press conference- No. 3

Asked in his press conference of October 17, 2007 about "Al Qaeda in Iraq," President Bush responded in part:



Al Qaeda is still dangerous. They're dangerous in Iraq, they're dangerous elsewhere. Al Qaeda is not going to go away anytime soon. That's why it's important for us to be finding out what their intentions are, and what are their plans, so we can respond to them. This is a -- this war against al Qaeda requires actionable intelligence. That's why this FISA bill is important. And they still want to do us harm, Elaine, and they're still active. Yeah, we've hurt them bad in Iraq. We've hurt them bad elsewhere. If you're the number three person in al Qaeda, you've had some rough goes -- you've either been captured or killed. And we're keeping the pressure on them, all the time.


Note Mr. Bush saying "Al Qaeda is still dangerous. They're dangerous in Iraq, they're dangerous elsewhere," "this war against Al Qaeda requires actionable intelligence," and "we've hurt them bad in Iraq. we've hurt them bad elsewhere." He never stops conflating Al Qaeda with Al Qaeda in Iraq ("they're dangerous elsewhere," "actionable intelligence," "hurt them bad in Iraq (and) elsewhere"). Yet one more pathetic instance of this fellow trying to manipulate the media and the American people.