Bush warns of World War III?

Posted: Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:13 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: White House

In his new conference yesterday, the Washington Post writes, “Bush forecast doomsday if Tehran builds nuclear weapons. ‘We got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel,’ he said. ‘So I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from [having] the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.’”

The New York Daily News on Bush’s WWIII comment: “White House sources confirmed it was the first time Bush has floated that apocalyptic scenario for the Islamic republic. His language seemed even starker as he admitted relations with Russia have grown frostier. Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iranian leaders in Tehran Wednesday. The tougher talk seems to move Bush rhetorically closer to Vice President Cheney in an intensifying internal White House debate over the gravity of the threat posed by Iran.

Does anyone think this makes Iraq potentially more chaotic? The New York Times: “Turkey’s Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to authorize sending troops into northern Iraq to confront Kurdish rebels in hide-outs there, sending an angry message to the Baghdad government and its Washington sponsor. But Turkey, a member of NATO, made it clear that it would not immediately carry out the resolution.”

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Comments

Lets see world war 111 is coming, we see it coming, vote for us. Bush has worn out his fear agenda, there are no more scary 'what ifs' beyond word war three, Oh yes the apocolypse is are next fear message to get from these readers of the future. Saddam is coming, oh yeah he's dead, Puttie is my buddy, oh yeah he is a real democratic leader, Crawford is the real white house, oh yeah it's just a farm. The four horsemen are coming, oh yeah that's the rebumplikan ticket.

John S. Alexander, Edinboro, PA (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:31 AM)

Bush is like Madonna with clothes. He only keeps our attention if he becomes more and more outrageous. The GOP authoritarian strategy is only effective as long as we are all terrified. As the fear wears off for a variety of reasons we get less and less pliable to his agenda. So now he needs to ratchet up the rhetoric to ridiculous levels in a desperate attempt to keep us in line.

John B, Des Moines, IA (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:31 AM)

More scare tactics from the head beak flapping warmongering chicken hawk. He will start another war(ww 3) and blame everyone else(just like hitler and all other dictators) but don't worry because none of bush or repubs families will suffer(yours will of course) AND BUSH AND REPUBS WON'T SUFFER FINANCIALLY(YOURS WILL OF COURSE), no bush and repubs will make MILLIONS while everyday Americans suffer.

mikeeg,abdn,wa (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:35 AM)

Oh please!
The only person who could spark WWIII is George DUMBYA' Bush himself.
He sure as hell has tried hard to do it too.
Bush has had 7 years to deal with Iran, and he hasn't done a damn thing. All he's done is get us so firmly entrenched in an Islamic Civil War in Iraq that we can't get out of it.
I'm sick of listening to this idiot try to talk the Iranians into attacking some U.S. interest somewhere, or perhaps talking them into attacking one of our allies.
Iran is certainly not our ally, and they did hold our people hostage 28 years ago.
But they aren't exactly a declared enemy either. If Bush is afraid that WWIII is going to break out he should confront the Iranians diplomatically, rather than ratcheting up the rhetoric in order that his succesor is left with a situation that cannot be avoided.

J. Merle Stanley, Westchester, NY (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:45 AM)

Is anyone surprised by this? We have an apocalyptic Christian megalomaniac whose legacy is in already in ashes with nothing left to lose controlling the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet. Remember a few weeks ago when six warheads "accidentally" went missing, only to be found at the Middle East staging base? I suggest we should be very afraid.

La Chatte (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:46 AM)

Hey Bush, Iran's President said he wanted to destroy Israel's *government*, just like we destroyed Iraq's government, and are now threatening to do so to Iran.

No one with a shred of intelligence thinks that Iran wants to nuke Israel; the mullahs in that country are the most greedy, money-hoarding, self-preservationists you can imagine, and will never launch a nuclear strike against anyone and risk their own cushy lives. The only threat in Iran getting nukes in about eight years is that, were the government to collapse under an internal democratic revolt, would the brief period of chaos allow nuclear weapons to fall into the hands of a suicidal radicals from a terrorist organization.

Bush's talk is just the neocon Republicans trying to get us in another MidEast war that will decimate our military, bankrupt our treasury, and increase the amount of anti-American sentiment and terrorist recruitment worldwide.

Shadow, Hamden, CT (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:49 AM)

Has anyone noticed that the first two letter of bushs last name are the same as BULL and the last two letters are the first two letters of the word SH*T.
This is what he spews everyday as truth. I wish he would come here, I need more fertilizer for my fields. Grass dosn't grow without organic material to refresh it, same in politics. I am soooo afraid of the mighty Iran who could not even defeat the Iraqi army for eight years. Well there is no other way to get us to forget the mistakes in Iraq. Iran is in the position it is in BECASUE of the Bush world view. We can only pat ourselves on the back for what is now happening today. The Iranian people are very angry with their president, and Bush will bring them together when he attacks them. Another bit of great neo-con claptrap that will do the reverse of what they promise.

John S. Alexander, Edinboro, PA (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:49 AM)

It's our president's ill-advised foreign policy that could lead to WWIII, not Iran's possession of nuclear weapons. If Iran ever achieves that goal, they will probably have no more than a few hours to celebrate before Israel takes out their program, if they even wait that long. Let's let Israel handle this, freeing our government to convince us that Turkey's pending incursion into Northern Iraq is a direct result of a congressional resolution against century-old genocide. Let's also pray we make it to the election!

Peet Caloger Bushkill, PA 18324 (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:50 AM)

Shrub just won't be happy until he has the world embrioled in a world war will he? Too bad his little brats and the brats of every other cheerleading chickenhawk can't be forced to go die for their fathers causes...its just sad the chickenhawks can start and profit from wars but not serve...sad

Rick, WS, NC (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:57 AM)

WWIII?!?!?! Oh MY!!! I'm filled with FEAR. Please W, mount up, ride in with the cavalry & save us once again. We know we can trust YOU.

PJ (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:59 AM)

The dunce in cheif really is nuttier than hell.

Terry, Disabled Vet, Des Moines, IA (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:01 AM)

BUsh does not seem to understand the word "diplomacy" and seems to be doing his best to foment trouble in the Middle East. And Putin was his best buddy just a year or so ago - what happened? Could it be that Putin is trying to do what is best for his country and that does not sit well with Bush and Cheney?

As far as Turkey is concerned, they have suffered attacks from within Iraq coming across their border. Wouldn't you fight back? After all, the U.S. invaded Iraq and is occupying that country when it has been proven that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and had not capability of WMDs or nuclear weapons, but is suffering an invasion of millions of illegal alliens and our government does little or nothing to stop this invasion. Where is the common sense?

So Bush is rattling sabers agains - wonder what he will use for troops and equipment? Or will the American people be able to stop this "war president"?

Utahreb, Veyo, UT (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:07 AM)

Bush is seriously disturbed. Instead of going after the al-Qaeda leadership, he lost focus in Afganistan and invaded Iraq under false pretenses. Now Dubya wants to fight Iran and gives long-standing allies (Turkey) and former adversaries (Russia) reasons to re-evaluate their relationships with us.

The gravity of any threat posed by Iran is nearly zero within the next 15 months. Dubya should leave that issue to his successor.

Face it Dubya, history will place you somewhere below than Jimmy Carter in presidential stature. Live with it!

Gary, Franklin, WI (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:10 AM)

Bush scares the %#@! out of me.

Putin also scares the !#@$ out of me.

A nuclear Iran also scares the @#$& out of me.

Not to mention, a nuclear trigger-happy U.S. scares the !@$% out of me.

Bush must realize that this kind of rhetoric certainly ratches up the notch in a direction all of the non-neocons want to go. Additionally, President, it's pronounced nu-clear not nu-cu-ler.

Nicholas, Minneaps, MN (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:13 AM)

As someone who was born just before WWII,I lived the first eight years under Hitlers rule,I can see that Iran is headed in the same direction and Bush seems to be the only one with the guts to say it like he sees it. I agree with him. Unless the world powers get together to stop Iran, we will all suffer the consequences.

H W Engbers (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:18 AM)

I pray God to give sense to Mr. Bush. What a horrible thought!

Larry, Toronto (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:21 AM)

Somebody has to let Putin know that He is not running the world.
This is only rhetoric at this point, but Putin has been out of control lately, and will only get worse is some one doesn't let him know.
The reality is Putin is starting a new cold war to make him King of Russia and revert back to Socialism. He is just another dictator in waiting.

Looks like the waiting is over.

Gregg Martin (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:32 AM)

Just what we need--President Bush moving closer to Vice-President Cheney's thinking. That's what got us into the mess in Iraq. They seem to think that the only way to deal with difficult situations is with force. I personally think that every possible diplomatic effort should be made to persuade Iran to curtail its nuclear experimentation, before use of force is even thought about. Some of the Iranian President's talk might be pure bravado aimed at impressing his constituency in Iran. Saddam Hussein and the missles of mass destruction come to mind!

The deterioration of the relationship between the US and Russia can be laid directly at the feet of Bush/Cheney so it would behove them to make every effort to repair that damage while they are still in office. I don't think talking about WW III is helpful in that regard. If he would spend as much time in diplomatic discussions as he does trying to talk tough, we might see some progress in Iraq and Iran. President Putin is no dummy; that's why he is in Iran right now. No, I don't believe in "caving in" to Iran but I don't believe in being trigger happy either.

With respect to Turkey, the genocide resolution hasn't helped our case with them, so they aren't in the mood to listen to use right now, are they?

Sometimes politics as usual is down right discouraging.

Dot, Illinois (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:33 AM)

World War III is over. It was also called the Cold War. It ended with the fall of the Soviet Union. We won. If we have another one, it wuold have to be called World War IV.

Rob, San Antonio, Texas (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:40 AM)

Bush is a dangerous lunatic. Folks should be questioning his mental state - I think he's truly flipped out.

Brian, Cedar Hill, TX (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:44 AM)

The meglomaniac Shrub needs to be committed involuntarily to a psychward and given massive dose of Thorazine. The man will not rest until he starts a global war and than say...."Do not worry folks I am the decider.....go shopping" GOD HELP US FROM THIS LUNATIC!

juan,ft lauderdale, (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:45 AM)

Someone pointed out the other day that before the dunce in chief screwed us in the middle east, oil prices were relatively low but look at oil prices now. If you were an oil man how would you go about making more money? Screw up the middle east that's how. Thanks to the dunce in chief

Terry, Disabled Vet, Des Moines, IA (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:50 AM)

God!!!how did this imbecile get to be President? every day he comes up with something that is unbelieveable. We are not winning in Iraq, now he wants a war with Iran. Someone get hold of Cheney's leash George is on the prowl. Who tells him to say things like this could be WW 111, another mission accomplished. Iraq, Afganistan, Iran, he is out of control our military is tapped out and he keeps on smirking. Fifteen more months of torture God Bless America and save us from King George.

Ivory Dayton, OH (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:51 AM)

Four years down the road.......

Iran has nuclear weapons and announces they will launch a attack on Israel.......

Hillary Clinton is the president......

What will she do?......

Very scary indeed.....

jerry/corpus christi texas (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:51 AM)

Geezzzz Is he still drunk??? Time for the US Marshals to go in and remove that imbecile before he hurts himself!

H P Boston (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:52 AM)

Why does everyday of my life feel like a constant replay of "Dr. Strangelove?"

Josh, Columbus, Ohio (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:52 AM)

H W Engbers--well said and true. The folks on this blog would rather hurl personal attacks at the President than remove their heads from the sand and think for a change.

Bunny, Winston-Salem, NC (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:52 AM)

Jerry - Iran will never threaten to nuke Israel, didn't you read a word I said?

Shadow, Hamden, CT (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:56 AM)

Jerry

I don't think that's a probable scenario. I would think Israeli intelligence would have picked up that info and would have dealt with the Iranian Nuclear threat in their own inimitable way before that could happen.

Dot, Illinis (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:00 AM)

WWIII (or IV)--the Nucular Boogie Man. What are bush and them now planning to do to the Constitution to "keep us safe" ?

Dulce bellum inexpertis--Sweet is war to those who never experience it (Erasmus)

Scott in South Texas (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:00 AM)

anyone read Huffington today? check out that post; and from that I quote "is it any wonder why we occasionally succumb to outrage fatique?" ..

stix66 - illinois (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:02 AM)

Why are we just talking?? Why aren't we impeaching the little boy in the Oval Office?!?!

Janie Lindberg, Plymouth, Michigan (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:04 AM)

Yes, how could letting a fanatical Muslim country obtain nuclear weapons ever end up with a whole in the ground were Israel once was or a weapon being smuggled into this country by one of their terrorist allies. Certainly it's nonsense to think such a thing could happen, or a failure to hold Iran and its Russian and Chinese allies accountable for bringing about such a possibility. Yes President Bush is a real Cowboy for alluding to such a possibility. After all the peace movement, or doing nothing, certainly will see us through to a safe Liberal utopia.

NotALemming (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:04 AM)

Right wingnuts - has that sawed-off little pile of steaming insanity convinced you, yet? (Not jerry - WWIII seems better than socialized medicine.)

To any of you BushCo sycophants that still support this psychotic little drunk - it's on YOU.

Lee in CA (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:06 AM)

Why is it that the only readers who post messages are BUSH haters? I for one am glad that BUSH is the commander in chief. He has stood fast with his committment to protect the USA and you people are so inflamed with BUSH hate that you can't see the good things that he has accomplished.
TALK TO IRAN? yes, SEVERAL diplomats have tried that over the years and did anything get accomplished? NO
There is no negotiating with a maniac unless you give him EVERYTHING he wants (Like CLINTON did with North Korea, and look what happened there).
RUSSIA? sure, one day they are our friends and the next day PUTIN changes his mind depending on who is pressuring him that day.
BUSH doesn't take crap from these lunatic world leaders and I respect him for that and I stand by his decisions. Sure he has made some mistakes but overall he is a good President. The economy is BOOMING (no matter what the main stream media says) Look at the economic indicators! and we are at full employment.
I stand by BUSH!!! The Democrats would give away the entire country to appease every World Leader that had a problem with our policies. and THAT is DANGEROUS!!!

Warren Davis, Smithtown, NY (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:07 AM)

Congradulations, our Washington self serving paper hangers have the who;e world pissed at us.
our fear is not of war, our fear is those we sent to Washington.

FACT / AZ (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:07 AM)

All you people in here, I assume your all Americans, seem to have a problem with facing a reality that is staring you in the face. Iran is a major problem, maybe you want to turn your back and it will all go away. I have news for you, it wont until America is destroyed. You keep on being pacifist and see how it is going to end up. The world is different now, the same leaders of old are gone and a new generation is here. The tactics and rhetoric or WWII and Vietnam is old and played out, in this day and age, people only understand brute force. Im not a Bush lover but I think he is the only one that has the guts to say "what is really going on" because he is not running for anything. You can say what you want about the man but I think he is the one that will face this head-on. I have listened to all sides of the issue unbiased and came to my conclusion. Some of you had better wake the F*&^ up.

Dem leaning Rep, Ohio (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:07 AM)

To: Rob, San Antonio, Texas

I agree that the cold war was World War III. However, since we are in a global "war on terror" with al-Qaeda, that is World War IV. Bush/Cheney, not happy enough with the war they are already engaged in, now want to start World War V.

Dubya and Darth are beginning to lose count . . . and mental health! No wait, they both have been crazy for seven years.

Gary, Franklin, WI (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:17 AM)

"Im not a Bush lover but I think he is the only one that has the guts to say "what is really going on" because he is not running for anything."

Or maybe it's what his corporate masters TELL him to say! He DOESN'T KNOW 'what really going on," because he DOESN'T care.

"You can say what you want about the man"

Thank you - he's a stupid punk!

"but I think he is the one that will face this head-on. "

So? YOU think?

"I have listened to all sides of the issue unbiased and came to my conclusion."

Try thinking about what you're hearing, next time.

"Some of you had better wake the F*&^ up. "

That's my advice to you, Brown Shirt: Wake the F*&^, you little nazi.

Born Again Repukagain (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:18 AM)

Bush knows that his legacy will go down in WORLD history as the worst president of the U.S. - and now he wants to destroy everything he hasn't already destroyed. Somebody get this lunatic away from the "button".

Brian, Cedar Hill, TX (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:19 AM)

NotALemming

You make a good point about failing to hold Iran and its Russian and Chinese allies accountable, but
if we don't try diplomatic negotiations with these countries, do we go in and just bomb them all into oblivion? If we get them they will probably get us--so who will be left?

Dot, Illinis (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:22 AM)

I always called Angela Lansbury's "Murder, She Wrote"..."Murder, She Hopes". Dubya seems to have a "War, He Hopes" mentality. Or maybe it's a "War, If It's Up To Me'. We all know why. Like the Firesign Theater once said about the positive side of war, "Where there's smoke, there's work." That could be Dubya's Corporate Puppeteers' Motto, also. AH, the GOP. They always need an Enemy.

Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:27 AM)

In Valerie Plame's new book it is clear that the main stream media has become part of the problem rather than an antidote to government abuses, smears and dirty tricks. I have to share her opinion of the Washington Post. Being a long time subscriber I have noticed a decided change in the last 10 years. Its editorial pages have gone way over on the side of being cheerleaders for the right and its ombudsmen have been running jokes when it comes to correcting erroneous reports. Unfortunately the only alternative is the Moonie paper.

“It was the Pentagon Papers or Watergate turned on its head,” she writes, adding, “These reporters were allowing themselves to be exploited by the administration and were obstructing the investigation.”

After reading a Washington Post editorial criticizing her husband, Plame writes that she “suddenly understood what it must have felt like to live in the Soviet Union and have only the state propaganda entity, Pravda, as the source of news about the world.”

nuanced (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:32 AM)

Aggressive negotiations with the Iranians needs to be had by the Bush administration. If that fails and the Iranians won't de-nuclearize, a pre-emptive force is necessary, and I hope the democrats understand that. Iran has proven untrustworthy and Russia hasn't been much better. At least our enemies have figured out how to get us to talk with them: develop nuclear weapons!

--NSMSNBC (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:32 AM)

H W Engbers and Bunny, I disagree. Ahmadinejad is purely a public face and doesn't even control Iraq's military, he's wildly unpopular within his own country, and he lives in a third-world backwater with virtually no military, economic, or other power beyond sitting on an admittedly substantial amount of oil. Hitler was mysteriously charismatic, wildly popular, in total and absolute control of all things German, with control of one of the world's largest military organizations. He had the single best air force, one of the world's largest and best equipped armies, and a navy that was to be feared. Germany was one of the world's most powerful economies and its location astride Europe made it immensely threatening. The Fascist Nazi government was up to their ears in support of the industrialists and thus had their full cooperation. Iran doesn't even have enough refining capacity to supply gasoline for its own people. Finally, the quote "Isreal must be wiped of the map" is a mistranslation which has been repeatedly clarified by Iran and Ahmadenijad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Israel . Iran even provided the US with intelligence used in the invasion of Afghanistan and proposed talks aiming toward normalization of relations as recently as 2003. Talk of war with Iran is pure warmongering on the part of the Bush administration and their lackeys in the pundit class and talk radio world.

John B, Des Moines, IA (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:34 AM)

It seems obvious to me now, more than ever, that confronting Iran has been W's main goal from the very onset of our so-called 'war on terror'. Can it be considered coincidence that our troops now occupy lands that border both sides of Iran? Wake up and smell the poppy's!

jsc, Chatsworth, CA (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:35 AM)

Dem leaning Rep, Ohio, do this little experiment. Take what you wrote and substitute Iraq for Iran, now rewind 4 years, re-read it and look up the adage about fool me once, fool me twice.

nuanced (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:36 AM)

back in the ussr

boys (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:39 AM)

Of course Liberals have a hard time facing reality..
Thanks to Bill Clinton, reality became real September 11 2001, thanks to him.......

jerry/corpus christi texas (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:47 AM)

You know, some of what I read here seems so unbelievable. First of all to Mr. Engbers and his sympathizers, Iran does not have near the industrial capacity Nazi Germany had and they are not likely to ever have the natural resources it takes to lead the world into war. Neither the mullahs nor the Iranian President have the will of the people on their side. Iran may be dangerous but they would become ten times more dangerous if we attacked them and galvanized their public to support the their government. Hitler used attacks against virtually defenseless nations to instill pride in the German people so they were willing to follow him into Hell in order to spread his brand of ideology. The only thing preventing Bush and Cheney from doing the same is our Constitution.

As far as those who feel the Democrats would give in to anyone to keep peace, hell, there is not much left to give away. This Administration has supported outsourcing of American jobs to other countries, depleted our treasury to enrich their political supporters and like-thinking ideologues, attempted to gut our Constitutional freedoms to keep us permanantly at war and, according to stats just released yesterday, the rich are truly getting richer, the poor poorer and the middle-class biting the bullet. This Administration has sold us down the river to anyone who will pay for what we have to offer. Anything that can turn a profit is up for sale; including our reputation as a beacon for freedom in a world oppressed by those who would enrich themselves while others starve. Give into our enemies? Nope, our real enemies are already on the verge of owning us and they are doing a real good job of creating a mountain threat out of a molehill in order to keep us in line so they sell out from underneath of us anything they haven't already taken.

Robert Catalano, Salem, OR (Sent Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:49 AM)

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