The Washington Post notes that President Bush seems to have mentioned a (seemingly) non-existant plan called "Desert Badger". It sounds like he’s confusing the name of Clinton’s 1998 Desert Fox bombing campaign against Iraq. My guess is that the President has been visiting a certain web site once too often…
UPDATE: My mistake – this was another Bushism, not a gaffe by Paul O’Neill… my ass has been fact-checked…
Jay,
“Badger Badger Badger”?
WTF?
Thanks, now I am not going to sleep tonight.
And now for those who can actually read, please tell me who is the fool: Bush and Jay or O’Neill !!!!!!!
(this copy-paste is directly from the wasingtonpost article without any change, you can check by yourself)
“President Bush told reporters that “we were dealing with Desert Badger or flyovers and fly-betweens and looks, and we were fashioning policy along those lines.”
Desert Badger? This led to some head scratching around town. A Nexis search reveals no public mention of a recent operation called Desert Badger, although there are references to the University of Wisconsin Badgers.
So it seemed we’re left with several alternatives:
1. Bush has revealed a heretofore undisclosed Pentagon name for some campaign in Iraq, maybe to enforce the “no-fly” zones or to suppress antiaircraft operations.
2. He’s thinking of the famous Project Badger, a biological warfare vaccine study.
3. He was recalling those Iraqi TU-16 “Badger” bombers.
4. He’s confusing his foxes and his badgers — Operation Desert Fox was the name for a four-day bombing campaign against Iraq in December 1998. ”
Maybe is badgerbadgerbadger.com a “movie” you watch really really really too often!!
It’s a joke… lighten up there! 🙂
what do you mean it’s a joke??you intentionally said O’Neill made a big mistake even though you knew Bush did???
Ah… I see what you’re getting at. It was Bush that said that, not Paul O’Neill. That is my mistake…
the badger part was fun, no problem with that!
thanks for correcting that!
Once again conservitism jumping the gun, if you look at CNN latley it mentions Operation Desert Badger as a “Top Secret” Operation launched shortly after President Bush was in office. So in fact it is the conservitives in there seeminly unendless “wisdom” who were wrong.
Greetings my children, yes- this is Jesus. To help clear up some recent incongruities, I feel that it may be appropriate to clarify myself.
President Bush is doing God’s work.
He is waging a religious crusade in my name against all of the cursed god-less heathens of the world. The American way of life, as God intended, should be peacefully spread throughout the world for all to enjoy. (If those less-evolved apes do not accept US ways, you have my permission to blow them all to hell.)
Let me speak frankly my children- I never enjoyed the Middle East. Being crucified was not half as bad as living in that piece of crap desert- where all people have to fight over is sand and rocks. In America, we are able to enjoy life the way it should be, with plasma screen TVs, garbage disposales, and the freedom to worship at any Catholic church you want.
George Bush is my friend. Even though I have not granted him permission to use My Name during fund raising events, it’s all cool by me.
Spread the word of God and peace in my name. Vote Bush in 04′ and welcome Me, the Lord Jesus, into every facet of American life.
Yours truly JC
http://badattitudes.com/MT/archives/001278.html
On Dana Priest’s chat 3/31/04 at WaPo — she’s looking for info on Desert Badger. She thinks it’s for real…
Natick, Mass.: In January, 2004, in responding to Paul O’Neill’s book, President Bush said “we were busy dealing with Desert Badger”. At the time, no one knew what he meant. It now seems that Desert Badger was a plan to escalate the no-fly zones into a full-on war on Iraq by provoking Saddam into shooting at our planes. What impact do you think this will have on the current discussion?
Dana Priest: I love this question. My answer is: It could potentially have an impact if I can find out much more about the operation. So — if there’s anyone out there who can help, call (202-334-4490) or write (priestd@washpost.com). Thanks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27716-2004Mar26.html