Bush Says Free World Not Intimidated by Beheadings
Tue Jun 22, 2:50 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) on Tuesday urged South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun not to be intimidated by Iraqi militants who beheaded a South Korean hostage.
"I haven't had a chance to speak to President Roh yet, but I would hope that President Roh would understand that the free world cannot be intimidated by the brutal action of these barbaric people," Bush told reporters after the 33-year-old Kim Sun-il's body was found.
The group, which kidnapped Kim on June 17, had demanded Seoul withdraw some 670 military medics and engineers from Iraq (news - web sites) and drop plans to send 3,000 more troops. South Korea (news - web sites) had rejected the demand, noting the troops were to help rebuild Iraq and not for offensive operations.
"See, what they are trying to do is they are trying to shake our will and our confidence. They are trying to get us to withdraw from the world so that they can impose their dark vision on people," Bush said.
"In order to impose their vision, they want us to leave. They want us to cower in the face of their brutal killings, and the United States will not be intimidated by these people, because we believe strongly in freedom and liberty and human rights and human dignity. ... And I believe President Roh understands that," Bush added.
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Reply 1 - Posted by: hummingbird, 6/22/2004 3:58:46 PM
Enraged, sickened, saddened, but not intimidated.
Reply 2 - Posted by: valleystorm, 6/22/2004 4:03:01 PM
What we care about is catching the creeps who are killing Americans and our coalition partners....not HOW they are killed. What stupidity!
By attempting blackmail, and killing the prisoners, the terrorists convince us the more that we have to utterly wipe out this Muslim terrorist plague on the earth.
Reply 3 - Posted by: reddog, 6/22/2004 4:05:38 PM
Losing our patience but not intimidated. You whackos in Iraq and elsewhere in Wahabi land still haven't seen us when we're p'd. You still could.
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Reply 4 - Posted by: Aria, 6/22/2004 4:06:52 PM
Well...he's got to say this but I don't really think its true. If I had family there I wouldn't be sleeping....
Reply 5 - Posted by: chocoholic, 6/22/2004 4:18:03 PM
Perhaps the interim Iraqi government (after 30 June) will begin using the kind of treatment necessary to put fear in the hearts of these savages. Cruxifiction of captured terrorists might be a good start.
Reply 6 - Posted by: Harmony1, 6/22/2004 4:22:08 PM
Perhaps it's time for some General Jack Pershing methods.....
Reply 7 - Posted by: veryrightofcenter, 6/22/2004 4:23:48 PM
If we aren't intimidated, I'd like to see something going on over there in explicit retaliation for these recent beheadings.
Reply 8 - Posted by: Coral Pink, 6/22/2004 4:25:38 PM
We may not be intimidated but they certainly do get our attention.
Time for us to get their attention.
Reply 9 - Posted by: avikingman, 6/22/2004 4:30:35 PM
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dubya I love ya, but need some retribution, now! I'm way beyond the ''bring the terrorists to justice'' stuff.
Reply 10 - Posted by: Bigdog61, 6/22/2004 4:36:42 PM
You fellers need to relax and see what those large explosions up above are all about.
Reply 11 - Posted by: worldly_one, 6/22/2004 4:36:52 PM
should have taken down Fallujah when we could; no al-Zarqawi, no beheadings
Reply 12 - Posted by: intrepid, 6/22/2004 4:39:45 PM
It's time to act Mr. President. I believe your re-election is at stake.
Reply 13 - Posted by: Remington, 6/22/2004 4:46:54 PM
Additional piece of information - the body was rigged with a booby-trap explosive device. Fortunately, it was disarmed.
These people are not nice.
Reply 14 - Posted by: jacooley, 6/22/2004 4:53:19 PM
During WWII the film director Frank Capra worked on a series of films on "why we fight."
I really don't think enough people "get it" regarding the absolute barbarity we face here.
Reply 15 - Posted by: NorthernDog, 6/22/2004 5:05:15 PM
Dubya is wrong on this one. Most of the world is eager to appease the terrorists or blame "poverty" for their actions. It wasn't until half of Europe was in flames that anyone moved to stop Hitler, and people have not changed. They may even be more naive than ever.
Reply 16 - Posted by: worldly_one, 6/22/2004 5:12:12 PM
Bush and co. have lost their nerve in the past few months, especially in Fallujah. We are paying for it now.
Reply 17 - Posted by: lambdaman, 6/22/2004 5:15:08 PM
STILL waiting for the universal condemnation of this sort of brutality from EVERY MOSQUE in America that Steve Dunleavy called for this weekend. All I hear is silence. Is that because they're not saying anything or because the LSM isn't reporting what they're saying? I'm guessing it's the former. If not please correct me. I wouldn't want to start having non-PC feelings about every Muslim I meet for no reason.
Reply 18 - Posted by: ca4penn, 6/22/2004 5:21:53 PM
Don't worry. South Korea is still going to send their military. Most posters don't know about the South Korean military. They don't know the meaning of the word "human rights". These guys define the word brutal. They beat-the-hell out of one another every chance they get.
It's one thing for the US Marines to be told to "take it easy on those 'peace loving' muslims". However, the Koreans are coming over and they have a blood score to settle.
Make your peace with Allah now, Islamic scum. I'll bet the South Korean commander will demand a few heads of moose-limbs before the soldiers are allowed to eat their first dinner.
Reply 19 - Posted by: Dolley Madison, 6/22/2004 5:32:35 PM
We had some construction workers in our home today, and they said that the talk on the street is that, if these beheadings continue, the people are going to rise up and demand that we round up these... muslims, and put them into holding areas. To keep them safe.
Some man was just on Fox saying that these animals have been beheading for a thousand years (which supports what I found when I researched this on the internet), but that now they are doing it on television, in front of millions of viewers, and they are gaining respect from their people.
This was a Christian Korean, that hoped to be a missionary one day, that was beheaded by these godless animals; I pray that the Koreans are infuriated, and will be going after them. BIGtime!
Reply 20 - Posted by: ohreally, 6/22/2004 5:41:20 PM
W should be more outraged than he appears to be. Throw down the gauntlet, Mr. Pres. and DO something about this. A good start would be to seriously TIGHTEN the borders here at home AND get the non-citizen muslims in the U.S. OUT OF HERE.
Reply 21 - Posted by: Tom Kilbride, 6/22/2004 5:48:45 PM
How about we tell them, ''Knock off the beheadings or we drop H-Bombs on Mecca, one for each murder''?
Reply 22 - Posted by: booshkindoggin, 6/22/2004 5:49:39 PM
You can say we're not doing enough, but the public is only seeing the tip of the war-on-terror iceberg. A close acquaintance in the NSA refuses to discuss any of the anti-terrorist projects on which he's working - which puts 100% of his responsibilities off limits.
Reply 23 - Posted by: lambdaman, 6/22/2004 6:02:25 PM
Sadly #19 it appears that the Korean college brats have decided that this too is W's fault. If they weren't involved nothing bad would happen to them - very Spanish thinking that.
I agree with #20. The visas of all persons from Muslim/Arab countries should be canceled immediately. Get them out of here.
Reply 24 - Posted by: uno, 6/22/2004 6:13:48 PM
Noooo, #21, things aren't quite that simplistic, but I do think we are close to saying "you guys keep destroying the things we hold valuable, and we are going to start destroying the things you hold valuable"
Read what you will into that, but it doesn't require a nuclear solution.
Reply 25 - Posted by: Fledrmaus, 6/22/2004 6:36:29 PM
Maybe Bush sounded a little more impressive in person; this speech reads very tepidly. Reminds me of the old Far Side cartoon (adapted):
What President Bush says: "See, what they are trying to do is they are trying to shake our will and our confidence. They are trying to get us to withdraw from the world so that they can impose their dark vision on people...In order to impose their vision, they want us to leave. They want us to cower in the face of their brutal killings, and the United States will not be intimidated by these people..."
What Muslims hear: "Blah, blah, blah, blah, SHAKE, blah, blah, blah, WITHDRAW, blah, blah, blah, LEAVE, blah, blah, blah, COWER, blah, blah, INTIMIDATED..."
Reply 26 - Posted by: auntdot, 6/22/2004 6:56:46 PM
Many wonderful things are happening in Iraq.
Buildings are being constructed, roads repaired, schools re-built, and electricity is being supplied.
BUT
None of this matters if we do not win!
Unfortunately, we did not do well militarily in Fallujah.
We need to let our military act decisively. We need to seal the Iraqi borders to prevent terrorists from flooding in.
A PC-based military approach is doomed to failure.
Reply 27 - Posted by: lazytart, 6/22/2004 7:01:37 PM
I'm supposed to go to London with my parents the week of the election here. I'm beginning to wonder if that's a good idea.
Can't remember a time like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by: shadeau, 6/22/2004 7:11:42 PM
We should remember not to demand that the prisoners stand for anymore than 4 hours at a time, no poking in the chest, no harsh words so they think they may die..........in other words, Let em just kill us all.
Reply 29 - Posted by: Sazedog, 6/22/2004 7:11:47 PM
Killing muzlims in retaliation would make no impression on the muzzies because, like animals, they do not value life, even their own.
Since all muzlims look alike it's possible we will never find the real killers. Therefore we should just grab a few at random each day and force them to strip off their nightgowns in front of a bunch of giggling girls while eating a BLT.
Or maybe we should do to Iraq what we did to Japan in WWII, zap em' from the air.
If memory serves me right, not a single American serviceman ever set foot on Japan until after the Japs surrendered. If airpower was good enough in the Forties to defeat a strong industrial nation who waged total war for seven years, Iraq wouldn't last ten minutes against today's airpower.
Reply 30 - Posted by: kelcom, 6/22/2004 7:12:23 PM
I'm more intimidated by Mikey Moores lack of personal hygiene.
Reply 31 - Posted by: 49 Ford, 6/22/2004 7:19:51 PM
And in the face of this unspeakable barbarism, which clearly shows the enemy for who he is, we have Senate Democraps bleating for an "exit strategy".
We surely are doomed if the voters decide to entrust our security to that sorry bunch. Dubya should use this horrible incident to turn up the rhetorical heat on that party of appeasers and traitors.
Reply 32 - Posted by: usmcsarge, 6/22/2004 7:24:45 PM
The monsters march on (Debka reports 14 beheadings and throat slittings in Iraq and Suadi Arabia in the past 20 days), yet NPR is still enraged and obssessed about panties and pyramids. Every day, like a drum beat for 7 1/2 weeks. They drone on and I'm sick of it all.
We are awash in traitors and terrorists cells (Hey MOTP, tell us about the hellish John Ashcroft and the Third Reich Patriot Act). These stories get 1-2 days coverage. Yet the panties march on....
Old marine Sarge
Reply 33 - Posted by: killerbee, 6/22/2004 7:30:55 PM
The military did not do badly in Fallujah. We are attempting to turn things over to the Iraqis and it wouldn't be a good thing to level the place with so many civilians. I get so tired of people criticizing Bush because he's not bloodthirsty enough.
Read the Belmont Club.
We were also told numberous times that things would get seriously ugly in the weeks leading up to June 30th and probably for a month or so afterward.
All this demand for nukes and wiping people out is not a good plan for the future of the world, much less the US. W told us it was a different kind of war. Why doesn't anyone ever listen to him?
Reply 34 - Posted by: mrduc, 6/22/2004 7:43:04 PM
I can't help but think the terrorists are slitting their own throats on the international stage by broadcasting all their barbaric beheadings on TV for the world to see.
I pray it's not wishful thinking.
Reply 35 - Posted by: paragon, 6/22/2004 7:51:01 PM
It's not wishful thinking.
Reply 36 - Posted by: kelcom, 6/22/2004 8:09:52 PM
Bravo #33.
And a big thank you to Mrs. Goldberg and company for posting Today's Chilling Blogtruth courtesy of The Belmont Club as a must read.
An excellent, insightful read.
Brilliant analysis of evil's ever changing but always constant presence and an even better liberal obituary.
Reply 37 - Posted by: worldly_one, 6/22/2004 8:21:06 PM
someone tell me again why it was a good idea to let Zarqawi stay entrenched in Fallujah. They've only become serously emboldened since we stood down the marines from taking the town. Reports now are that neither marines nor Iraqi security are patrolling the town ... it's back/still in the hands of the thugs who killed and mutilated Americans in the first place.
Reply 38 - Posted by: StarFire, 6/22/2004 8:37:29 PM
The countries that are with us in the battle against terrorism need to learn to play poker. Up the stakes when they overplay a hand!
When the terrorists say, 'Don't send the 3,000 troops you've promised or we will kill this civilian.' the response should be, 'If you kill the civilian we will send 4,000!'
Reply 39 - Posted by: Midwest Mom, 6/22/2004 9:21:18 PM
Re. Belmont Club, this is a site I bookmarked and read daily...
Reply 40 - Posted by: Forehand, 6/22/2004 11:10:21 PM
Agree with above posters re: The Belmont Club. Great insights there.
Reply 41 - Posted by: Dixie, 6/23/2004 12:19:34 AM
The Free World may not be intimidated by the latest beheading, but what about South Korea?
Reply 42 - Posted by: ivehadit, 6/23/2004 12:30:38 AM
All you W naysayers, mark my words:
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE GEORGE W. BUSH.
He has been and will continue to take it to our enemies REGARDLESS WHAT THE POLLS SAY.
As he likes to say: BRING IT ON, TERRORISTS.
Reply 43 - Posted by: hereIstand, 6/23/2004 1:27:16 AM
Ditto on The Belmont Club. The blog for today about the revolution within the revolution is brilliant.
Bookmarked it for daily updates, just like beloved Lucianne.
Reply 44 - Posted by: lagunatic, 6/23/2004 2:45:00 AM
MOAB for lunch, anyone?????
Reply 45 - Posted by: barney_bush, 6/23/2004 3:29:04 AM
Is Karl Rove on vacation?