Bush defends His Administration And Decisions Made Post 911

Highlights

• George W. Bush delivers first major speech since leaving White House
  
• He says enhanced interrogations prevented attacks, saved lives, which they did
  
• Former president: "I made the decision, within the law, to get information"
  
• Bush also defends his TARP, says he won't criticize President Obama

Thursday President Bush gave his first major homeland speech since leaving the White House January 20th in deference to the Obama Socialist Party in front of a friendly Michigan group where he openly answered questions from the audience for over an hour unlike his presidency where the liberal media Jackals were only interested in tripping him up with "gotcha this" and "gotcha that" questions.

He spoke about the legal enhanced interrogations administered to the most dangerous members of Al Queda, whom the left has taken to protecting and defending to the delight of America's enemies, who have now fled their caves since Obama has signaled that the coast is clear for them to do so a number of times and ways since taking over.

Said "Former president: "I made the decision, within the law, to get information" which is what he was paid to do, and after 911 through Jan 20th nobody can say he could have done it better since his record at home was undefeated, and as we all know they only have to connect once while our good guys have to stop every curve and knuckleball the radical Muslim's threw his way, which he did with flying colors.

I wish there were some video of these exchanges, but of coarse there aren't as he's far too smart to give the Obama run media and their blogging armies a months worth of free ammo, so the only place I found thus far reporting this incredible was CNN, which I've posted a piece of below.

FOXNews.com: "Former President George W. Bush defended his decision on Thursday to allow harsh interrogations on the terror mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, saying he did what was necessary to prevent what his advisors believed was another imminent attack.

Describing the decision to use waterboarding on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed after his capture in March 2003, Bush said the idea was first cleared with his lawyers in order to 'take whatever steps that were necessary to protect' the American public.

'The first thing you do is ask, what's legal? What do the lawyers say is possible?' he said. 'I made the decision, within the law, to get information so I can say to myself, 'I've done what it takes to do my duty to protect the American people.' I can tell you that the information we got saved lives.'

In an apparent reference to former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has recently spoken out against the Obama administration's decision to end the use of harsh interrogations, Bush cautioned, 'Nothing I am saying is meant to criticize my successor. There are plenty of people who have weighed in. Trust me, having seen it firsthand. I didn't like it when a former president criticized me, so therefore I am not going to criticize my successor. I wish him all the best.'

The often-tearful meetings he had with relatives of fallen soldiers were 'in some ways... very hard and in some ways, it was very uplifting,' the Texas Republican said in a speech to The Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan at Lake Michigan College.

Bush, the nation's 43rd president, spoke to 2,500 people about 'the fog of war' that followed the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the economic downturn and his return to life as a regular citizen.

'It was a roller coaster of emotions, it really was,' Bush said of the terror attacks. 'I think about it now at times but I definitely thought about it every day as president.'

He talked about the economy, blaming 'a lack of responsible regulation' in the lending industry for the recession and said that the Federal National Mortgage Association, known as Fannie Mae, and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., or Freddie Mac, shouldn't have engaged in certain financial practices.

'I don't want to sound like a self-serving guy, but we did try to rein them in,' Bush said.

He also said he believes he was right to depose Iraq president Saddam Hussein and that it may lead to the spread of democracy throughout the Middle East.

The audience, which gave Bush a warm welcome at his arrival, cheered when he said he wanted to be remembered as a president who 'showed up in office with a set of principles and he was unwilling to sacrifice his soul for the sake of popularity.'

Mark Brewer, chairman of the state Democratic Party, disagreed.

'I think it takes a lot of gall for him to come into Michigan without acknowledging the damage that his policies have done to the state,' Brewer said. He did not offer any specifics.

About eight people protested Bush's appearance outside the venue, carrying signs that called him a murderer and a traitor. The speech Thursday was one of the first made by the former president since leaving office in January.

The Associated Press contributed to this report."

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