Unhappy Fourth

Four years after Bush said "bring them on," the "enemy" is still doing just that.

Published July 2, 2007 6:44PM (EDT)

Four years ago today, George W. Bush was asked about the then-increasing rate of U.S. casualties in Iraq. His response: "There are some who feel like that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is bring them on. We got the force necessary to deal with the security situation."

Not that we're counting or anything, but approximately 3,360 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since then.

Last May, Bush said that he regretted using "bring it on" and that "kind of tough talk" because it "sent the wrong signal to people."

This January, when Bush ordered thousands of additional troops to Iraq, he acknowledged -- at least implicitly -- that he was wrong about having the "force necessary to deal with the security situation," too.


By Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.

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