Quotes of the Morning: Trust

"I think the American people—I hope the American–I don't think, let me—I hope the American people trust me.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, December 18, 2002

“Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, May 1, 2003

“There will soon be more American soldiers in Iraq than at any point in the war so far. The incoming surge of 21,500 troops is only part of that picture; in addition, the U.S. commander, Gen. David Petraeus, has asked for an additional Army aviation brigade, as well as a couple thousand military police. Other support troops will be coming in to Iraq as well, and they weren't all included in the original 21,500 estimate announced by President Bush last month. When all this is complete, sometime in July, the grand total of U.S. troops in Iraq will be 173,000, U.S. military officials here confirmed on background, apparently because of the sensitivity of these details. And it's likely that U.S. troop numbers will stay at that level for months more, perhaps even into 2008. That's only part of the picture, however; the total number of U.S. troops deployed into the war theater, that is, Iraq and neighboring countries, may be as much as 100,000 more than that. Last August, for instance, the Congressional Research Service, quoting the Department of Defense's Contingency Tracking System, put the total deployment at 260,000, while the number actually in Iraq was at 140,000 to 160,000. (Other estimates by government-oversight bodies have put the total deployed in the theater at 202,000 to 207,000.)”
-Newsweek, March 22, 2007

“I'm going to listen to the generals who say, Mr. President, we've got -- we need more, we need less, we've got exactly the right number. They will tell me the number.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, November 21, 2003

“Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz criticized the Army's chief of staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki, after Shinseki told Congress in February that the occupation could require ‘several hundred thousand troops.’ Wolfowitz called Shinseki's estimate ‘wildly off the mark.’
Rumsfeld was furious with White when the Army secretary agreed with Shinseki.”
-USA Today, June 2, 2003

“The administration's top budget official estimated today that the cost of a war with Iraq could be in the range of $50 billion to $60 billion, a figure that is well below earlier estimates from White House officials.
In a telephone interview today, the official, Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., director of the Office of Management and Budget, also said there was likely to be a deficit in the fiscal 2004 budget, though he declined to specify how large it would be. The administration is scheduled to present its budget to Congress on Feb. 3.
[…]
Mr. Daniels declined to explain how budget officials had reached the $50 billion to $60 billion range for war costs, or why it was less in current dollars than the 43-day gulf war in 1991. He also declined to specify how much had been budgeted for munitions and troops.”
-New York Times, January 2, 2003

“The total bill for the Iraq war will soon rival the estimated $600 billion cost of the Vietnam War -although, if the dollars were adjusted for inflation, it would probably already be more costly. So far, $351 billion has been spent or appropriated between 2003 and 2007, and the president's additional budget request of $68 billion in 2007 will bring that to $419 billion, if it passes, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office (these figures include U.S. military expenditures, expenditures for Iraqi security forces, and spending for foreign aid and diplomatic operations in Iraq). With another $113 billion predicted for the 2008 budget, the total direct cost of the war will by then top half a trillion dollars, $532 billion in all. That naturally does not even begin to take into account indirect costs, from veterans' care to oil-price rises.”
-Newsweek, March 22, 2007

“I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 9, 2004

“I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country ... I wouldn't have invited him to my ranch if I didn't trust him.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, on Vladamir Putin, June 16, 2001

“The U.S. State Department’s point man on Russia on Wednesday said Washington was concerned about democracy under President Vladimir Putin and disappointed over relations with Moscow.
‘The trends unfortunately are not going in the right direction’ said David Kramer, U.S. deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs.
[…]
He said Washington’s concerns included an increasing concentration of power in Putin’s Kremlin, growing state influence over the media, the unsolved killings of journalists, pressure on opposition parties and nongovernmental organizations, the arrest of critical business tycoons and continued human rights violations in Chechnya.”
-Associated Press, March 23, 2007

"People make suggestions on what to say all the time. I'll give you an example; I don't read what's handed to me. People say, 'Here, here's your speech, or here's an idea for a speech.' They're changed. Trust me."
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, March 15, 2000