in the immortal words of our president: "so what?"

To reward myself for a job well-done on my literature exam this morning, I allowed a little time online and found this article: "Bush Acknowledges Absence of Al Queda In Pre-Occupation In Iraq With A 'So What?'"
This really boils my blood.

excerpt of Martha Raddatz's interview with President Bush:
BUSH: One of the major theaters against al Qaeda turns out to have been Iraq. This is where al Qaeda said they were going to take their stand. This is where al Qaeda was hoping to take-

RADDATZ: But not until after the U.S. invaded.

BUSH: Yeah, that's right. So what? The point is that al Qaeda said they're going to take a stand. Well, first of all in the post-9/11 environment Saddam Hussein posed a threat. And then upon removal, al Qaeda decides to take a stand.

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- U.S. Troop Casualties - 4,209 US troops; 98% male. 91% non-officers; 82% active duty, 11% National Guard; 74% Caucasian, 9% African-American, 11% Latino. 19% killed by non-hostile causes. 54% of US casualties were under 25 years old. 72% were from the US Army

-US Troops Wounded - 30,848, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries (total excludes psychological injuries)

- US Troops with Serious Mental Health Problems - 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home

- US Military Helicopters Downed in Iraq - 68 total, at least 36 by enemy fire

- Journalists killed - 135, 91 by murder and 44 by acts of war

- Journalists killed by US Forces - 14

- Iraqi Police and Soldiers Killed - 8,792

- Iraqi Civilians Killed, Estimated - A UN issued report dated Sept 20, 2006 stating that Iraqi civilian casualties have been significantly under-reported. Casualties are reported at 50,000 to over 100,000, but may be much higher. Some informed estimates place Iraqi civilian casualities at over 600,000.

- Iraqi Insurgents Killed, Roughly Estimated - 55,000

- Non-Iraqi Contractors and Civilian Workers Killed - 556

- Non-Iraqi Kidnapped - 306, including 57 killed, 147 released, 4 escaped, 6 rescued and 89 status unknown.

- Percent of professionals who have left Iraq since 2003 - 40%

- Iraqi Physicians Before 2003 Invasion - 34,000

- Iraqi Physicians Who Have Left Iraq Since 2005 Invasion - 12,000

- Iraqi Physicians Murdered Since 2003 Invasion - 2,000

"Yeah, that's right. So what?"

[Iraq War Statisticts]