LIVE THREAD: Rumsfeld Testifies Regarding Treatment of Iraqi Prisoners

http://freerepublic.com ^ | May 7, 2004

[Howlin]

Link to C-SPAN

http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/schedule.csp

I'm sure all the networks will be showing this.

[Sacajaweau]

I carry a cross.

[Sender]

21. Frankly_Fedup2

I would have liked to hear the pResident apologize for 911. I would have liked to hear anyone in our current Government apologize for 911.

Yesterday the DUmmies were all in a clamor about Bush causing 9/11 on purpose again. Then back to stolen elections.

[OXENinFLA]

Dem Intel Committee Memo Reveals Anti-Bush Plot
A memo circulated among Democrats on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence shows the committee's minority plotting to use classified information against the White House in next year's presidential campaign.

The document, obtained and disclosed by nationally syndicated radio host Sean Hannity Tuesday afternoon, suggests that the top priority among senior Democrats entrusted with guarding the nation's security is instead driving the Bush administration from power based on claims it exaggerated intelligence on the threat posed by Iraq.
The memo as reported by Hannity reads as follows:

"We have carefully reviewed our options under the rules and believe we have identified the best approach. Our plan is as follows:

"1) Pull the majority along as far as we can on issues that may lead to major new disclosures regarding improper or questionable conduct by administration officials. We are having some success in that regard.

"For example, in addition to the President's State of the Union speech, the chairman [Sen. Pat Roberts] has agreed to look at the activities of the office of the Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, as well as Secretary Bolton's office at the State Department.

"The fact that the chairman supports our investigations into these offices and cosigns our requests for information is helpful and potentially crucial. We don't know what we will find but our prospects for getting the access we seek is far greater when we have the backing of the majority. [We can verbally mention some of the intriguing leads we are pursuing.]

"2) Assiduously prepare Democratic 'additional views' to attach to any interim or final reports the committee may release. Committee rules provide this opportunity and we intend to take full advantage of it.

"In that regard we may have already compiled all the public statements on Iraq made by senior administration officials. We will identify the most exaggerated claims. We will contrast them with the intelligence estimates that have since been declassified. Our additional views will also, among other things, castigate the majority for seeking to limit the scope of the inquiry.

"The Democrats will then be in a strong position to reopen the question of establishing an Independent Commission [i.e., the Corzine Amendment.]

"3) Prepare to launch an independent investigation when it becomes clear we have exhausted the opportunity to usefully collaborate with the majority. We can pull the trigger on an independent investigation of the administration's use of intelligence at any time. But we can only do so once.

"The best time to do so will probably be next year, either:
"A) After we have already released our additional views on an interim report, thereby providing as many as three opportunities to make our case to the public. Additional views on the interim report (1). The announcement of our independent investigation (2). And (3) additional views on the final investigation. Or:

"B) Once we identify solid leads the majority does not want to pursue, we would attract more coverage and have greater credibility in that context than one in which we simply launch an independent investigation based on principled but vague notions regarding the use of intelligence.

"In the meantime, even without a specifically authorized independent investigation, we continue to act independently when we encounter footdragging on the part of the majority. For example, the FBI Niger investigation was done solely at the request of the vice chairman. We have independently submitted written requests to the DOD and we are preparing further independent requests for information.

"SUMMARY: Intelligence issues are clearly secondary to the public's concern regarding the insurgency in Iraq. Yet we have an important role to play in revealing the misleading, if not flagrantly dishonest, methods and motives of senior administration officials who made the case for unilateral preemptive war.

"The approach outlined above seems to offer the best prospect for exposing the administration's dubious motives." [End of Memo Excerpt.]

The revelation that Democrats are using the intelligence committee to conduct opposition research for the coming presidential campaign demands an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee, Hannity said.

[Steven W.]

let's get to the heart of the matter - the reason why Hitlery & Sick Willie claimed & testified that it wasn't sex was because Sick Willie would always finish himself (the sole exception being the time with the blue dress when Sick couldn't contain himself and allowed Moronica to "finish".

[TankerKC]

Dayton: Bumbling, stammering fool.

[kcvl]

Mark Dayton

Phone: 202-224-3244
Fax: 202-228-2186

[Mo1]

Who is this A$$hole Senator

The Media news reports are more important then the lives of our Military?!?!?!?!

[LisaFab]

This guy is a stumble-bum--loved the way Rummy addressed him as Mr. Senator!

[mtbopfuyn]

Meyers - asked the pictures be "delayed" because it would KILL our troops.

Senator - pissy because democracy needs to have all this info in public. Shouldn't hide military info

Rummy - all through history the military has asked media to hold items that would hurt us.

Idiot Senator - Hatred of Arab to US. Making conditions worse.

[pdfw]

Dayton way overruning his time..

[mikegi]

Who the Hell is this Dayton idiot? I hope he has an oxygen tank handy.

[snooker]

Dayton has lost it. What a nut.

[McGruff]

Fri May 7, 2:29 PM ET
Senate Armed Services Committee (news - web sites) member Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (news - web sites), D-N.Y., looks on as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld testifies on Capitol Hill Friday, May 7, 2004, before the committee's hearing on prisoner abuse in Iraq (news - web sites). (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)

[maryz]

__________: Did Myers discuss with you call to CBS to suppress report?

Rumsfeld: I don't think so. And suppress isn't the right word.

Myers: This was not to suppress anything. I asked for delay, given current situation in Iraq, as bad as it had been since major combat ended. I said I knew report would eventually come out, but asked for delay. Report has been around since January; pictures are new. Did not discuss with President or VP.

_______(?): Attempts to suppress antithetical to democracy. President undermining democracy in US

Rumsfeld: through history of this country, there have been circumstances in which gov't asked for delay. it is not against our principles, not against our history.

_____(?): you came before us three hours before release and never mentioned it. How can this do anything but escalate hatred in the Arab world?

Rumsfeld will expedite answer for the record.

[Steven W.]

good memory!

[Darlin']

Rummy kicked butt, just now.

[kabar]

Dayton: A real lightweight who doesn't understand the meaning of the word surpress versus delay.

[Alissa]

Can

[arasina]

Amen, amen, amen! Thank you, OhioWfan. That is exactly what we need to fight the principalities of evil in this hearing.

[kevkrom]

I can relate - I have Boxer.

Weren't some researchers working on a cure for that?