Posted on 05/10/2004 5:51:58 AM PDT by Bubbette
Just heard on KVIl in Dallas, Col. Hackworth being interviewed. Stated he will be releasing the names of the notorious 17 today on the internet. FYI
Why was a report that described sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses by American soldiers left to languish on a shelf in the Pentagon unread by the top leadership until the media revealed it to the world? [it wasn't on a shelf in the Pentagon, idiot]
Why wasn't Congress apprised of the findings of this report from the Defense Department instead of from CBS News? [Why didn't you open your mouth to your colleagues, KKK Boy?]
Mr. Secretary, it was President Truman who was said to have displayed the famous sign on his desk: The buck stops here. I served with President Truman. He was an honorable man. He did not shirk his responsibility.
I see a very different pattern in this administration. I see arrogance and a disdain for Congress. I see misplaced bravado and an unwillingness to admit mistakes. I see finger-pointing [don't edite, Compost; he said "fingerprinting", we all heard it] and excuses.
Given the catastrophic impact that this scandal has had on the world community, how can the United States ever repair its credibility?
BYRD: How are we supposed to convince not only the Iraqi people, but also the rest of the world that America is indeed a liberator, and not a conqueror, not an arrogant power? Is the presidential apology to the king of Jordan sufficient? [HUH??]
He is, and they all have a habit of going so far overboard it backfires. And the fact here is that some or all of those senators were lying. If they were complicit in the leak of either the report or the photos, they should be prosecuted.
I mostly kept myself out of the Col. West debates on FR. That was months ago, but I do remember O'Reilly trumpeting his cause.
And now Mr. Lawson says that he also contacted O'Reilly. Mr. Lawson could be a lurker on FR, for all we know, and hoped that O'Reilly would also take up his nephew's cause.
So, Mr. Secretary, how is it that a case with no basis in fact gets such widespread publicity, based on information from government sources, while egregious conduct like that at the Abu Ghraib prison is cloaked in a classified report, and is only made available when the investigation is leaked to the press?
RUMSFELD: Well, Senator, first let me say, with respect to the question that Senator Reed raised, I can't conceive of anyone looking at the pictures and suggesting that anyone could have recommended, condoned, permitted, encouraged, subtly, directly, in any way, that those things take place.
Second, the decision that was made by the president of the United States that you referred to was announced. And in the announcement it was said that the Al Qaida in Guantanamo that are captured in the world, mostly in Afghanistan, would be treated consistent with the Geneva Convention. That is a fact.
You say the report was well known. I don't know how you know that. All I know is when it made the public, when somebody took a secret document out of prosecutorial channels and released it to the press, I do not believe it was yet anywhere in the Pentagon. Certainly, I had not been given it or seen it. [SLAM DUNK!]
RUMSFELD: I don't have any idea if he discussed it with me. I don't think he did.
DAYTON: Over the last two weeks, calling CBS to suppress the news report?
RUMSFELD: "Suppress" is not the right word at all.
DAYTON: I'm sorry, sir, but I...
RUMSFELD: It's an inaccurate word.
DAYTON: General Myers, did you discuss it with the secretary?
MYERS: This had been worked at lower levels with the secretary's staff and my staff for some time.
DAYTON: That you would call CBS to suppress their news report?
MYERS: I called CBS to ask them to delay the pictures showing on CBS's "60 Minutes" because I thought it would result in direct harm...
DAYTON: Mr. Secretary, is that standard procedure for the military command of this country to try to suppress a news report at the highest level?
MYERS: It didn't -- let me just -- Senator Dayton, this is a serious allegation...
DAYTON: Sure is.
MYERS: ... and it's absolutely -- the context of your question, I believe, is wrong.
DAYTON: I understand the context, General, you...
MYERS: Let me just...
DAYTON: ... told us the context earlier. I have very limited time, sir.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: I want to take as much time as we need to straighten this out.
This report -- the report was already out there, the news was out there about the abuse...
DAYTON: General, if the news had been out there and we had all known about it...
(CROSSTALK)
WARNER: Senator, I ask that the witness be allowed to respond to your question. They're very important questions. [Dayton has HUA Syndrome]
General, would you proceed?
MYERS: Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Senator Dayton.
This was not to suppress anything. What I asked CBS News to do was to delay the release of the pictures, given the current situation in Iraq, which was as bad as it had been since major combat ended, because I thought it bring direct harm to our troops; it would kill our troops.
We talked about it, and I said, "I know this report will eventually come out. But this -- if you can delay it for some period of time -- it would be helpful."
DAYTON: What period of time is that?
MYERS: I did it based on talking to General Abizaid and his worry was like mine, and he convinced me that this was the right thing to do. There was no -- this report has been around since January. What was new were the pictures. I asked for the pictures to be delayed.
DAYTON: Did you discuss delaying -- calling CBS to ask them to delay their report, with the secretary of defense, or the vice president or the president?
MYERS: Of course not.
DAYTON: None of those.
MYERS: Of course not.
DAYTON: I would just say, General -- and I agree with your assessment of the consequences of this on our troops, and that's the great tragedy of this, but attempts to suppress news reports, to withhold the truth from Congress and from the American people is antithetical to democracy.
MYERS: You bet it is. And that's not what we were doing.
DAYTON: And whatever the intentions may be, sir, the result is always the same. And it's, I think, terribly tragic that the president, who wants to expand democracy around the world, by actions of his own administration is undermining that democracy in the United States.
DAYTON: That's always the result when people try to control information, delay it, manage it and suppress it, it has that result. It's antithetical to a democracy.
RUMSFELD: May I speak a minute, Mr. Senator?
Throughout the history of this country, there have been instances where military situations have existed that have led government to talk to members of the media and make an editorial request of them that they delay for some period disclosing some piece of information. It is not against our history. It is not against our principles. It is not suppression of the news. And it's a misunderstanding of the situation to say it is.
DAYTON: It is against our principles. It's against our principles when you come before 40 to 45 members of the Senate three hours before that news report is going to occur and don't mention one word about it, sir.
That is antithetical to democracy and the Constitution, which has the Senate and the House as co-equal responsibility for this country.
I want to just ask about the escalation of American forces, sir. You're bringing in, in response to all of this -- and this is also important. This is the future of this nation and the people who are over there.
You're increasing the number of forces, the number of tanks over there. How can this have anything to do but to escalate the level of violence, the opposition of Iraqis, intensify the hatred across the Arab world to the United States, and more atrocities? How can this have any result other than to put us deeper into this situation and make the conditions there worse for our forces and for our nation and for the world?
[Warner cuts him off due to time; the a$$hole description of his behavior is an understatement]
As an accomplished grandstander himself, Hack is a Kerryman through and through. Besides, you could probably e-mail 17 representatives or Senators with the alarming news that their pants were on fire, and their staffs would send you a form-reponse, without their congressthing every knowing why his butt was now toast.
BTW, I work in the Nation's Capital frequently, and the democraps have an absolute lock on the congressional staff thing, with many Republicans running offices that are staffed in whole, or part, by the enemy. (Check out Ole Bob Dole, whose chief of staff was for many years a flagrant Democrat!) Incidentally,IMHO, an unwholesome number of the apparatchniks of the congress (who actually write the bills and run the place) seem to be gay.
Make sure your Republican representatives have staffs that match their allegedly Republican views.
Sean used to suck up to him regularly...but haven't seen the Hack on any news outlet...Hack is a typical spoiled punk...where even "bad behavior" will get him a little attention...
He may be highly decorated BUT for his MANY years he certainly appears to be a "long term" loser in the military...
While I have everybody's attention -- LOL -- I will report what I just heard on MSNBC:
The uncle/lawyer of the West Virginia soldier involved in the Iraqi photo scandal was on MSNBC this morning; he told the reporters that they had sent a letter to people in Congress in January.
Those who I can remember who got the letter IN JANUARY were:
Mark Dayton
Bill Nelson
Jay Rockefeller
Robert Byrd
Hillary Clinton
I didn't catch the other names, but those got letter in January informing them of the prison scandal AND the photos, according to this guy!
10 posted on 05/10/2004 11:13:43 AM EDT by Howlin [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
It is, in fact, a very specific war crime. The display of prisoners for "propaganda purposes" is a war crime by the Geneva Conventions. Now, you may argue it was not an offical act, but the intent of the prohibition is clear.
You are excusing the senators in retrospect. Should they assume every crime brought to their attention is already being investigated?
I know nothing, but I can "call" people who can find out!
Yes, especially when the report was leaked and the press reported it last JANUARY.
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