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.

[cyncooper]

Lindsey Graham brings up those already demanding Rumsfeld's resignation and even one person drawing up papers on impeachment.

He asks if Rumsfeld can perform his duties.

Rumsfeld says it is a fair question: The issue is "Can I be effective in assisting them in their important tasks".

If he thought he would be ineffective he would resign in a minute.

He would not resign simply because people try to make a political issue of it.

[kcvl]

Thanks!

[OXENinFLA]

Oh great, Here's my senator.(hanging my head)

[Barlowmaker]

Isn't Graham a high ranking officer in some reserve unit? Coast Guard or the like?

[ellery]

RUMMY: I would resign in a minute if I thought I could not be effective. I would not resign because people are trying to make a political issue out of it.

[highlandbreeze]

video???

[Piranha]

I know that you are sympathetic to Israel, because I've read your posts before, so we can take that off the table.

I think that it takes a lot of courage fore Sen. Lieberman, a Democrat, to say waht he said on the committee. It seems (just from reading the posts) that he said it better than any of the Republicans who are there.

As someone else wrote above, he always has been a strong supporter of the war on terror. There are many Jews who are not, and there ar emany Jews who are dismissive of, or even opposed to, Israel (Adam Shapiro of ISM comes to mind).

When you take his statement and dismiss it by saying, essentially, he is Jewish and therefore a supporter of Israel, so he will help President Bush, I think that you are tarring him with a very broad brush. He should have the right to be taken at face value unless you have support for the idea that he is a mole for Israel in the US Senate.

[Howlin]

Oh, you are SO good!

Thank you so much!

[Darlin']

I do believe that. He is a threat to the stability of any situation he comes in contact with.

[cake_crumb]

Graham: "Why, if you knew that someone show bad things on the air, then why didn't you notify the president and senior members of congress to prepare us for this? That is the essence of my question"

It's the essence of the whole HEARING, IMO

Now he's talking about the "articles of impeachment" being written up, and the Fire Rummy crowd, and asking Rummy about his resigning.

Rummy said some of those pics have been doctored?

[YaYa123]

Lindsey Graham's questioning of Rumsfeld today should make us all forgive Graham for endorsing McCain in 2000.

[adam_az]

"Don't you think that was a rather juvenile approach and undermines calls that communicate real points?"

No, I think it points out the hypocricy of a former cross burning KKK member, a member of a group that lynched people, referring to some frathouse type hazing as "torture" and "atrocity."

[Right_in_Virginia]

The thought of a Bush adminsitration without Donald Rumsfeld is very very scary and sad to me.

But very very good news for our enemies.

[Pyro7480]

I just ran into a bunch of the idiots who disrupted the hearing, or their buddies. I work in the Capitol Hill area, and I saw a group of three women with t-shirts that said "Fire Him." As I was passing them, I said "You should be ashamed of yourselves, and they screamed the same thing back at me. I then made a gesture that wasn't becoming of me as a gentleman, but I needed to vent. :-P

[BunnySlippers]

Despite his other faults, he's been (in general) a defender of the war on terror and of our troops. How sad that this makes him an aberration within his party...

Lieberman and McCain (good pals) seem to have switched roles. Bizarre ... but it's been going on for some time.

[cgk]

The senators were notified - January 16th. Any senator who sits on the Armed Services Committe is responsible for reading press releases from the Armed Services. Complaining they didn't know or that someone didn't come to them and tell them is just pathetic. They need to do their job. Enough with the resolutions condemning _____.

[Howlin]

You see this:

MATTHEWS: The president himself, a couple weeks back said there‘s been no evidence of any connection between Iraqis and the attack on the United States on 9/11.

THEY are the ones trying to link it to 9-11. It's not this administration; that's been THEIR mantra, not ours.

[TrueBeliever9]

The following article states it pretty well since this is about power and funding - REMEMBER Bremer is State Department not DoD - State Dept does not want Bush reelected: During the last decade, DoD has assumed a greater role in the creation of U.S. foreign policy. What are the implications of this shift? By Joshua Kurlantzick

excerpt: The changing nature of geopolitics also favored DoD over the State Department. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, civil wars, terrorism, narcotics trafficking, and other lower-intensity forms of conflict predominated. In this environment, the White House relied on the military more than it had during the Cold War.

Meanwhile, a series of reforms gave defense civilians and the uniformed military far greater resources than the State Department. Powerful Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) led a successful effort to slash the State Department’s budget. At the same time, military funding remained near Cold War levels, and by the early 2000s the United States spent more on its armed forces than all other industrialized nations combined. In 2001 the State Department requested a budget of $25 billion, which Congress cut to $20 billion; that year Congress gave the Pentagon nearly $311 billion, more than DoD actually had requested.

excerpt: As a result, only DoD—and in particular, the CINCs—had the money and resources to transport people to foreign locales at a moment’s notice, convene large meetings with foreign dignitaries, or even develop a large-scale analysis of a particular policy. If State Department staff or ambassadors in the field wanted to fly to a meeting or transport relief supplies or other materials, they had to rely on CINC planes and logistics. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld … was staking out the Pentagon’s role in policy making, staffing his bureaucracy with neoconservatives who would challenge the State Department on policy matters.

Since President George W. Bush took office, this trend only has accelerated. The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, two wars, and one of the most aggressive secretaries of defense in recent history have combined to strengthen the Pentagon’s headlock on U.S. foreign policy. Even before Sept. 11, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, a skilled bureaucratic in-fighter who previously had served as secretary of defense in the 1970s, was staking out the Pentagon’s role in policy making, staffing his bureaucracy with leading neoconservatives like Wolfowitz who would challenge the State Department on policy matters.

After Sept. 11, Rumsfeld’s power only grew, as he was seen as the primary architect of the quick victory over the Taliban in Afghanistan and was referred to in the media as the most powerful Cabinet member in decades. “A CINC carrying the water for Rumsfeld has a lot of power, especially post-Sept. 11,” says Nash.

But some officials and scholars outside the government worry that DoD’s usurpation of the State Department’s traditional role is leading to more squabbling within the U.S. government, making it harder to produce coherent policy. During the past two years, mid-level State Department and DoD officials have used leaks to the press to scuttle the other department’s plans. As Steven Weisman noted in The New York Times, “the chasm between [Rumsfeld and Powell] is often so wide that to outsiders it can appear they are conducting two entirely different foreign policies.”

If you want the full article FReepmail me. Several political analysts observe that, although in the past the national security advisor refereed disputes between the State Department and DoD, current National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is not good at mediating these arguments. Without an effective referee, the bullish, empowered, and popular Rumsfeld has the advantage.

[cyncooper]

Bill Nelson: When did you see the pictures?

Rumsfeld: First time last night--he had seen the media images, but the actual pictures last night. He heard about them back in January when the rest of the world learned of it.

When did you tell the president?

Early February after consulting with Myers and others---about the issue.

[Howlin]

Was McCain nasty?