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.

[Mo1]

God Bless You Duke!!!

[maica]

This is Duke Cunningham, a great friend to our military.

[texasflower]

Thanks. He looked like he was close to tears.

I'm crying for him. Thank goodness for this Cunningham guy.

[wardaddy]

Screw these bastards (am I the first to say that out of 3000 plus)!

And screw us for all this self flagellating...let's move on and kill some more of the enemy and break their will to fight.

This ain't Vietnam....no walking away....they will come after us. Hearts and Minds can come later after they are whipped.

I cannot fathom how soft we have become politically. THAT IS THE BIGGEST DISSERVICE TO OUR WONDERFUL FIGHTING FORCES>

I swear...it seems like we are still fighting the fight we had over Vietnam...those with the will versus the punks. It could end us.

How many of us will these raghead bastards have to kill before we wake up as a whole? 100,000? 1,000,000 ? 10,000,000?......9-11 sure wan't enough.
(hey, how's that for hyperbole)

[A Citizen Reporter]

I had to turn Fox off, because of the comments here about Duke Cunningham!

[Miss Marple]

I am ready for one myself!!! Give him a shaker full!!

[mass55th]

It's a hearing similiar to the questioning of The Pres. and VP. A hearing that allows two members two walk out on the POTUS for "other pressing engagements".

You know, that's bull$hit if they left. They've sat here all day and talked about how serious these allegations are, how offensive everything is, blah, blah, blah, then they leave before the hearings are even over. Must be it wasn't that important afterall.

[arbee4bush]

I wish they were showing the faces of the Lib Dems while Cunningham is speaking.

[prairiebreeze]

Continueing with Fox Recap:

They show the Drunk Murderer after the Senate session calling for Rummy to resign and Powell to step in.

Then mention was made about Rummy's excellent defense of America in the context that by the end of the day Rumsfeld had had enough of some of the tomfoolery (sp)

Prairie

[rbmillerjr]

Here is the official email comment page at DOD for Sec. Rumsfeld. Let's take 2 minutes to send a short few sentences of support.



http://ermsapps-web.afis.osd.mil/cgi-bin/rightnow_DefenseLink.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php

[mombonn]

Major Garrett just said that the hearings were much more docile than expected.

Guess that means kerry prevailed in his pleadings that they be gentle on Rummy and friends!

LOL

[texasflower]

What does that mean?

Praying for me as they slip the knife in?

[txradioguy]

Oh great! Just caught the swimmer saying that Rummy should be fired and Colin Powell should be the new SecDef. ANYONE who gets a recommendation from The Swimmer is BAD news.

Remember...when Cheney was SewcDef he had to ORDER Powell to draw up a plan of attack for the liberation of Kuwait. Before that Powell was more concerned with setting up a defensive posture in Saudi Arabia.

[Darlin']

I listened and then let his office have a sizeable piece of my mind.

[cyncooper]

That is NOT who I was referring to in post #3304, it was a dem that Rummy had to set straight.

I know who Duke Cunningham is and note it in a later post that he said the troops would follow Rummy into hell and so would he.

[Mo1]

Curt Weldon's on the phone

He's my Congressman

[kcvl]

Congressional Black Caucus Calls for the Immediate Resignation of
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

---

Washington, D.C. - Today, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD) issued the following statement at a press conference calling for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us.

"Over the last several days, all Americans and indeed the world community, have been shocked, horrified, and disgusted by the brutal and inhumane treatment of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

"As each day passes, we are also learning about the Bush Administration’s failure to provide leadership to punish the perpetrators, who I am sad to say are members of the United States military and U.S. citizens.

"The Administration, as soon as they learned of these atrocities, should have informed Congress, and sent the strongest message possible to the world that this type of behavior can not be tolerated, ever.

"As a result of this failure in leadership, the Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have determined that it is time for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign.

"I must note that we join many of our colleagues in the Congress, including our Democratic Leader, Nancy Pelosi, in this assessment.

"We have seen what the world has seen - pictures of appalling and despicable acts of inhumanity reportedly committed against prisoners by the very U.S. personnel assigned to guard them.

"These actions violated the international conventions that are designed to preserve our shared humanity - even in times of war.

The investigation into these unspeakable acts that President Bush has promised, must be widespread, transparent and far-reaching.

"The Congress also has a duty to act swiftly and decisively.

"We must determine:

What abuses occurred?
Who was responsible?
Who in our government was informed about these abuses - and when?
And what actions have been taken to assure that these violations of fundamental humanity are never permitted to happen again?
"America’s standing in the world as a civilized nation is at stake."

---

For additional information, please contact Candice Tolliver at (202) 225-5654 or (202) 226-8487.





*****

Pelosi, who in October 2002 led Democratic opposition in the House to the resolution authorizing Bush to go to war to oust Saddam Hussein, said Rumsfeld "has unnecessarily jeopardized the safety of American troops'' through a series of policy decisions and missteps.

"Secretary Rumsfeld has known about these incidents for months and has intentionally withheld them from the Congress,'' she said. "He must be held responsible for any coverup. Secretary Rumsfeld says that he still has not read the report into the abuses, confirming that stopping them is simply not a top priority for him. The sad fact is that the abuses could have been prevented with proper leadership at the top of the chain of command.

"He should resign,'' she concluded.

A senior House Democrat, Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, said the prison scandal is an outgrowth of the administration's failing policy in Iraq.

Murtha said that unless U.S. strategy changes, the war in Iraq isn't winnable. He said he has been writing Rumsfeld for months and meeting with him to complain that the 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq are under-trained, poorly equipped and inadequately led, but has been stonewalled.

"We cannot prevail in our policy today. We either have to mobilize or get out,'' said Murtha, who called for increasing the force in Iraq to 200,000, perhaps even by reinstating the draft.

"I'm going to support the troops, but I'm going to tell them (the administration) to change course,'' added Murtha, a Marine Vietnam veteran.

Murtha stopped short of calling for Rumsfeld to resign. But other Democrats echoed Pelosi's call for the secretary's resignation, including Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and the Congressional Black Caucus.

On the campaign trail, Sen. John Kerry slammed Bush's handling of what he called appalling images of abuse, saying that as commander in chief, "I will not to be the last to know what is going on in my command.''

"When I was in the Navy, the captain of the boat was in charge," said Kerry in comments to an audience of hundreds at Colton High School in San Bernardino County. "The captain always took responsibility.

"Today I have a message for the men and women of our armed forces," he said. "As commander in chief, I will honor our commitment and I will take responsibility for the good as well as the bad.''

[prairiebreeze]

Fox reporting that al Sadr is rejecting the Presidents apology. Big surprise

Prairie

[cyncooper]

Curt Weldon via phone.

He wishes the American media put the same level of focus on atrocities committed by our enemies that they do on this situation.

[rbmillerjr]

Here is the official email comment page at DOD for Sec. Rumsfeld. Let's take 2 minutes to send a short few sentences of support.

http://ermsapps-web.afis.osd.mil/cgi-bin/rightnow_DefenseLink.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php