Attention, Don Rumsfeld: Here's What You've Yearned For
In an excerpt from his book on former SecDef Donald Rumsfeld, Brad Graham quotes Mr. "Stuff Happens" thusly on the subject of the hated media:
Part of the formula, Rumsfeld added, involved pillorying him along with Bush and Cheney but sparing Powell and Rice. As an example, he noted accusations that Bush and Cheney had lied about Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction in making the case for the invasion of Iraq. "They never say Colin Powell lied," Rumsfeld asserted. "They don't say Condi lied."
Don? This thing on? Here you go: Colin Powell lied. Condi lied. I've said it before. I'll say it again. I'm sure HuffPo hasn't made it into your briefing folders, so just check out "Smooth Moves" on iTunes. Or "Gym Buds."
Maybe you're buying into the whole "Negroes have a free pass" thing that some older white guys cling to, as a way of feeling victimized while simultaneously being unbelievably privileged. No matter. Colin lied. Condi lied. You lied. Your protege Dick Cheney lied. Male, female, black, white -- the entourage is linked, bonded in mendacity. Relax. It's not just about you.
Although you're a big part of it.
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I've always believed that Powell's lying was the worst of the worst. His betrayal was so great and so dastardly, I think his name should live in infamy with the likes of Benedict Arnold.
But it's clear this is a minority opinion. The press still fawns over Powell, as though the speech to the UN never happened, as though he still had our trust and admiration. I know Democrats who still swoon for the irreproachable Colin Powell. People continue to let TV news tell them what they think.
I dunno about that, DonnyBoy.
Air America certainly pilloried both Powell and Rice, as did Radio Havana "News" (the most entertaining anti-U.S. propaganda, and the single thing I miss most about the 8-years of Bush Hell) but of course, they couldn't be considered mainstream media.
I think Powell was conflicted by loyalty of his position to Bush II. He shouldn't have been and should have resigned instead of speaking at the UN. From what I hear its the only way for an officer to show disagreement with leadership in a respectful way. It would have least maintained his honor and full trust of the American people. I still appreciate the good he has done, but the UN speech will never go away. Resigning might have had people in power start to question the lead up to the war including the congress and the media (unlikely as it sounds).
Powell may well have believed that Saddam Hussein was or soon would be the kind of threat the intelligence couldn't prove him to be. Down here on the ground, it was a similar uncertainty, that made a lot of us keep our mouths shut, about "protesting" the Iraq war, until the war was engaged, and Rumsfeld, and others, failed us all, in the military sense. (By then, it was far too late...)
Colin Powell took his lumps. The difference is that Powell had the stones and the couth not to go sobbing in public about the unfairness of it all.
I'm not convinced. He has lamented his having been used on the heels of mealy-mouthed acceptance of responsibility. He may have taken lumps, I would say more accurate would be that he has been called names, which is hardly sticks and stones; regardless, what Rumsfeld says is basically true: He has always been given the benefit of the doubt in the public forum. Much worse than taking lumps is suffering the brunt of war. The conservative estimate of tens of thousands' blood is on Powell's hands as well, and thanks to him, ours.
Well, Harry, if talking to one's computer counts, I said the same thing as I read it: Powell lied and Condi lied, too; does that make you feel better, Rummy? Oh, and how nice that you won't say anything negative about Bush, you're such a man of honor. You're all lying sacks of you-know-what and war criminals as well plus you enriched yourself without shame (well, who needs shame if you're a multi-multi-millionaire, that is definitely f-u money).
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In an excerpt from his book on former SecDef Donald Rumsfeld, Brad Graham quotes Mr. "Stuff Happens" thusly on the subject of the hated media:
Part of the formula, Rumsfeld added, involved pillorying him along with Bush and Cheney but sparing Powell and Rice. As an example, he noted accusations that Bush and Cheney had lied about Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction in making the case for the invasion of Iraq. "They never say Colin Powell lied," Rumsfeld asserted. "They don't say Condi lied."
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Aw Rummy. Everyone knows you go to war with the media you have, not the media you might want or wish to have at a later time. Sheesh!
- Tom
Props to you TomR, point well made.
The entire right wing is all about lying.
It's not lying if you believe what you say. GB 2001
Thank you. Let's repeat that:
THE ENTIRE RIGHT WING IS ALL ABOUT LYING.
And profiteering, stealing, cheating, corruption, shoveling
USTreasury tax money into pockets of the right-wing NANNY STATE FOR THE RICH
and Republicans' corporate welfare queens.
Even the individual voters. Anyone who now, still, self-identifies as "Republican." The guy you work with, who listens to Rush Limbaugh, and starts political arguments all the time? He, too, is ALL ABOUT LYING, and that's why he still supports these guys. He sees himself in them.
Is it really true there's a tunnel connecting the Cheney & Rumsfeld compounds just outside DC?
Just sayin'.....
When, oh when, is someone, somewhere, going to investigate Rumsfeld for his misdeeds as SecDef? And I'm not talking about the most obvious ones either, he should already been in a courtroom hearing the charges on those.
What I'm talking about is his using his high office to enrich himself by spreading fear and panic among the population. Literally every single day while he was SecDef, we heard constantly about avian flu, bird flu, etc.
What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? Because the entire time, Rumself was the ex-CEO of Gilead Pharma who makes TamiFlu, which he had the Pentagon and other high agencies, say that it was the only effective treatment against... AVIAN FLU. Therefore, they proceeded to stockpile enough doses for every man, woman and child in North America.
Did I forget to mention that during this entire time, he was holding $25 million worth of his own companies stocks? OOPS!! He's as bad as Cheney is with Halliburton. If not worse since Rumsfeld made it so patently obvious as to what he was doing, and why.
Funny, I've not heard a thing about avian flu since he left. Why is that?
Yes, this is totally unreported. Do you think he sold his stock in TamiFlu... and bought pig flu stock?
I think Rumsfeld, Cheney and co are really going out with these outlandish statements in order avoid any real public media discussion of criminal indictments for their conduct during their time in office.
I wish I knew the truth about this. I wish that truth were that Powell was duped right along with the rest of the country. I don't think it is. But I do think that there were circumstances that prevented Powell from telling the country - and the UN - the truth. And I do think that, ultimately, he resigned because he could no longer deal with having to lie to the country.
And I also think that if Powell had had another powerful ally, like Rumsfeld, he and that ally would have been able to gather enough support to stop Bush and Cheney from destroying Iraq and this nation's credibility.
It sounds like you want the truth to be other than it is. Circumstances did prevent Powell from telling the truth. The circumstances were his lying.
See Harry Shearer's Profile
Powell didn't resign.
Wasn't he asked to resign? Either way, I don't believe he was duped along with the rest of us. We was ordered to tell a lie about WMDs, and like the good soldier that he is, he did. If he had resigned instead of lying, his integrity would still be intact. Sadly he didn't, and it's not.
I actually never knew if it was his idea or Bush's. The reports at the time sounded like it was his idea but that Bush certainly wasn't unhappy about it.
If you haven't seen the PBS Frontline doumentary called Bush's War I highly encourage you to do so. Powell put his faith in George Tenet, a Clinton appointee, and insisted he sit right right behind him while he testified to the UN. Cheney and Rumsfeld manipulated the intelligence from day 1 and unfortunately people who should have known better, including the Dems in Congess, went along with it. Powell should have resigned but I don't think he is a liar for using information endorsed by the CIA Director.
If you don't believe what you're saying, it's a lie to say it. Just the fact that Powell insisted on Tenet sitting behind him at the UN, tells me he suspected he was being lied to. He just hoped that being able to blame Tenet later on, would clear his reputation and his conscience. From some of the interviews I've seen with Powell, he knows his reputation has been sullied, and his conscience doesn't appear at all cleared.
The sad irony is that Powell started his military career in Viet Nam, another war fostered on the American public with lies and fearmongering. That he would have allowed himself to be a pivital part of bringing this generation's Viet Nam upon his country, can't be an easy thing for him to live with.
I think you're right. I think the reason Powell is being pretty quiet lately, is largely a matter of conscience.
Sounds like the same ole story from the Republican front blame everyone else and accept no responsibility or accountability.
I'm with you, Harry. The hardest thing for me concerning Powell, a man I admired previous to the Iraq war, is that, for me, he turned out to be the biggest liar of them all.
A man who'd been there before. A man who understood the folly of trying to occupy Iraq during the previous Gulf War. A man who told Bush, "You break it, you own it." in the weeks leading up to the Iraq invasion.
I know Powell could not possibly have believed in this war. He was the one person with enough public respect, to have possibly prevented it had he resigned and spoke out against it.
Instead, he allowed the Bushies to exploit that public respect by sending him to the UN to put the final nail in the coffin of the Iraq invasion.
He is this generation's Robert Mcnamara. I wonder if he'll ever write his mea culpa to the soldiers of 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' the way RM finally did? I'd really like to hear an explantion as to how a man of his caliber, could have allowed a bunch of chickenhawks to so use him. No explanation will suffice, but I'd like to hear it all the same.
As for Condi, she came to the White House with an oil tanker named after her. No explanation for her mendacity needed.
Yes.
Justice would be some "stuff" happening to Rummy. Like a long prison sentence for war crimes.
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