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Banned
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Originally Posted by Elphaba
host, I did miss the last part of the article you posted. So they did all that they could legally do by issuing a top secret letter of protest (years after acquiring the knowledge), and chose not to risk their political butts in any way.
The Ellsberg testimony is so compelling and I thank you for taking the time to post it. There are "insiders" now that are leaking information to prevent this administration from attacking Iran. I wonder if they could trust this Congress to provide the opportunity to tell the truth? It seems the answer is "no" because they have already risked prison and their careers by insisting on the publication of the NIE.
They are the patriots in this story.
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I don't think that I can be unwavering in my criticism, although the democrats were in charge of the senate in 2002. I think that this is as close as we got to having a "referendum" on the appropriateness of what the democrats were briefed about, within the same year. These are political creatures, not patriots. They were motivated by which way the wind was blowing at the time, and in this context:
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http://www.whitehouse.gov/vicepresid...p20010916.html
amp David, Maryland
September 16, 2001
The Vice President appears on Meet the Press with Tim Russert
...MR. RUSSERT: When Osama bin Laden took responsibility for blowing up the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, U.S. embassies, several hundred died, the United States launched 60 tomahawk missiles into his training sites in Afghanistan. It only emboldened him. It only inspired him and seemed even to increase his recruitment. Is it safe to say that that kind of response is not something we're considering, in that kind of minute magnitude?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: I'm going to be careful here, Tim, because I--clearly it would be inappropriate for me to talk about operational matters, specific options or the kinds of activities we might undertake going forward. We do, indeed, though, have, obviously, the world's finest military. They've got a broad range of capabilities. And they may well be given missions in connection with this overall task and strategy.
We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side, if you will. We've got to spend time in the shadows in the intelligence world. A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies, if we're going to be successful. That's the world these folks operate in, and so it's going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal, basically, to achieve our objective.
MR. RUSSERT: There have been restrictions placed on the United States intelligence gathering, reluctance to use unsavory characters, those who violated human rights, to assist in intelligence gathering. Will we lift some of those restrictions?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: Oh, I think so. I think the--one of the by-products, if you will, of this tragic set of circumstances is that we'll see a very thorough sort of reassessment of how we operate and the kinds of people we deal with. There's--if you're going to deal only with sort of officially approved, certified good guys, you're not going to find out what the bad guys are doing. You need to be able to penetrate these organizations. You need to have on the payroll some very unsavory characters if, in fact, you're going to be able to learn all that needs to be learned in order to forestall these kinds of activities. It is a mean, nasty, dangerous dirty business out there, and we have to operate in that arena. I'm convinced we can do it; we can do it successfully. But we need to make certain that we have not tied the hands, if you will, of our intelligence communities in terms of accomplishing their mission. ....
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In that same 9/16/01 interview, the veep also said:
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...MR. RUSSERT: When the president went to the World Trade Center on Friday he said, "The people who did this will hear from all of us soon." There's an expectation in the country that we're about to pay back big time, quickly. What should the American people think or feel about that?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: I think the important thing here, Tim, is for people to understand that, you know, things have changed since last Tuesday. The world shifted in some respects. Clearly, what we're faced with here is a situation where terrorism is struck home in the United States. We've been subject to targets of terrorist attacks before, especially overseas with our forces and American personnel overseas, but this time because of what happened in New York and what happened in Washington, it's a qualitatively different set of circumstances.
It's also important for people to understand that this is a long-term proposition. It's not like, well, even Desert Storm where we had a buildup for a few months, four days of combat, and it was over with. This is going to be the kind of work that will probably take years because the focus has to be not just on any one individual, the problem here is terrorism. And even in this particular instance, it looks as though the responsible organization was a group called al-Qaida. It's Arabic for "The Base."
...VICE PRES. CHENEY: Well, I think he seriously misreads the American people. I think the--I mean, you have to ask yourself, why somebody would do what he does. Why is someone so motivated? Obviously he's filled with hate for the United States and for everything we stand for...
MR. RUSSERT: Why?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: ...freedom and democracy.
....MR. RUSSERT: He has stated unequivocally that he wants the United States out of the Middle East. He no longer wants the United States to be the ally of Israel. Will our relationship with Israel change in any way, shape or form because of this event?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: No. The fact of the matter is that the--we'll not allow him to achieve his aims. <h3>We're not about to change our policies or change our basic fundamental beliefs.</h3> What we are going to do is aggressively go after Mr. bin Laden, obviously, and all of his associates, and even if it takes a long time, I'm convinced eventually we'll prevail....
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The "9/11 changed everything" line is still the theme of all republican 2008 candidates except Ron Paul, the line " they hate us for our freedom and democracy" became a caricature, <h3>and the terrorist did win.</h3> Cheney broke his commitment not to "to change our policies or change our to change our policies or change our basic fundamental beliefs.."
What are "our basic fundamental beliefs" and the principles for which we stand, today....vs. during the 2000 presidential election?
Last edited by host; 12-09-2007 at 06:46 PM..
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