DICKDURBIN'S MEA CULPA?

[brendywendy]

Wednesday, April 25, 2007



This Seems Outrageous.... [Kathryn Jean Lopez]


Via Senate Republican staff:

SAY WHAT? DID SEN. DURBIN RUN THIS PAST HIS COLLEAGUES?


DURBIN SAYS INTEL COMMITTEE MEMBERS WERE AWARE THAT IRAQ INTEL
DID NOT SUPPORT THE RHETORIC IN RUN-UP TO IRAQ WAR


“I was a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and I would read the headlines in the paper in the morning and I'd watch the television newscast and I'd shake my head. …[T]he information we had in the Intelligence Committee was not the same information being given to the American people. I couldn't believe it.” (Sen. Dick Durbin, Floor Speech, 04/25/07)


“You see, in the Intelligence Committee, we're sworn to secrecy. We can't walk outside the door and say, ‘The statement made yesterday by the White House is in direct contradiction to classified information that's being given to this Congress.’” (Sen. Dick Durbin, Floor Speech, 04/25/07)

“And so in my frustration, I sat here on the floor of the Senate and listened to this heated debate about invading Iraq thinking the American people are being misled. They are not being told the truth.” (Sen. Dick Durbin, Floor Speech, 04/25/07)
IS SENATOR DURBIN SAYING THAT DEMOCRAT INTEL COMMITTEE MEMBERS WILLFULLY MISLED THE PUBLIC?


SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI): “[Saddam] has ignored the mandates of the United Nations, is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them.” (Committee On Armed Services, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 09/19/02)


SEN. JOHN ROCKFELLER (D-WV): “There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons. And will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years.” (Sen. John Rockefeller, Congressional Record, 10/10/02, p.S10306)


SEN. EVAN BAYH (D-IN): “Bill, I support the president's efforts to disarm Saddam Hussein. I think he was right on in his speech tonight. The lessons we learned following September 11 were that we can't wait to be attacked again, particularly when it involves weapons of mass destruction. So regrettably, Saddam has not done the right thing, which is to disarm, and we're left with no alternative but to take action.” (Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor," 03/17/03)


AND THE CURRENT SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID?


SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): “Saddam Hussein, in effect, has thumbed his nose at the world community. And I think that the President's approaching this in the right fashion.” (CNN's "Inside Politics," 09/18/02)


04/25 04:52 PM

[erik]

I think we have to put this in some historical perspective.

Recall that Bush did a very good sell-job not only on Congress, but with the American people on the reasons for going to war in Iraq: WMDs; the linkage between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin-Laden; the notion that Saddam harbored terrorists. A great deal of Americans bought that whole argument, and those who argued against the president were subsequently branded "unpatriotic", "traitorous", or "un-American" by the Bush junta and their cronies in the blogosphere and on Fox News.

We know now that nothing the Bush administration told us about Iraq was ever true. And yet this administration continues to lie its a** off about the "progress" of the war. So far, we've lost 3,400 U.S. soldiers and possibly one million Iraqi civilians; and at least $500 billion of the American taxpayers' money has gone wasted down the voracious maw of Bush and Cheney for a war that was based on an endless series of lies.

It is probably pointless to say that if the Democrats who supported this rationale to go to war knew in 2002 what they know now in 2007, this wouldn't have gotten it started. But I'd rather have them admit publicly now that they made a mistake and have them come up with solutions to this war that make sense. It takes courage to admit when you're wrong, and I think the Democrats and those on the GOP side who have thought it over have that courage. The right-wing nutjobs obviously don't.

[brendywendy]

THE SCARY THING IS WE HAVE ANOTHER GOOD 20 MONTHS TO ENDURE OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION AND MANY MORE CASUALTIES....I DON'T KNOW IF WE SHOULD JUST PULL OUT TOMORROW, MIGHT CAUSE A GENOCIDE OVER THERE..BUT WE NEED TO GET OUT AS SOON AS WE CAN....SUCH A HUGE MESS....I DON'T BELIEVE ANYTHING BUSH THE FRAT BOY SAYS....HE'S A TOTAL IDIOT...I THINK CHENEY IS STILL PULLING HIS STRINGS AND THE REAL PRESIDENT....

[robertaxel]

If the Bush Administration were so concerned about preventing genocides, why not play their war games in Darfur instead of manufacturing problems in Iraq?

[bluesron]

robertaxel said:

If the Bush Administration were so concerned about preventing genocides, why not play their war games in Darfur instead of manufacturing problems in Iraq?

I made that specific point to a retired Army Major I was debating a couple of weeks ago. He stated that there was no "strategic interest" (meaning oil), in using troops to end the genocide in Dafur.

So I said "So oil is more important than people's lives?"

he replied "Yes in this case"

[erik]

Quote by bluesron:

I made that specific point to a retired Army Major I was debating a couple of weeks ago. He stated that there was no "strategic interest" (meaning oil), in using troops to end the genocide in Dafur.

So I said "So oil is more important than people's lives?"

he replied "Yes in this case"

Only one word comes to mind: TYPICAL.

[Andrew]

I'm sitting here, Sunday morning, pre-shower, instant coffee (I've gotten lazy), listening to Travis' immaculate album "The Invisible Band," petting my little dog with my foot (she likes to nap down by my feet), and I still can't sink into complacency about all that is going on.

Absolutely the US military belongs in Darfur. Much more so than anywhere else in the world.

As an aside, I'm really pissed at Bill Maher.

I watched, yesterday, a DVD of a bunch of his "new rules" in compilation form. At one point he berated a soldier for claiming conscientious objector status. He said in a volunteer army there is no such thing as a conscientious objector. He also said it really p****d him off.

I'm starting to see that while Bill Maher is often valid in his points, he is more of a provocateur than a deep thinker.

OF COURSE a soldier can be a conscientious objector. Kids are TRICKED and COAXED into joining the military. They are exposed to military recruitment propaganda right when they are graduating high school.

Further, human beings can change their minds, PARTICULARLY WHEN THEY ARE FORCED INTO PARTICIPATING IN AN ILLEGAL AND IMMORAL WAR.

Bill Maher can go bite himself. He's gone several notches down in my esteem.

I wish more soldiers would see the light about war being an immoral solution in most cases, especially this one.

I'm also kind of sick of "support the troops." Frankly, I have more support for the Iraqi victims. What's better, more moral: participating in this atrocity or going to jail by refusing?

See, my creature comforts notwithstanding, I'm pretty ticked off myself.