Of course your hatred for America and for Bush is excepted.
And here you have a classic example of Neo-Conservative argumentation style: if you react to the US government's abuse of power, you are automatically labeled as "anti-American". 19 & 20-year-olds overdeployed in a an illegal, immoral "war" start to go nuts after a while. The actions at Abu Ghraib were most likely not carried out under direct orders, but since there have been reports of "breakdowns in the chain of command for the last 5 months", this leads to an environment of "anything goes" when it comes to the treatment of these prisoners. Democrats are now calling for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation. Of course, today Mr. Rumsfeld is laying low...
For more, click the link or read below:
http://www.airamericaradio.com/bin/blogExcerpts.cfm?blogId=1&prg=3
BUSH ON ARAB TV: LYING LIAR LIES AGAINThe story of Abu Ghraib is looking worse and worse.
In an attempt to turn around this blossoming human rights and PR disaster, President Bush gave interviews yesterday to Arab news channels Al Hurra and Al Arabiya .
This might have been a good piece of damage control, except that Bush forgot to apologize -- and scattered a pile of lies and howlers throughout his comments.
Let's look at some choice bits from the transcripts.
BUSH: It's also important for the people of Iraq to know that in a democracy, everything is not perfect, that mistakes are made. But in a democracy, as well, those mistakes will be investigated and people will be brought to justice. We're an open society.
Quite a thoughtful reference to America?s open society. This was something we enjoyed, of course, before the Bush administration?s blizzard of actions designed to completely stop information about the government from reaching the American people.
You may recall:
The convening of the secret energy taskforce .
The reappearance of secret tribunals .
And, of course, the hiding of presidential papers from historians.
In the course of the interview with Al Hurra, Bush also trumpeted America's admirable criminal justice system.
BUSH: And in our system of law, it's essential that those criminal charges go forward without prejudice. In other words, people need to be -- are treated innocent until proven guilty. And facts are now being gathered.
But ?innocent until proven guilty? is a sensitive phrase to throw around right now. The Iraqi prisoners of Abu Ghraib ? many of whom were accused of common, non-insurgency related crimes ? were incarcerated, beaten, and otherwise tortured without the slightest whiff of due process.
Bush then addressed the fact that Iraqis getting involved in the defense forces increasingly seem to have ties to the Saddam Hussein regime.
Q: So there is no reversal in policy of de-Baathification?
BUSH: Oh, no.
Oh, yes. Oh, very yes. There's even a new buzzword for it: " re-Baathification ."
And while we're on the topic of irresponsible men with guns, Bush singled out Iraqi militias for a stern dressing down.
BUSH: Militias are people who are willing to kill, intimidate and try to take matters into their own hands, which is not the way democracy functions. Free societies do not allow thugs to roam streets and hold people hostage to their whims.
Bush makes a good point about militias. But it?s unfortunate that the reporter didn?t follow up by asking about Ahmed Chalabi?s US-trained and equipped militia , the Free Iraqi Forces. They've even shot at US troops -- but, you know, it was "friendly fire."
You may remember Mr. Chalabi from previous stories: He?s the puckish trickster who embezzled millions of dollars from Jordan, provided false information about weapons of mass destruction and ?- just this week -? cozied up to some nasty elements within the Iranian government.
Finally, Bush talks about his restraint when it comes to committing US troops to battle.
If you study the lead-up to the Iraq war -- a process that started well before Sept. 11, if any of a number of Bush administration sources are to be believed -- you'll realize this just isn't true . The military option was pre-determined. In summary: Another dishonest tour-de-force by President Bush, who was either lying all over the place -- or completely in the dark as to what's actually going on. It's tough to say which is scarier. J.R. NortonPosted 05.06.2004 ยท Comments (166)BUSH: No, I think it's -- first of all, you've got to understand, sir, that military options are always my last option, not the first option, and that we can promote freedom without use of military.