• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Commentary: Good riddance to them all

A

Anonymous

Guest
By Joseph L. Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers

There was little for the unindicted co-conspirators of the Bush administration to give thanks for this week as the clock winds down on the 14 months they have left in power.

With former White House press secretary Scott McClellan spilling the beans on who told him to lie to the American people and cover up the White House's responsibility for the criminal act of revealing the identity of a covert CIA officer, it clearly was time for some folks to begin drafting their requests for presidential pardons.

McClellan, in a forthcoming book that will tell some, if not all, reveals that his 2003 statements absolving top White House aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of any involvement in leaking the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame were untrue — and that the orders to make those statements came from President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, White House chief of staff Andrew Card, Rove and Libby.

McClellan's revelation makes it abundantly clear that a subsequent statement by Bush that White House aides had no involvement in outing Ms. Plame, and that anyone who did would be fired was also, shall we say, inoperative.

It also confirms long-held suspicions that the whole despicable affair — an attempt to punish former Ambassador Joseph Wilson for debunking a bit of the bogus intelligence the administration wheeled out to justify invading Iraq — was orchestrated in the offices of Bush and Cheney, and with their knowledge.

It also might shed new light on why Bush quickly commuted Cheney’s hatchet man Libby's prison sentence after he was convicted on four counts of lying to federal investigators. It simply wouldn’t do to have Libby rolling over on his bosses.

Somehow, I have a strong feeling that this isn't the only or the last revelation of wrong-doing and criminality that we're likely to hear before and after Bush and Co. leave office, or that additional presidential acts of clemency will be needed to spare other top administration officials from prison and buy their silence.

What we've witnessed and endured during seven long years of the Bush presidency is the inevitable consequence of bringing vicious and unprincipled but successful political campaigners — attack dogs — into top White House jobs.

The idea that a political campaign should address any and all criticism by going for the throats of those who dare to question it may work on election day but it doesn’t work, or shouldn’t, when the full weight and power of the federal government is put behind it.

We are a better people and this is a better country than that, and this is why, when it's weighed and judged, the Bush presidency will be found to have perverted not only our system but also the very principles on which our nation was founded.

We don’t rush into a war that has cost so many lives and so much national treasure, and has so damaged our standing in the world, based on a tissue of lies. But under the leadership of George W. Bush, that's what we did in Iraq.

We don’t stand idly by, backs turned and eyes closed, while in wartime our friends and political contributors loot the national treasury of billions of taxpayer dollars. But the Bush administration and a Republican-controlled Congress did just that.

We don’t send our soldiers and Marines into combat without enough of everything they need to fight, survive and win. But that's what this administration and its political operatives in charge of the Pentagon did.

We don’t turn the office of the attorney general and key parts of the Justice Department into a branch of a partisan political campaign — gutting offices charged with protecting the civil rights of minorities and directing the prosecution of those of a different political party — but this administration did.

We don’t declare war and then expect that the entire sacrifice will be borne by the half a percent of our population who wear uniforms. We don’t fight a long and costly war by cutting taxes on the wealthiest Americans and borrowing trillions of dollars to finance it from foreign competitors such as China. But this administration did.

We don’t prosecute a war to spread democracy by curtailing democracy and suspending the Bill of Rights at home. We cannot promote our principles abroad by denying the same principles — the right to a lawyer, the right to a fair trial, the right to be secure in our homes — to ourselves. But this administration did.

We don’t beat or torture confessions out of prisoners in violation of our laws and the laws of the civilized world. We don’t lock people up and hold them incommunicado for years without charges or trials. But this administration did and does.

We don’t applaud and cheer an administration and a Congress that make the rich vastly richer, the middle class less secure and the poor even poorer. But this administration has done just that, in violation of our principles and the principles of love, peace and charity that are engrained in the Christianity that these rogues and charlatans embrace so publicly but violate every day.

It will be a good day when they are gone, and good riddance to them all.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/21921.html[/quote]
 

Steve

Well-known member
We don’t lock people up and hold them incommunicado for years without charges or trials.

Then what do we do with them???

The prison, established at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, holds people accused by the United States government of being terrorist operatives, ...
As of August 09, 2007, approximately 355 detainees remain. More than a fifth are cleared for release but may have to wait months or years because U.S. officials are finding it increasingly difficult to line up places to send them,...

Maybe you could take some of them home for Thanksgiving...
 

Tex

Well-known member
The picture we have been sold is not what it seems to be.

I think a lot of people have been fooled by Bush. Heck---he is even good at fooling himself.
 

Steve

Well-known member
Tex
The picture we have been sold is not what it seems to be.

I think a lot of people have been fooled

At least you have that part right... people have been fooled by the media and liberals into thinking these are a nice bunch of guys that just happen to be tourists on vacation (or students studying abroad) in Afghanistan.... and for some odd reason they just happen to be shooting at out troops... yea, you've been fooled...




How many Gitmo detained terrorists do you want for at your home for Thanksgiving?
 

Tex

Well-known member
Steve said:
Tex
The picture we have been sold is not what it seems to be.

I think a lot of people have been fooled

At least you have that part right... people have been fooled by the media and liberals into thinking these are a nice bunch of guys that just happen to be tourists on vacation (or students studying abroad) in Afghanistan.... and for some odd reason they just happen to be shooting at out troops... yea, you've been fooled...




How many Gitmo detained terrorists do you want for at your home for Thanksgiving?

So are you saying I have to invite total strangers into my home for Thanksgiving because the govt. wants to hold prisoners at GITMO?

You have a twisted mind, steve.

Vice President Cheny, Scooter Libby, Andrew Card, maybe pres. Bush and others committed treason in the case of Valerie Plame for political purposes.

Maybe they should go have Thanksgiving at gitmo.

I
 

Tex

Well-known member
Faster horses said:
How utterly ridiculous!

You compare Bush, Cheney, etc with those held at Guantanamo Bay?
That is pretty sick thinking :mad:

I rank treason pretty high, Faster Horses, and in this case, it was done for political purposes which makes it even worse. They even jailed a reporter for some time because of it, and then Bush pardon's libby so he doesn't have to go. These guys in the white house are such hypocrites.

You may have trouble calling a spade a spade, but I don't.

I didn't bring the scenario up, but now that I think about it, yes, it might not hurt to have Cheny go down to gitmo for thanksgiving involuntarily.

He and Bush are responsible for many more innocent deaths due to their not replacing the civil society in Iraq as promptly as they removed it---and totally against the advice of top generals, I might add.

I bet the figure is higher than 10 (innocent Iraqis) to 1 compared to the lives we have lost both military and 911.

I bet you can't find the number. I guess you have no problem justifying those numbers.

I wonder what makes you so self rightous as to say we are any better. The rest of the world is not so blinded by the bias.

If we are to operate for our self interests in the world, we must also recognize the interests of the rest of the world. If we do not, we end up making more enemies in the long run.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Well said, Tex. Bush and Cheney are worse than the prisoners at GitMo. They invaded Iraq for personal reasons. Of the hundreds of people snatched out of their lives, held in secrecy for years at GitMo, very few were ever charged with anything! This is the kind of stuff the old USSR did.
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
ff said:
Well said, Tex.
Congratulations Tex. Your insight and wisdom is perfectly in line with ff, the most liberal person in the U.S. So far only you and her have said that Bush and Cheney are worse than our enemies. Do you get what you're saying Tex? The president is worse than the terrorist and conspirators being held as enemy combatants against the country you claim to love. You've lost touch with reality.
 

Steve

Well-known member
Red Robin
So far only you and her have said that Bush and Cheney are worse than our enemies.

They join Kathy and SteveC on the over the left edge club :lol: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :wink: :lol: :roll: :roll: :roll: :wink: :!:
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Red Robin said:
ff said:
Well said, Tex.
Congratulations Tex. Your insight and wisdom is perfectly in line with ff, the most liberal person in the U.S. So far only you and her have said that Bush and Cheney are worse than our enemies. Do you get what you're saying Tex? The president is worse than the terrorist and conspirators being held as enemy combatants against the country you claim to love. You've lost touch with reality.

The majority of people put at GitMo were not our enemies. They were people going about their business, snatched up in dragnets, ratted out by their enemies and hauled off to a foreign prison. That's why most of them have been let go without charges or trials. The Bush/Cheney junta held some of them for years and then just turned them loose. Their kids grew up without them. Their jobs, if they had one, were gone. Their familes, in some instances, disappeared. Do you care? Apparently not.

The Los Angeles Times said the US plans to release about one-third of the men being held at the prison because they pose no threat to the United States.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0425/dailyUpdate.html
 

Tex

Well-known member
ff said:
Red Robin said:
ff said:
Well said, Tex.
Congratulations Tex. Your insight and wisdom is perfectly in line with ff, the most liberal person in the U.S. So far only you and her have said that Bush and Cheney are worse than our enemies. Do you get what you're saying Tex? The president is worse than the terrorist and conspirators being held as enemy combatants against the country you claim to love. You've lost touch with reality.

The majority of people put at GitMo were not our enemies. They were people going about their business, snatched up in dragnets, ratted out by their enemies and hauled off to a foreign prison. That's why most of them have been let go without charges or trials. The Bush/Cheney junta held some of them for years and then just turned them loose. Their kids grew up without them. Their jobs, if they had one, were gone. Their familes, in some instances, disappeared. Do you care? Apparently not.

The Los Angeles Times said the US plans to release about one-third of the men being held at the prison because they pose no threat to the United States.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0425/dailyUpdate.html

Don't confuse them with facts, ff.

If they can't win an argument, they have to label you a "liberal". It is all they have left. Hey, that makes them leftists doesn't it?
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
I will guarantee you one thing, if I thought the leaders of our country were as bad as those in Guantanamoe Bay, I'd be for getting out of here.

What's keeping you in this awful land of corruption?

In my mind, your posts are treasonous.
 

Tex

Well-known member
Faster horses said:
I will guarantee you one thing, if I thought the leaders of our country were as bad as those in Guantanamoe Bay, I'd be for getting out of here.

What's keeping you in this awful land of corruption?

In my mind, your posts are treasonous.


...and that is the problem with you, faster, you can not see things for what they are.

Tell me, is giving away a CIA agent's identity not a crime if you are a republican and do it for political purposes?

Whatever land you happen to live in, and I am including all countries here, it is your duty as a citizen and in a democracy, a voter, for calling the shots.

Is it okay to excuse this action if you are a republican or are they to be considered above the law?
 

Frankk

Well-known member
Steve said:
Red Robin
So far only you and her have said that Bush and Cheney are worse than our enemies.

They join Kathy and SteveC on the over the left edge club :lol: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :wink: :lol: :roll: :roll: :roll: :wink: :!:

SteveC was banned for little to nothing so maybe you can trump something up to get these two banned.
 

passin thru

Well-known member
They invaded Iraq for personal reasons.
Such a simplistic opinion you have there. If you could climb out of your Utopian dream maybe you could see the truth. Heck, even ask ole Slick Willy he said the same thing we are saying.
 

Tex

Well-known member
Tex said:
Faster horses said:
I will guarantee you one thing, if I thought the leaders of our country were as bad as those in Guantanamoe Bay, I'd be for getting out of here.

What's keeping you in this awful land of corruption?

In my mind, your posts are treasonous.


...and that is the problem with you, faster, you can not see things for what they are.

Tell me, is giving away a CIA agent's identity not a crime if you are a republican and do it for political purposes?

Whatever land you happen to live in, and I am including all countries here, it is your duty as a citizen and in a democracy, a voter, for calling the shots.

Is it okay to excuse this action if you are a republican or are they to be considered above the law?


Quote from Faster Horses, Sat. April 01, 2006 7:45 am:

"We are a country of free speech, but treason is something else again."
 

jodywy

Well-known member
Tex said:
Faster horses said:
I will guarantee you one thing, if I thought the leaders of our country were as bad as those in Guantanamoe Bay, I'd be for getting out of here.

What's keeping you in this awful land of corruption?

In my mind, your posts are treasonous.


...and that is the problem with you, faster, you can not see things for what they are.

Tell me, is giving away a CIA agent's identity not a crime if you are a republican and do it for political purposes?

Whatever land you happen to live in, and I am including all countries here, it is your duty as a citizen and in a democracy, a voter, for calling the shots.

Is it okay to excuse this action if you are a republican or are they to be considered above the law?

Fair Play by James M. Olson Former Chief of CIA counterintelligence.
Listen to him talk last winter interesting life, He gets Tom Clancy book from the library because he won’t pay him a royalty said his books are too accurate that he has inside info. Also that Clancy’s Red Rabbit is close to what he and his wife did in USSR.
When asked about the leak he said she told half of Washington DC during coctail parties what she did . :shock:
 

Tex

Well-known member
Jodywy, if what you say is true about Plame and coctail parties (and I don't discount the possiblity), she should have been called up on the investigation of outing herself. Fitzgerald should have had this in his investigation if it indeed occurred before the actual outing. I will remind you that the conclusions of Plame and her husband ended up being more credible than Bush's through Sec. Powell's speech on the run up.

Faster, I see you haven't responded to my post yet. I do want to correct one thing you said:

How utterly ridiculous!

You compare Bush, Cheney, etc with those held at Guantanamo Bay?
That is pretty sick thinking

I wasn't the one who got in a tizzy and said that Bush and Cheny are comparable to those in gitmo. It was your own fabrication. I said that Cheny should have an involuntary visitation for thanksgiving, that it might not be that far out of line, and it was a response to someone else posting about the terrorists at gitmo needing to be invited to my house for thanksgiving.

I would like you to respond about the treason comments, however. Please don't work yourself up and go off the deep end again.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Thats the problem with GW- Cheney - and the rest of the White House crew...Their own former staff is disputing everything they keep swearing is the truth...Now its McClellan on this CIA broad- before if was Powell saying that the only reason he finally agreed with the neocon White House crew on the Iraq war was after they gave him what he now knows was false info, to intentionally influence him--then the FBI head comes out and says Gonzales and the US Attorneys office are lying about trying to force Ashcroft (almost on his death bed) to allow illegal wiretaps, because the Acting US attorney refused to and said they were illegal-- the Generals are all now saying that Rummy misrun the military and had no plan for Iraq--Condi Rice says that the reason they have no accountability for $Billion of State Department money in Iraq happened before her appointment as Secretary....

It all comes back to the same person--the man in charge had a dysfunctional outfit- and either couldn't figure that out- or allowed it anyway....
 
Top