In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
War Crimes
Lawmakers Say New Abuse Photos Even Worse
"I don't know how the hell these people got into our army," said Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., one of several members of Congress who emerged grim-faced from lawmakers-only screenings in the Capitol.
Lawmakers said they saw disturbing images that included military dogs snarling at cowering prisoners, Iraqi women commanded to expose their breasts and photos of sex acts, including forced homosexual sex.
In addition, lawmakers said there were images of hooded Iraqi prisoners being forced to masturbate while cameras captured the scene.
Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said she saw a clothed man hurling himself against a wall as though trying to knock himself unconscious.
Lieberman however thought he was watching a cheap cable movie and not evidence of systemic abuses by a defense department that was allowed to hurtle towards such demonstrations abusive power unchecked: "It just deepens the conclusion that this was a cellblock that had gone wild, had no standards," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., although several lawmakers said the pictures reinforced their belief that officials further up the chain of command shared the cuplability.
...
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said making the images public could "possibly endanger the men and women of the armed forces."
And that is the truth. These actions by these privates (and the Defense Department that nudged them along) not only have destroyed America's moral standing for decades to come, but have put our soldiers in even more danger than they were before.
Bush could lessen the risk by showing the world he takes this seriously by firing Rumsfeld, but the truth is that would only happen if he cared about America and the lives of American soldiers. He doesn't. If he fired Rumsfeld his core constituency of rabid idiots would see this as a weakness. Bush wants to get re-elected, that is and always is his goal. The lives of American servicemen mean nothing.
Rep. Wayne Gilchrist, R-Md., summed up his reaction to the pictures in four words: "Disgust, anger, rage, sadness."
Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said the images did not show acts of violence, but what appear to be "results of acts of violence."
Several other senators said they saw pictures of corpses, but it wasn't clear under what circumstances the Iraqis had died.
President Bush has apologized for the abuse, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told Congress last week he accepted responsibility.
Those Senators are also responsible. They have a duty to make sure the money they give to the defense department is used correctly. They've been giving Bush a blank check, allowing him to really have unchecked power. Now what do we know about power?
- rob 11:55 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
TCS Now offers a News Reader Feed
Subscribe to the TCS Feed
Having trouble with some of the poor English
on this site?
Imagine what it looks like when translated by a machine:
This is a "team" blog. We are a bunch of
Americans, whose rising distress
in our leader's decisions brought us together to make this site.
As Bush said, he's a "uniter." Many of us have never even met.
That's the internet for you.
Buy our cool stuff.
And tell everyone what you feel.
We have a little Store
you can visit.
Our store's selection of items is constantly growing. Come
see what we have.
We're also Amazon Associates, so if you want to buy something from Amazon, please search for it below, and we will get a few bucks from the sale.
Static Sky
Tin Foil Caps
The Free Speech Zone
The office of the independent blogger
Buzzflash
Tom The Dancing Bug
VerifiedVoting.org
Get Your War
On
This Modern World
Eschaton / Atrios
Daily Kos
meowpurrmeow
Contribute to America's Future
It is now more important then ever.
Donate to the Democractic Congressional Campaign Committee
Donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Some More Site Mottos
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the
president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is
not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American people."
- Teddy Roosevelt
"Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of
its citizenship. If private cooperative endeavor fails to provide work
for willing hands and relief for the unfortunate, those suffering
hardship from no fault of their own have a right to call upon the
Government for aid; and a government worthy of its name must make
fitting response."
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain
degree."
- James Madison
"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
- John F. Kennedy
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
more coming...
