Keith Olbermann responds to Rumsfeld
Posted By: Liberal on 2006-08-31
In Reply to:
One of Keith's best moments, IMO.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/
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It was an abomination. Even Keith Olbermann condemned it.
there are a couple of differences. The Palin effigy was put there by the owner of a private residence who used his own possessions. What could they have charged him with? He cant vandalize his own home. The Obama effigy was was hung on a state university college campus using state property f an educational institution who is responsible for the safety of all of its students....that would be all males, female, blacks, whites and foreign nationals. They are in a position to make SOME sort or statement that condemns the action and assured student and parents that measures will be taken to prevent a fraternity prank for "gettng out of hand" again. Burglary and vandalism charges see reasonable, since that it what they did. And by the way, another major difference. Can't recall too many chapters in American history when women were hung by racist lynch mobs...black, on the other hand...well, that's another story. It was not even a decade back here in East Texas where a black man was kidnapped, tied to the back of a truck with a Confederate flag on the back of it, and dragged to his death, dismembered and beheaded. They tried the "boys willbe boy's" defense. It didn't work. The two (of the 3) perpetrators who could be proven to be racists were sentenced to death because it was a hate crime. The third one scraped by with life in prison because his racism could not be proven.
Keith Olbermann is a complete fruitcake!
He sits and states that Texas gets 88% back of every dollar they send to the federal government but another states (midwest) only gets 40+%. Is he really that brainwashed? Does he not even think for a moment that Texas has to pay for all the illegals in their state and bear the burden of all the freebies these freeloaders gets? Healthcare, food, clothing, housing, and the lists go on and on to the tune of millions and millions. You better believe they need to get EVERY penny back... as far as I am concerned, 88% should be 100%.... BTW we all should be keeping our 100% earnings. Constitution states individual citizens are NOT to pay taxes to federal government, ONLY corporations.
Olbermann would kiss the backside of Hitler and bow at his feet if he were still alive. This man is absolutely sickening!
Hmmm.....Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann....
removed from anchor duties for election coverage and relegated to commentator only. Talk about backlash.
Yup - a message froma Keith Olbermann stooge
Bushwacked is a term that nutcase Keith Olbermann uses.
So what's your point.
William Ayres, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann.....
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I guess we'll see how the gov. responds this time. nm
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I don't really care about Rumsfeld.
The part about Rumsfeld was actually the only part I disagreed with her about because if Rummy wasn't doing exactly what Bush wanted, Bush would have fired him a long time ago. I believe it's Bush's policies that are the problem. If he fires Rummy, he will only hire someone else that he can hide behind and let take the heat for his failed war scheme.
I loved the pig comment, too. LoL
The day Rumsfeld resigned. sm
Britney Spears divorce received millions more hits on the net than the news of Rumsfeld's resignation. And the divorce thing was days old. I think that puts into perspective where people's minds are. Rome is burning and this time, a large portion of the American population are fiddling.
Rumsfeld resigning? Anyone else hear this? sm
Replacement supposed to be Bob Gates.
All this said, I agree with you that Cheney, Rumsfeld
and Bush should be punished for what they did. Guards in Abu Ghraib who followed orders were put on trial and imprisoned.
Torture is never justified and brings often useless, coerced confessions and devastating revenge.
Those subjected to physical torture usually conceive undying hatred for their torturers. One must therefore also consider the greater likelihood that American civilians (here or especially abroad) and American troops overseas will be subject to torture (or terror) by aggrieved enemies.'
Yes, I saw this on Keith last night as well.
Mind boggling, isn't it, when it's all put into this concentrated perspective? You do realize, of course, that your post will be slammed by all the still blind, in-denial Bush lovers? But, who cares? Because he. . . . is . . . . OUT OF HERE!! 
Rumsfeld's Handshake Deal With Saddam Hussein
Rumsfeld is full of history (among other substances), but he neglected to share this piece of history with the American majority he criticized.
(I suggest Breaking Up Is Hard To Do as the perfect background music for this.)
Published on Thursday, December 8, 2005 by CommonDreams.org |
Rumsfeld's Handshake Deal with Saddam |
by Norman Solomon |
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Christmas came 11 days early for Donald Rumsfeld two years ago when the news broke that American forces had pulled Saddam Hussein from a spidery hole. During interviews about the capture, on CBS and ABC, the Pentagon's top man was upbeat. And he didn't have to deal with a question that Lesley Stahl or Peter Jennings could have logically chosen to ask: Secretary Rumsfeld, you met with Saddam almost exactly 20 years ago and shook his hand. What kind of guy was he?
Now, Saddam Hussein has gone on trial, but such questions remain unasked by mainstream U.S. journalists. Rumsfeld met with Hussein in Baghdad on behalf of the Reagan administration, opening up strong diplomatic and military ties that lasted through six more years of Saddam's murderous brutality.
As it happens, the initial trial of Saddam and co-defendants is focusing on grisly crimes that occurred the year before Rumsfeld gripped his hand. The first witness, Ahmad Hassan Muhammad, 38, riveted the courtroom with the scenes of torture he witnessed after his arrest in 1982, including a meat grinder with human hair and blood under it, the New York Times reported Tuesday. And: At one point, Mr. Muhammad briefly broke down in tears as he recalled how his brother was tortured with electrical shocks in front of their 77-year-old father.
The victims were Shiites -- 143 men and adolescent boys, according to the charges -- tortured and killed in the Iraqi town of Dujail after an assassination attempt against Saddam in early July of 1982. Donald Rumsfeld became the Reagan administration's Middle East special envoy 15 months later.
On Dec. 20, 1983, the Washington Post reported that Rumsfeld visited Iraq in what U.S. officials said was an attempt to bolster the already improving U.S. relations with that country. A couple of days later, the New York Times cited a senior American official who said that the United States remained ready to establish full diplomatic relations with Iraq and that it was up to the Iraqis.
On March 29, 1984, the Times reported: American diplomats pronounce themselves satisfied with relations between Iraq and the United States and suggest that normal diplomatic ties have been restored in all but name. Washington had some goodies for Saddam's regime, the Times account noted, including agricultural-commodity credits totaling $840 million. And while no results of the talks have been announced after the Rumsfeld visit to Baghdad three months earlier, Western European diplomats assume that the United States now exchanges some intelligence on Iran with Iraq.
A few months later, on July 17, 1984, a Times article with a Baghdad dateline sketchily filled in a bit more information, saying that the U.S. government granted Iraq about $2 billion in commodity credits to buy food over the last two years. The story recalled that Donald Rumsfeld, the former Middle East special envoy, held two private meetings with the Iraqi president here, and the dispatch mentioned in passing that State Department human rights reports have been uniformly critical of the Iraqi President, contending that he ran a police state.
Full diplomatic relations between Washington and Baghdad were restored 11 months after Rumsfeld's December 1983 visit with Saddam. He went on to use poison gas later in the decade, actions which scarcely harmed relations with the Reagan administration.
As the most senior U.S. official to visit Iraq in six years, Rumsfeld had served as Reagan's point man for warming relations with Saddam. In 1984, the administration engineered the sale to Baghdad of 45 ostensibly civilian-use Bell 214ST helicopters. Saddam's military found them quite useful for attacking Kurdish civilians with poison gas in 1988, according to U.S. intelligence sources. In response to the gassing, journalist Jeremy Scahill has pointed out, sweeping sanctions were unanimously passed by the U.S. Senate that would have denied Iraq access to most U.S. technology. The measure was killed by the White House.
The USA's big media institutions did little to illuminate how Washington and business interests combined to strengthen and arm Saddam Hussein during many of his worst crimes. In the 1980s and afterward, the United States underwrote 24 American corporations so they could sell to Saddam Hussein weapons of mass destruction, which he used against Iran, at that time the prime Middle Eastern enemy of the United States, writes Ben Bagdikian, a former assistant managing editor of the Washington Post, in his book The New Media Monopoly. Hussein used U.S.-supplied poison gas against Iranians and Kurds while the United States looked the other way.
Of course the crimes of the Saddam Hussein regime were not just in the future when Rumsfeld came bearing gifts in 1983. Saddam's large-scale atrocities had been going on for a long time. Among them were the methodical torture and murders in Dujail that have been front-paged this week in coverage of the former dictator's trial; they occurred 17 months before Rumsfeld arrived in Baghdad.
Today, inside the corporate media frame, history can be supremely relevant when it focuses on Hussein's torture and genocide. But the historic assistance of the U.S. government and American firms is largely off the subject and beside the point.
A photo of Donald Rumsfeld shaking Saddam's hand on Dec. 20, 1983, is easily available. (It takes a few seconds to find via Google.) But the picture has been notably absent from the array of historic images that U.S. media outlets are providing to viewers and readers in coverage of the Saddam Hussein trial. And journalistic mention of Rumsfeld's key role in aiding the Iraqi tyrant has been similarly absent. Apparently, in the world according to U.S. mass media, some history matters profoundly and some doesn't matter at all.
Norman Solomon is the author of the new book War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. For information, go to: www.WarMadeEasy.com. |
TOBY KEITH AND OL' WILLIE
Well a man, come on
Six o'clock news
Says somebody been shot
Somebody's been abused
Somebody blew up a building
Somebody stole their car
Somebody got away
Somebody didn't get too far, yeah
They didn't get too far
Grandpappy told my pappy
Back in my day, son
A man had to answer
For the wicked thing he done
Take all the rope in Texas
Find a tall oak tree
Round up all of them bad boys
And hang 'em high in the street
For all the people to see
And justice is the one thing
You should always find
You gotta saddle up your boys
You gotta draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles
We'll sing a victory tune
And we'll all meet back
At the local saloon
We'll raises up our glasses
Against evil forces
Singing, "Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses!"
We got too many gangsters
Doing dirty deeds
Too much corruption
And crime in the streets
It's time the long arm of the law
Put a few more in the ground
Send them all to their Maker
And he'll set them on down
You can bet, He'll set 'em down
Germany seek charges against Rumsfeld for prison abuse sm
Friday, Nov. 10, 2006
Exclusive: Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse
A lawsuit in Germany will seek a criminal prosecution of the outgoing Defense Secretary and other U.S. officials for their alleged role in abuses at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo
By ADAM ZAGORIN
Just days after his resignation, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is about to face more repercussions for his involvement in the troubled wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. New legal documents, to be filed next week with Germany's top prosecutor, will seek a criminal investigation and prosecution of Rumsfeld, along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet and other senior U.S. civilian and military officers, for their alleged roles in abuses committed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The plaintiffs in the case include 11 Iraqis who were prisoners at Abu Ghraib, as well as Mohammad al-Qahtani, a Saudi held at Guantanamo, whom the U.S. has identified as the so-called 20th hijacker and a would-be participant in the 9/11 hijackings. As TIME first reported in June 2005, Qahtani underwent a special interrogation plan, personally approved by Rumsfeld, which the U.S. says produced valuable intelligence. But to obtain it, according to the log of his interrogation and government reports, Qahtani was subjected to forced nudity, sexual humiliation, religious humiliation, prolonged stress positions, sleep deprivation and other controversial interrogation techniques.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs say that one of the witnesses who will testify on their behalf is former Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the one-time commander of all U.S. military prisons in Iraq. Karpinski who the lawyers say will be in Germany next week to publicly address her accusations in the case has issued a written statement to accompany the legal filing, which says, in part: It was clear the knowledge and responsibility [for what happened at Abu Ghraib] goes all the way to the top of the chain of command to the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld .
A spokesperson for the Pentagon told TIME there would be no comment since the case has not yet been filed.
Along with Rumsfeld, Gonzales and Tenet, the other defendants in the case are Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone; former assistant attorney general Jay Bybee; former deputy assisant attorney general John Yoo; General Counsel for the Department of Defense William James Haynes II; and David S. Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff. Senior military officers named in the filing are General Ricardo Sanchez, the former top Army official in Iraq; Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the former commander of Guantanamo; senior Iraq commander, Major General Walter Wojdakowski; and Col. Thomas Pappas, the one-time head of military intelligence at Abu Ghraib.
Germany was chosen for the court filing because German law provides universal jurisdiction allowing for the prosecution of war crimes and related offenses that take place anywhere in the world. Indeed, a similar, but narrower, legal action was brought in Germany in 2004, which also sought the prosecution of Rumsfeld. The case provoked an angry response from Pentagon, and Rumsfeld himself was reportedly upset. Rumsfeld's spokesman at the time, Lawrence DiRita, called the case a a big, big problem. U.S. officials made clear the case could adversely impact U.S.-Germany relations, and Rumsfeld indicated he would not attend a major security conference in Munich, where he was scheduled to be the keynote speaker, unless Germany disposed of the case. The day before the conference, a German prosecutor announced he would not pursue the matter, saying there was no indication that U.S. authorities and courts would not deal with allegations in the complaint.
In bringing the new case, however, the plaintiffs argue that circumstances have changed in two important ways. Rumsfeld's resignation, they say, means that the former Defense Secretary will lose the legal immunity usually accorded high government officials. Moreover, the plaintiffs argue that the German prosecutor's reasoning for rejecting the previous case that U.S. authorities were dealing with the issue has been proven wrong.
The utter and complete failure of U.S. authorities to take any action to investigate high-level involvement in the torture program could not be clearer, says Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a U.S.-based non-profit helping to bring the legal action in Germany. He also notes that the Military Commissions Act, a law passed by Congress earlier this year, effectively blocks prosecution in the U.S. of those involved in detention and interrogation abuses of foreigners held abroad in American custody going to back to Sept. 11, 2001. As a result, Ratner contends, the legal arguments underlying the German prosecutor's previous inaction no longer hold up.
Whatever the legal merits of the case, it is the latest example of efforts in Western Europe by critics of U.S. tactics in the war on terror to call those involved to account in court. In Germany, investigations are under way in parliament concerning cooperation between the CIA and German intelligence on rendition the kidnapping of suspected terrorists and their removal to third countries for interrogation. Other legal inquiries involving rendition are under way in both Italy and Spain.
U.S. officials have long feared that legal proceedings against war criminals could be used to settle political scores. In 1998, for example, former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet whose military coup was supported by the Nixon administration was arrested in the U.K. and held for 16 months in an extradition battle led by a Spanish magistrate seeking to charge him with war crimes. He was ultimately released and returned to Chile. More recently, a Belgian court tried to bring charges against then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for alleged crimes against Palestinians.
For its part, the Bush Administration has rejected adherence to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on grounds that it could be used to unjustly prosecute U.S. officials. The ICC is the first permanent tribunal established to prosecute war crimes, genocide and other crimes against humanity.
Germany, who killed millions of Jews wants to prosecute Rumsfeld.
That makes sense.
So, McC finally agreed to interview with Keith O?
In the final stretch, it would make sense to me that either candidate would want to surround himself with as much positive energy as possible. It's a campaign and I don't believe it says anything about fairness, being open-minded, a candidate's intent or ability to reach across the aisle or capacity for compromise where it counts...after the election.
In other words, they speak their minds like Keith
and every other idjit liberal news outlet out there? What's the big deal. CNN sent out a whacko nutjob reporter who provoked and harrassed and accused protestors who were just minding their business. Don't see you on here ranting about that.....
Olbermann right on...
Finally, finally people are beginning to discuss this openly. On Hardball Chris is talking about this with a lot of people (including our first Homeland Security guru) who had some knock-down drag-out (verbal) disagreements with Cheney over terror alerts. Ridge would say you want me to raise the level for THAT???? and of course Cheney wanted him to, any time anything turned sour for the GOP. Another reason that Bush et al wanted to make the British investigation public right now is that they want to get started on Iran before Bush is out of office so they had to speed those detail-oriented Brits along, time's a flyin', got another war to start. God help us all.
Olbermann gets a bull's eye on this one...sm
Now, if he would just take things a few steps further.
Olbermann (and sometimes Maddow)...
are equal-opportunity offenders. Olbermann has begun to criticize Obama regarding things Olbermann doesn't agree with. He doesn't just blindly follow and agree with everything because Obama is a Democrat.
Olbermann is off the chain crazy...LOL...nm
Two Fantastic Olbermann videos.
(I hope this post doesn't get deleted. I'm copying and saving this, just in case, and then if it's deleted again, maybe I can just email the links to those who might be interested in seeing these excellent clips.)
#1: Reinventing the Geneva Conventions (with Jonathan Turley regarding Bush wanting to cover his butt for past illegal deeds):
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=0A4170EF-8025-4E39-A3D3-1AC55264927D&f=00&fg=copy
#2: It's Unacceptable to Think (Bush's response to Colin Powell's thoughts)
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=42E1A2A9-D35F-4453-868B-A96C9E0D2B34&f=00&fg=copy
Olbermann is an idiot pundit.
He has not now, nor has he ever been a newsperson. He needs to go back to interviewing sweaty football players. He's a dunce.
Olbermann is a commentator...not a journalist...
and he was removed from his "journalism" spot on MSNBC to a strict commentator position because of his obvious bias toward Obama and playing fast and loose with the truth. He doesn't know if it is true or not, he just repeated rumor. It is a fact that she has not belonged to the assembly of God church since 2002. Her present pastor confirmed that, as did her former pastor. No one disputes that...except maybe Olbermann, but the only truth he recognizes is something that supports Obama.
Right, Olbermann and "tingle up my leg" Matthews.
nm
Yep....it's Olbermann....so if you don't like him, no need to go any farther in message...
lame duck watch
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/vp/26186747#26186747
Olbermann, Maddow, and Limbaugh
Can't stand any of them. Two are on the left, one on the right, and they are all cut out of the same cloth, in my opinion. Blustering, self-righteous, and intolerant. Maddow is a little more subtle, but very full of herself and her narrow opinions. I agree more with what Rush says, but can't stand to look at him or listen to him. What a big, self-important windbag.
Olbermann: "You owe this country an apology." sm
Another great special comment from Keith Olbermann.
Olbermann is a graduate of Cornell University...
and you are a graduate of what?
Olbermann is disgraceful, but I'd be interested in knowing...
...where the Constitution prohibits the federal taxation of citizens, if you would please quote me the article and section.
Olbermann? -the mentally deranged commentator?
nm
anything olbermann, shlll for the left, deserves a reply...nm
//
Hey, JTBB, did you happen to catch Janene Garofolo last night on Olbermann? sm
Her psychological analysis of Lamebaugh and the type of people who ""follow""him was right on the money!! I guess there is whole lot of self-loathing going around on this board!! LOL
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