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Desensitization and GITMO-ization
Last night Richard, Marietta and I experienced one of the more disturbing evenings of our lives inside the beltway; the Council of Foreign Relations/HBO presentation of Rory Kennedy's documentary, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib.
Rory opened the evening by talking about the balance between national security and the rule of law, and how fluid that line has become. The price we have paid is a commitment to human rights first. She would like to see the film raise questions that lead to a policy debate, and ultimately, a rethinking of what we are doing.
So would we.
At the reception prior to the film we had met and talked with Janice Karpinski. Marietta and I told her we used some of her story in Fear Up: Stories from Baghdad and Guantanamo and we thanked her for speaking out as she has been.
The film opens with a reminder about the experimental work of Dr. Stanley Milgrim In 1961 Milgram conducted experiments in obedience. What follows is a quote from a 1974 paper on those experiments:
The legal and philosophic aspects of obedience are of enormous importance, but they say very little about how most people behave in concrete situations. I set up a simple experiment at Yale University to test how much pain an ordinary citizen would inflict on another person simply because he was ordered to by an experimental scientist. Stark authority was pitted against the subjects' [participants'] strongest moral imperatives against hurting others, and, with the subjects' [participants'] ears ringing with the screams of the victims, authority won more often than not. The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation.
Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.We have noticed.
Sound bites followed from the young men and women who had been accused of the worst kind of torture at Abu Ghraib:
"That place turned me into a monster."
"You become like a robot."
"If you walk through all of that, when do you say 'It's enough'?"
"You'll go crazy if you don't adapt to it."
"After 9-11, I believed someone had to pay."
For years, the United States was not only a follower of the Geneva Conventions; we were known to promote and operate above those standards.
John Yoo, however, thought it was time to move on. "They don't apply", he said of the Conventions.
he film points out that in 2002, torture was redefined to mean actions against a prisoner that led to organ damage or death; the film also points out that many of the torture methods that were approved were the ones used by Saddam Hussein in his prisons.
Ironic, no?
Ken Davis, one of the military police at Abu Ghraib said that when he got to Iraq, he was given an automatic rifle and told to guard the back of a truck in a convoy. He asked what the rules of engagement were. The officers were confused by the question. "If it looks like the enemy," he was told, "shoot it." Davis said he replied, "I've never been out of the United States. Everything looks like the enemy to me."
Sam Provance, another MP, said that Abu Ghraib was like Apocalyse Now meeting The Shining. Building 1B had women and children in it--they were there to draw in the more dangerous insurgents. But in the end, it was clear to the MPs that at least 75-80% of those held had no information or intelligence to give over.
General Geoffrey Miller was dispatched from Guantanamo, where they had developed the use of dogs for torture, among other methods, to Iraq. According to Donald Rumsfield, they just weren't getting the intel from Abu Ghraib. He sent Miller to "GITMO-ize" Abu Ghraib.
Rumsfield also added a note to one of his dispatches, pointing out that HE--Rumsfield--often had to stand up for 8-12 hours a day and why were the prisoners at Abu Graib only standing up for four hours a day?
General Miller had some advice for Brig. Gen. Karpinski: "If you don't treat the prisoners like dogs, you are treating them too well."
General Sanchez, who was the top commander in Iraq, issued conflicting and confusing recommendations on what was OK and what was not. The military police and guards were totally unclear on what they could and could not do.
Nakedness, for example. One of the guards stated "It was just business." The interrogation efforts were removed from Brig. General Karpinski, and the interrogators were given free rein. It became customary (and recommended) to torture the detainees throughout the night before they were going to be interrogated. And tortured they were.
The night shift had cameras. Sabrina, one of the guards (the one with the big smile in the photos) said she liked to take pictures, always had. Another said that he wanted souvenir photos of the places they'd been.
Sabrina, smiling for the camera. Oh, and that man is dead.
If not for the gruesome photos that they took, and subsequently shared, we would not even know about Abu Ghraib. But the fact that they took photos at all demonstrates where the degree of desensitization and obedience to authority can lead. One young woman said, "I had just come out of basic. I didn't feel it was my place to question anything."
Army Spc. Charles Graner had questioned what he was doing early on. But in the end, the power got to him. He did not hide what he was doing; and he received a commendation even after he had been reported.
In fact, had he not given a CD with the photos on it to the friend who wanted some pictures of Baghdad, Joseph Darby, who subsequently turned the CD over to CID, we would not even know about the photos. Darby, who is interviewed in the film, said that he was promised anonymity, but that CID brought in the interrogators from the photos while he was still there being interviewed. They had to take him out in a blanket. "That was the last time I talked to CID about anything," he said.
It was not the end for Darby, however. Donald Rumsfield himself named him, on national television, thanking him for being so brave as to turn the others in. Darby caught the next plane home.
The interviews with the prisoners themselves is wrenching. A psychiatrist pointed out that it's harder to cure psychological torture than it is to cure physical torture. One man describes holding his father in his arms while he died. Others describe what it was like to hear their fellow prisoners being tortured.
"We listened as his soul cracked."
The description and photos of the three men, naked, who were forced to take sexual positions with each other, while the soldiers stood around looking on were the hardest to watch. The sheer degradation of everyone is stunningly clear. This is what we have come to; this is who we are in the world now.
Eleven soldiers were convicted of the torture. Gen. Miller got a promotion and some more ribbons for his chest. Donald Rumsfield got fired, but only after three more years of damage. George Bush got re-elected. Janice Karpinski got demoted and fired. We the people got nothing, except the contempt of the world, and we can only hope, enough guilt to move us to act.
__________________________________
The film was followed by a panel discussion with Sen. Lindsey Graham, Senator Ted Kennedy, and moderated by Jeffrey Toobin.
Sen. Graham led off. He said that he thought Janice Karpinski should have been court-martialed. He said he bore some responsibility for "not speaking out sooner" on the issues at Abu Ghraib. He said that none of our neighbors would have any trouble with the idea of the thirty-five practices that were OK'd so long as they were applied to the terrorists. He asked us to consider if we would mind so much if a pedophile had buried one of our children and we needed to know where that was.
While we chewed on that last one especially (feeling the stomach-turning that so often accompanies listening to such drivel--it's Fear Up all over again!), Teddy grabbed the mike and let it rip. He pointed out that the standards that Gonzales drafted were not about getting intelligence, but about being about to take prisoners to the brink of death. He pointed out that Gonzales actually had to recant his memo in order to get the votes he needed to become A.G. "This has been a complete whitewash," the senior Senator from Massachusetts stated. "The echoes of Abu Ghraib are still out there."
Graham was asked about the Military Commissions Act, which drove him to mention "the enemy" at least five times. He pointed out that the US had not given prisoners incarcerated inside the US in World War II habeus corpus rights.
He did not point out that 80% of those in Abu Ghraib and 90% of those at Guantanamo were innocent; had been pointed out by bounty hunters or were just driving cabs, trying to earn a living when they wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Teddy said about habeus corpus: "It is basic to everything we stand for."
And then a moment that could only happen at an event like this: Jeffey Toobin asked Janice Karpinski--remember, she was there-- to respond to Lindsey Graham if she wanted to.
Oh, she wanted to! She said to him that she was from South Carolina and could not wait to get back there and make sure everyone knew what he had said. No one, she said, had made a public comment about her like that. Graham, she said, her voice getting stronger by the word, is as cowardly as Miller and Sanchez. "No one asked me what happened," she said. "We asked for a court martial. But the Army did not want me to testify in court."
The room was still, witnessing the fireworks. After it was over, most people applauded politely and left. A few of us stayed behind to ponder and consider the lack of rage, the sheer detachment and blase attitude of so many in this town. Among us were Col. Ann Wright, Medea Benjamin, Ray McGovern. I think tomorrow may be an interesting day. Or it might be just like today--as we all go about our usual business, while the soul of the world cracks again.
Cure For Pain
by Morphine
Where is the ritual?
And tell me where where is the taste?
Where is the sacrifice?
And tell me where where is the faith?
Someday there'll be a cure for pain
That's the day I throw my drugs away
When they find a cure for pain
Where is the cave?
Where the wise woman went
And tell me where,
Where's all that money that I spent?
I propose a toast to my self control
You see it crawling helpless on the floor
Someday there'll be a cure for pain
That's the day I throw my drugs away
When they find a cure for pain
When they find a cure, find a cure for pain.
When they find a cure, find a cure for pain.
C-SPAN 1
House debate on the non-binding resolution against the escalation in Iraq.
They just got done reading the rules, debate is about to begin.
Excellent thread header!!!
Just reading about torture makes me feel physically ill, so I am absolutely certain I cannot fathom the reality, how much worse it has to be than what my mind/feelings can conjure up.
Has anyone else noticed that advertised fiction on TV seems to mirror what the neoCons want us to think, back up the brainwashing words incessantly repeated by the administration? I refuse to watch those shows, but they are advertised, and just the ads fill me with revulsion. We are being entertained into desensitization via Lamestream Media.
What planet is Boehner living on? "We didn't start this war." he said, after a long litany of crimes that go back years, and I don't recall that most of those things (bombing of USS Cole, embassy bombings, etc.) had anything whatsoever to do with Iraq. Boehner is in denial and deluding himself if he thinks Bush did not start the illegal and unconstutional war in Iraq!
Pelosi spoke first, and she reiterated the support of troops, but repeated that she does not support the escalation.
C-SPAN 1 online is what I'm watching/listening to.
Between speeches for & against the non-binding resolution, it was just announced Rep. Charlie Norwood (GA) has just died.
The New York Times | Iran and the Nameless Briefers
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021307L.shtml
"Before things get any more out of hand, President Bush needs to make his intentions toward Iran clear. And Congress needs to make it clear that this time it will be neither tricked nor bullied into supporting another disastrous war," writes the New York Times.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/02/13/shut_up_and_stop_the_war.php
Shut Up And Stop The War
David Swanson
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/02/13/nightmare_on_alms_street.php
Nightmare On Alms Street
Martha Burk
God, it’s like Freddy Krueger, the monster from Nightmare on Elm Street. George W. Bush’s proposal to privatize Social Security b-a-a-a-ck again, refusing to die. It’s right there front and center in the new budget on the White House website. Ever delusional and ever loyal to Wall Street, George W. proposes diverting some payroll taxes to private accounts. Give the man credit for stubborn. He must have slept through the debate in 2005, when his plan was soundly trounced in the court of public opinion and even his own party, solidly in the majority, couldn’t muster support.
OK, George, let’s through this one more time. Privatizing Social Security is a nightmare of an idea. It is a particularly bad idea for older women, who depend on the system more than men. Social Security is women’s main retirement. Without it, an astonishing 59.2 percent would live in poverty in their old age. That’s because women earn less throughout their lives, get a big fat zero added to their Social Security tally for every year they spend out of the workforce taking care of kids or elderly parents and have lower and fewer private pensions to fall back on when retirement day comes.
{More on link...}
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/02/13/embrace_our_differences.php
Embrace Our Differences
Kofi Annan
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/02/13/a_billion_here_a_billion_where.php
A Billion Here, A Billion Where?
http://www.americanprogress.org/cartoons/2007/02/021307_budget.html
PBS Frontline tonight: first part of 2-part series on Bush and the press.
Bill Moyers on journalism, the arts, and democracy:"Discovering What Democracy Mean" http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/02/12/discovering_what_democracy_means.php. Speech to Woodrow WIlson National Fellowship Foundation, Feb 7, 2007
EXCERPTS:
"Jesus would not be crucified today. The prophets would not be stoned. Socrates would not drink the hemlock. They would instead be banned from the Sunday talk shows and op-ed pages by the sentries of establishment thinking who guard against dissent with the one weapon of mass destruction most cleverly designed to obliterate democracy—the rubber stamp. . .
"Yet the salvation of democracy requires a public aroused by the knowledge of what is being done to them in their name. Here is the crisis of the times as I see it: We talk about problems, issues, policies, but we don’t talk about what democracy means—what it bestows on us—the revolutionary idea that it isn’t just about the means of governance but the means of dignifying people so they become fully free to claim their moral and political agency. “I believe in Democracy because it releases the energies of every human being.” So spoke Woodrow Wilson. . .
What we have to determine now, as Wilson said in his day, “is whether we are big enough…whether we are free enough, to take possession again of the government which is our own. We haven’t had free access to it, our minds have not touched it by way of guidance, in half a generation, and now we are engaged in nothing less than the recovery of what was made with our own hands, and acts only by our delegated authority.”
. . .
"As we face that challenge even today, a story about Helen Keller is worth remembering. Toward the end of her career, as she was speaking at a Midwestern college, a student asked: “Miss Keller, is there anything that could have been worse than losing your sight?” Helen Keller replied: “Yes, I could have lost my vision.” "
PS. Wonderful, if chilling post. The last two paragraphs are devastating.
Hey! Attention all moonbats:
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/31fc6c96387b0110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
I gots to know...
Does mooning make one a moonbat?
After 9/11, I only watched the footage about 3x every because I was afraid of being hypnotized and sucked into the faux patriotism fervor and paranoid xenophobic hysteria. The first time I cried was when I heard that people were coming from Afghanistan on planes to a prison we were establishing in Cuba, bound and duct taped, then put into small cages. I didn't know what the charges were against them, if any, but knew it was dehumanizing, cruel & unusual for any living being.
Has anyone else noticed that advertised fiction on TV seems to mirror what the neoCons want us to think, back up the brainwashing words incessantly repeated by the administration? I refuse to watch those shows, but they are advertised, and just the ads fill me with revulsion. We are being entertained into desensitization via Lamestream Media.
Posted by: NonnyO at February 13, 2007 12:48 P
You just nailed why I don't watch television. I don't want to be exposed to the advertising. I don't feel I need an intimate knowledge of what most Americans are seeing. I can only imagine. I need to remain a virgin to some things, in order to have a remote chance at a tiny bit more objectivity. Not sure it even works but I've gone on this way since 1991 and intend to continue.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/02/12/wake_up_the_next_war_is_coming.php
Wake Up! The Next War Is Coming
Ray McGovern
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/02/13/menendez-dodd-will-introduce-bill-banning-torture-restore-habeas-corpus/
Menendez, Dodd Will Introduce Bill Banning Torture, Restore Habeas Corpus
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/02/13/colbert-on-the-dixie-chicks-douglas-feith-and-john-howard/
Colbert on The Dixie Chicks, Douglas Feith and John Howard
Posted by: DiAnne at February 13, 2007 03:20 PM
Don't know about C-SPAN on TV since I still refuse to get cable (I'd have to pay to get more ads yet; yuk), but since there are three channels of C-SPAN online, I can recommend watching or listening to that. I have been listening to the House session since the debate on the non-binding resolution started (this debate is scheduled to go for about three days before the vote, each gets five minutes to speak). C-SPAN 1 has the House debate.
I do have to wonder, however, if the neoCons reside on this same planet, or what they are smokin' or drinkin' to be as paranoid as most of them sound. They see boogey men around every corner, in every shadow (or else they are following a carefully scripted Bu$hCo outline!). Good Grief, but they are xenophobic!
Some of the Dems are quite eloquent in their allotted five minutes, speaking about the lies, why we need to get out, etc. (they'll never get quoted on Sun. yak shows, more's the pity), but I'm having a problem trying to listen to the neoCons, wondering where they're coming up with some of their nonsense, wondering about their mental abilities, mental and emotional stability.
http://www.democrats.org/noescalation
It's time for Americans everywhere -- no matter the party -- to stand with the Democrats in Congress and oppose escalation in Iraq.
Brecher and Smith | Will Watada Mistrial Spark an End to the War?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021307F.shtml
Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith write: "Watada's reasoning provides a pivot for redirecting America's understanding of what has happened to us and what we must do about it. He challenges us to confront a chain of implications that starts with the truth about the criminality of the Iraq War, moves through the principles of the Constitution and US and international law, and ends with our personal responsibility."
The film sounds like something every American will need to see - even if many will not want to see it, and idiots like Rush and Bill O'Reilly will rail against it.
It's sad that Graham has refused to allow the ugliness of Bush Administration policy to dislodge his ethical blinders.
Human beings do terrible things when thrust into extreme circumstances, like soldiers thrust into the middle of a civil war. Military training likely cannot predict who will crack and who will not, when faced with horrific real world scenarios like those faced by our military in Baghdad. That's why it is always unwise to thrust our soldiers into the midst of such foul, poisonous waters. And imagine how easy it is to lose yourself amidst these waters when official policy requires that you suspend even a rudimentary respect for human dignity, and treat your imagined enemy (since so many in our prisons were apparently innocent) as you imagine that they would treat you.
We should have learned this lesson with Vietnam. As a nation, we have largely chosen to shove our memory of American atrocities in the Vietnam era under the rug - and make anyone who brings it to light a scapegoat, as Kerry was made during the '04 campaign.
To acknowledge our guilt in such situations does not paint a nation as hopelessly evil, but, rather, as thoroughly human - and, ultimately, capable of choosing a better way.
Another film to see (for free) is "The Ground Truth."
http://thegroundtruth.net/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070213/ap_on_re_us/prisoner_abuse_cia
Ex-CIA contractor sentenced to prison
RALEIGH, N.C. - A former CIA contract employee was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 8 1/2 years in prison for beating an Afghan detainee who later died.
David Passaro, 40, was accused of hitting Abdul Wali with a flashlight and kicking him in the groin during a two-day interrogation at a remote military base in Afghanistan in July 2003. Wali died within 48 hours of the interrogation, after complaining of abdominal pain and an inability to urinate.
Passaro was the first American civilian charged with mistreating a detainee during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was found guilty last year of assault and could have gotten 11 1/2 years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle sentenced Passoro to eight years and four months, and has said that a lack of an autopsy probably kept Passaro from being charged with murder.
Defense attorney Joe Gilbert argued his client should be given a lighter sentence because of his military service and because the death happened in a hostile nation during war time.
~~~~~
At the trial, prosecutors argued Passaro used several harsh techniques to pressure Wali about the rocket attacks during questioning in a dark and hot mud-walled cell. Wali repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Passaro put Wali in a series of "stress positions," according to prosecutors.
Several witnesses testified they saw Passaro beat Wali with a metal flashlight and his fists. Two interrogation sessions ended with Passaro kicking Wali in the groin, once with enough force to lift the prisoner off the ground.
{More on link. This is why I object to "civilian contractors" - mercenaries - receiving accolades and medals. No mention in this particular article naming the "contractor" he was working for....}
Libby Defense: Cheney Won't Testify
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021307R.shtml
The defense team for former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby said today they no longer plan to call Vice President Dick Cheney to testify in the CIA leak trial. Defense attorney Theodore Wells also said Libby will not be called to the stand.
Former CIA Official, Contractor Indicted
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021307S.shtml
The CIA's former third-ranking official and a defense contractor were charged Tuesday with fraud and other offenses in the corruption investigation that sent former Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham to prison.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/03/whitehouse200703?currentPage=1
From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq
The same neocon ideologues behind the Iraq war have been using the same tactics—alliances with shady exiles, dubious intelligence on W.M.D.—to push for the bombing of Iran. As President Bush ups the pressure on Tehran, is he planning to double his Middle East bet?
Had a face-freezing afternoon with oncall, visiting and delayed from returning to the snowy city of Chicago (what passes for snow here is laughable, but it was COLD!). We caught up with Medea Benjamin and Ann Wright and several other Code Pinkers and heard that President Bush would be a giving a speech a block from Busboys and Poets.
We set up with signs, but it was too cold after a few minutes so we went to Busboys, where Andy treated us to hot chocolate. But before we could sit down to it, the word came that the motorcade appeared to be readying for its return to the White House.
We rushed outside in time to raise the standard for peace, with a huge banner that said PEACE SURGE. We suggested, loudly, that it was time to consider impeachment, and we flashed the peace sign as well.
Oncall can tell his own side of the story, if and when he gets back to Chicago, but I think it was an interesting way to spend the day! Different for sure!
Absolutely today was an interesting day. I can definitely say I did not go back to my routine (snowed in here in DC). Today I met several extraordinary women for whom I have the greatest respect. While standing in the freezing rain/snow (I am not sure what to call that stuff that was coming down) holding an enormous pink anti-war banner, several motorists went by and gave the thumbs up. Years ago I suspect we would have been ignored. If not for these brave, courageous and principled women and the many others who have loudly spoken out against the Iraqi disaster, Americans could still be afraid to support those who protest against an illegal war.
Oh, and by the way, they all have a great sense of humor.
Posted by: karen at February 13, 2007 07:38 PM
Posted by: oncall at February 13, 2007 10:43 PM
Having gone to a number of Code Pink events myself, I will also personally attest to the energy and courage that Medea Benjamin, Gael Murphy, Jodie Evans, and many other Code Pink staffers exude.
One of them, Gayle Brandeis (whom I've known as my writing mentor for 2 years), was instrumental in getting me to go to protests myself - and I've never considered myself a protester type until then! Both Gayle and I live in the uber-conservative part of California, so her stand for peace really resonated with me.
It is thanks to these people that I, and my Republican mother, keep finding our own courage to speak up against the war and the W regime.
Pass this info to every college (and high school) student/professor you know.
Student Strike Against the War on February 15
World Can't Wait
Students at UC - Santa Barbara have initiated a one day student strike against the war on February 15th. Students at Columbia University, UC - Berkeley, Sonoma State, Occidental College, Fordham University, San Francisco State, University of North Carolina - Greensboro; Columbia College (Chicago) and other campuses are planning rallies, walk-outs, and/or strikes on their campuses February 15th.
February 15th marks the 4th anniversary of when millions of people came out around the world to protest Bush's planned war on Iraq. In the wake of Bush's escalation of a war that has already caused the deaths of 655,000 Iraqis and over 3,000 US soldiers, and threats to attack Iran, this student strike is urgently needed, and must spread to other campuses quickly. Now is not the time to be waiting for Congress to make slow incremental steps towards some eventual phased withdrawal. Now is the time for millions of people to get out and demand an end to the war immediately and the Bush administration be impeached for war crimes.
Now is the Time to Act. The mission of this generation must be to drive out the Bush regime or we will inherit a horrible future. Organize walkouts at your High School. Hold a protest in front of school during lunch. Mobilize students to wear armbands that read: " End the War Now" and/or "Bush Must Go".
More info about the strike:
http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3846&Itemid=5
Statement from Howard Zinn about the strike:
http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3846&Itemid=5#zinn
Richard has a good post at Kos, if anyone wants to be seriously pissed off:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/14/75017/3473
White House senior advisors said Bush was expected to talk about the House debate related to a resolution on Iraq and the disarmament pact with North Korea.
Democrats have assailed Bush’s policy in Iraq as a catastrophic failure that has cost more than 3,100 U.S. troops their lives. “No more blank checks,” declared Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But Republican allies of the president are battling against the resolution.
“This battle is the most visible part of a global war” against terrorists, countered the House Republican leader, Rep. John Boehner. “If we leave, they will follow us home. It’s that simple.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17146548/
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Iraq is fulfilling its commitment to increase troops and security in Baghdad, President Bush said Wednesday.
In his first news conference in two months, Bush said Iraqi insurgents will do all they can to "undermine the Maliki government and its Baghdad security plan."
"These are people that will kill innocent men, women and children to achieve their objective, which is to discourage the Iraqi people, to foment sectarian violence -- and to, frankly, discourage us from helping" the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki do its job, Bush said.
Bush said insurgents are also trying hard to turn American public opinion against the war.
"They're all aimed at, frankly, causing people here in America to say it's not worth it," Bush said of insurgent attacks.
But he said the violence will be much worse if the U.S. abandons Iraq now.
"If you think the violence is bad now, imagine what it would look like if we don't help them secure the city, the capital city of Baghdad," he said.
more on...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/14/bush.conference/index.html
Once again, if you don't agree with him, you are helping the insurgents.
IMPEACH NOW
Posted by: monkey at February 14, 2007 11:30 AM
That "news" conference is still going on. I had no idea that was our "Valentine's day treat"... I managed the first few minutes of his chiripyness extolling his good news about Iraq (at least I think that's what he was trying to do to 'prove' his escalation was working???), and then I started getting sick to my stomach....
Have I mentioned yet today that I agree with you?
IMPEACH NOW!!!
It was sooo satisfying to yell that right at him yesterday...Ineffective, but satisfying.
IMPEACH!