Correctly Political: Liquid Lunch with Donald Rumsfeld

[jfxgillis]

Intro:

On April 20, 2008, the New York Times published an expose, "Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand," by David Barstow, detailing the close--in many cases, close business--relationship with a group of retired military officers who have spent much of the last five years as supposedly "independent" military analysts in the mainstream media, mostly on television and especially on the newschannels, Fox, CNN, and including MSNBC (proprietors of Newsvine).

Money graf:

On Thursday, May 8, the Department of Defense released to the public all the items they had turned over to the New York Times. One item that was released that has generated no notice in the media accounts so far is an audio recording of a valedictory luncheon Rumsfeld hosted for those analysts on December 12, 2006--a month after Rumsfeld had been cashiered by President Bush and only a few days before Rumsfeld's replacement Robert Gates assumed the post of Secretary of Defense. The file, very large, is here

The recording is just over an hour long, so I clipped a few of the more notable moments. By "notable" I mean "at times chilling, infuriating, even shocking."

Click the Link to listen to Rumsfeld yearn for another 9/11:

Correctly Political: Liquid Lunch with Donald Rumsfeld

[seemslikeadream]

1. Syngman Rhee!!

Syngman Rhee
The third clip (2:01) is very, very intriguing. One of the analysts (it's impossible in most instances to figure out who the questioner is) suggests pointedly to Rumsfeld that Iraq needs a Syngman Rhee. Rhee, if you are unaware, was the ruthless authoritarian dictator of South Korea from after World War II through the Korean War to 1960. Yeah, he was a son of @!$%#, but he was our son of a @!$%#, to borrow a phrase Franklin Roosevelt said of Somoza. Well, well, well. So much for "democracy," huh? But the special treat in this little clip--before Rumsfeld wistfully closes by bemoaning the fact that Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki is "no Syngman Rhee"--is the way Rumsfeld utterly trashes Maliki's predecessor Ibrahim al-Jaafari, calling him a "wind sock."

[Disturbed]

2. Further Evidence Rumsfeld Implicated in War Crimes

Rumsfeld Shouldn't be Fired, He Should be Indicted
by Matthew Rothschild

“Secretary Rumsfeld has publicly admitted that . . . he ordered an Iraqi national held in Camp Cropper, a high security detention center in Iraq, to be kept off the prison’s rolls and not presented to the International Committee of the Red Cross,” the report noted. The Geneva Conventions require countries to grant the Red Cross access to all detainees. “

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0418-24.htm




Further Evidence Rumsfeld Implicated in War Crimes
Please read this important post by Marty Lederman, Army Confirms: Rumsfeld Authorized Criminal Conduct.

Here's a key section, but there's more:
The Army's charges against Jordan reflect the view, undoubtedly correct, that the use of forced nudity or intimidation with dogs against detainees subject to military control constitutes cruelty and maltreatment that Article 93 makes criminal. It doesn't matter whether they are or are not "torture," as such; nor does it matter whether the armed forces should be permitted to use such interrogation techniques: As things currently stand, they are unlawful, as even the Army now acknowledges.

But then how can we account for the actions of the Secretary of Defense and his close aides?

On November 27, 2002, Pentagon General Counsel William Haynes, following discussions with Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz, General Myers, and Doug Feith, informed the Secretary of Defense that forced nudity and the use of the fear of dogs to induce stress were lawful techniques, and he recommended that they be approved for use at Guantanamo.

(The lists of techniques to which Haynes was referring can be found in this memorandum.) On December 2, 2002, Secretary Rumsfeld approved those techniques for use at Guantanamo -- and subsequently those techniques were used on detainee Mohammed al-Qahtani.

In other words, the Secretary of Defense authorized criminal conduct.

...

Today's Army charge under UCMJ Article 93 against Lt. Col. Jordan -- for conduct that the SecDef actually authorized as to some detainees -- demonstrates that Rumsfeld approved of, and encouraged, violations of the criminal law.

http://www.discourse.net/archives/2006/04/further_evidence_rumsfeld_implicated_in_war_crimes.html

[jfxgillis]

3. re: Rhee!!

Pretty amazing. Did you hear the wistful tone in Rumsfeld's voice?

[seemslikeadream]

6. Thanks for the post!

[Canuckistanian]

4. "Another" 9/11

So that's the "correction" the American people need? To get them to "smarten up" and just stop criticizing the war?

Astounding.

on edit: K&R - Good find and great blog post!
:thumbsup:

[jfxgillis]

5. Yup

Canuckistanian:

That's the EXACT term he used.

I don't throw this word around much, even against the Bushies, but there's strong flavor of genuinely fascistic thinking behind what he says, especially the whining about Americans being weak-willed.