"What I do support is what has been termed the responsible closure of Gitmo. Gitmo has caused us problems, there's no question about it. I oversee a region in which the existence of Gitmo has been used by the enemy against us. We have not been without missteps or mistakes in our activity since 9/11 and again Gitmo is a lingering reminder for the use of some in that regard...
"I don't think we should be afraid of our values we're fighting for, what we stand for. And so indeed we need to embrace them and we need to operationalize them in how we carry out what it is we're doing on the battlefield and everywhere else...
"So one has to have some faith, I think, in the legal system. One has to have a degree of confidence that individuals that have conducted such extremist activity would indeed be found guilty in our courts of law. When we have taken steps that have violated the Geneva Conventions, we rightly have been criticized, so as we move forward I think it's important to again live our values, to live the agreements that we have made in the international justice arena and to practice those," - General David Petraeus
One thing that has irked me all along about the right wing is how they have listened to what someone like Dick Cheney says and called it patriotism without really looking at what it was. The war in Iraq had the same thing happen that happened in Vietnam. Suits made decisions based on political aims. They never cared about the results on the troops. And yet right wing followers still think those guys are the patriots.
Recently we learned more about the shoddy work that KBR did which led to electrocution deaths: [Pittsburg Tribune]. You do know who owns or rather owned KBR... who headed, until he became Vice, a company that made a fortune and incidentally since he retained stock so did he-- [Asia Times]. [The latest in KBR's Long Reign of Terror] Yes, Dick Cheney's Halliburton.
Soooo patriotic... if patriotism is about making money!
8 comments:
I had another thought on this after I wrote it. Do you suppose Dick Cheney showing up everywhere in the last two weeks was really about distracting from this report? How much did we hear about it in the mainstream media? It was all about Cheney. Someone earlier commented that he teethed on Machiavelli. It would be very Machiavellian.
The general is not a traitor, but at his level he is now political too. So he has to say what the current administration is promoting or he will be let go.
As for KBR, I think they should be criminally prosecuted for the electrocution deaths. There is no excuse for the type of shoddy construction that was done in Kuwait and other places. As for blaming Cheney for them, are you going to blame Lady Bird Johnson too. She was a major owner of KBR. They also had many contracts in Vietnam during the war there.
So you trust Cheney more than Petraeus? Amazing but not surprising for the right wing. You are basically saying Petraeus is a liar with no ethics which means how did you trust him before?
As for the other, remember Cheney ran Halliburton until 2000, probably had a lot to do with their luctrative contracts during the Bush years. Thanks to his connections he turned it into a giant and was responsible for what it became.
As for Lady Bird. I won't defend the Johnsons on anything. They are no heroes to me, but she didn't control the company. You are just looking for excuses to somehow justify your support of Cheney.
He is responsible for overlooking any of its failures during the Iraq war and elsewhere, for sending our troops to war inadequately armored and a lot more; and you would admit it if you quit thinking politically. Whatever party he was in, he'd be accountable because what he did went beyond party-- as did Johnson's during the Vietnam years!
Incidentally, I hope you read all three links.
Which right winger is tying the Johnsons in on this current situation? I totally did not like Johnson and it wouldn't surprise me he was unethical on anything. I know nothing about Lady Bird but wives often do what their husbands do and must take some responsibility.
I thought we learned from Vietnam. Eisenhower warned us about the military-industrial complex and where they would lead us. Nobody listened then or apparently now. Do we ever learn?
Sadly, we never learn, Rain. History keeps repeating itself. Money and power rule all countries as they always have.
It has been reported that Liz Cheney said one of the reasons her father has been speaking out publicly so often is because he is afraid of prosecution and is setting the record straight (Ha - laughable. He is actually distorting the record.).
Rain I do not trust any politician. That is not what I said about Patraeus. I did not call him a liar.
Petraeus made some definite statements about Gitmo and what the US had done in the past. If he only said those things because he had to, then it would have to mean he lied. I didn't say you called him a liar. I said what you did say would have to mean he lied if you believed he only said it for political reasons.
Politics is in all relationships between people at any level.
I think you said it well, Rain. I gave up listening to politicians and generals long ago.
The real experts are the noncoms and soldiers who put it on the line evert day.
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