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Title: Recent revelations by WikiLeaks show how top American leaders lied, knowingly, to the American public, to American troops, and to the world.
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Published: Oct 30, 2010
Author: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-s
Post Date: 2010-10-30 09:35:00 by tom007
Keywords: None
Views: 149
Comments: 10
Recent revelations by WikiLeaks show how top American leaders lied, knowingly, to the American public, to American troops, and to the world. Ellen Knickmeyer on the carnage she saw as Baghdad bureau chief. In the dark morning hours of Feb. 22, 2006, a group of unknown attackers detonated bombs in the northern Iraqi city of Samarra, bringing down the golden dome of a revered Shia Muslim shrine. A few hours later, I drove through Baghdad and watched the country descend into civil war. Then the Baghdad bureau chief for The Washington Post, I drove with Iraqi and American colleagues to Sadr City, the sprawling slum on the outskirts of the city. We watched hundreds of black-clad religious militiamen, waving their AK 47s in the air and calling for revenge, in what would be the start to a campaign of sectarian killing and torture. During visits to Baghdad's morgue over the next two days, I saw Sunni families thronging to find the bodies of loved ones killed by the militias. The morgue's computer registrar told the grim-faced families and me that we would have to be patient; the morgue had taken in more than 1,000 bodies since the Samarra bombing, and was way behind on processing corpses. Here's the thing, though: According to then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his top commanders, it never happened. These killings, these dead, did not exist. According to them, reporters like myself were lying. "The country is not awash in sectarian violence,'' the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey said, on talk show after talk show, making the rounds to tell the American home-front not to worry. Civil war? "I don't see it happening, certainly anytime in the near term,” he said, as he denied the surge in sectarian violence. Casey had taken his own drive around Baghdad after the bombing of the Samarra mosque and had seen, not executed bodies in the streets but “a lot of bustle, a lot of economic activity. Store fronts crowded, goods stacked up on the street.” Donald Rumsfeld held a news conference at the Pentagon to say that U.S. press reports of killings—such as mine that estimated 1,300 dead in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, based on what I had seen at the morgue, interviews with Sunni survivors, U.N. and Iraq health officials—were calculated "exaggerated reporting." Iraqi security forces, he said, “were taking the lead in controlling the situation,” everything he assured his listeners was “calming.” Here's the thing, though: According to then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his top commanders, it never happened. These killings, these dead, did not exist. American journalists in Baghdad were under attack not just from Iraqi insurgents, but, at least verbally, from our own country's civilian and military commanders as well. Article - Knickmeyer Wikileaks Rumsfeld Casey General George Casey and former U.S. Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld attend a press briefing at the Pentagon on Oct. 11, 2006. (Photo: Jason Reed / Reuters) After the mosque bombing, I had the twisting-in-the-wind experience of attending the weekly press briefings at the Green Zone—this war’s four o’ clock follies—and have the military spokesman insist that things were great, implying that the problem wasn’t the executed and mutilated bodies now found in the streets; the problem was people like me.
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#1. To: tom007 (#0)
What nonsense. The government lie???? Good heavens. That cannot be possible. I have been duped, swindled, conned. Just damn. The elite own and operate this ongoing criminal enterprise called " government" and far too many of us see halos around the heads of those people. Cynicism is considered bad, be that as it may, a cynic rarely is also a rube.
I thought this might bring you out of your man cave.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" Hats off to whomever leaked this stuff. A thoroughly disinfected press has allowed these misdirected and corrosive conflicts to progress for nearly a decade without serious oversight by taxpayers. Whoever is leaking this information works for the Department of Defense which tells us that there are folks working on the public dime that have an ounce of discernment and an unbiased concern for the national welfare. They deserve our thanks too. It seems that there is a significant faction within the federal apparatus that knows that these wars cannot go on forever. These adventures are killing us financially and morally. The hangover from these wars will be hell. There will be yet greater headaches than we experienced during the post Vietnam era. It's time we took an honest look at what has really transpired the past ten years and got on with the job of patching up what's left of our country. It's in a lot worse shape than when we started this mess.
I would like to direct this to the distinguished members of the panel: You lousy cork-soakers. You have violated my farging rights. Dis somanumbatching country was founded so that the liberties of common patriotic citizens like me could not be taken away by a bunch of fargin iceholes... like yourselves. Thank you. - Roman Moroni
I was gnawing on a bone.
Looking back, all of the gory details of this war and government have been leaked by grunts, by people at the very bottom of the ladder. Nothing has come forth from the top. So whom do we prosecute and send to prison, the grunts.
Yes, not the criminals who swindled the US into this debacle, but Bradly Manning the citizen who exposed the crimes committed.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" You do NOT want to know what I think should be done with the officer class in this country.
I would like to direct this to the distinguished members of the panel: You lousy cork-soakers. You have violated my farging rights. Dis somanumbatching country was founded so that the liberties of common patriotic citizens like me could not be taken away by a bunch of fargin iceholes... like yourselves. Thank you. - Roman Moroni
The General in charge at Gitmo prison, was demoted to Colonel, retired and on full pension. The little girl from WVA with the leash, got three years in prison. Is now out and on welfare going to college. No one will hire her. The dyke colonel is living the good life in FL.
My dad was drafted into the German army where he spent nine years, most of them at war on active duty. He didn't talk much about it, but I remember two things that he said that summed up war for him: "I hate 'heros.'" and "I hate officers."
I would like to direct this to the distinguished members of the panel: You lousy cork-soakers. You have violated my farging rights. Dis somanumbatching country was founded so that the liberties of common patriotic citizens like me could not be taken away by a bunch of fargin iceholes... like yourselves. Thank you. - Roman Moroni
True. Germany had the best army in the world. Killing people however is not laudable, whether good or bad.
Recent revelations by WikiLeaks show how top American leaders lied, knowingly, to the American public, to American troops,
#2. To: Cynicom (#1)
#3. To: Cynicom (#1)
#4. To: tom007 (#2)
I thought this might bring you out of your man cave.
#5. To: randge (#3)
Hats off to whomever leaked this stuff.
#6. To: Cynicom (#5)
So whom do we prosecute and send to prison, the grunts.
#7. To: Cynicom (#5)
So whom do we prosecute and send to prison, the grunts.
#8. To: randge (#7)
You do NOT want to know what I think should be done with the officer class in this country.
#9. To: Cynicom (#8)
#10. To: randge (#9)
"I hate 'heros.'" and "I hate officers."
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