Rumsfeld: Prison abuses do not compare with terrorism

WASHINGTON (AP) — American abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib were terrible, but they are not crimes on par with beheadings and other acts carried out by terrorists, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday.

Rumsfeld, speaking at the National Press Club, said the military is correcting the problems raised by the prison events.

"Has it been harmful to our country? Yes. Is it something that has to be corrected? Yes," he said. "Does it rank up there with chopping off someone's head off on television? It doesn't. It doesn't. Was it done as a matter of policy? No."
...
Shortly before Rumsfeld spoke, Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts sharply criticized Rumsfeld and the Bush administration in a Senate floor speech, calling the abuses at Abu Ghraib "just one part of a much larger failure for which our soldiers have been paying a high price since day one."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-09-10-rumsfeld_x.htm

*He goes on to describe how Najaf was taken back "peacefully". Didn't battles rage in Najaf for a couple of weeks?

I cannot stand that psychopath. I cannot believe how the mediowhores lap up his craven schtick.

This country has gone mad.

about how Al Jazeera covered the early days of the Invasion.

rummy is center stage charging that Al Jazeera is a source of anti-American propaganda.."willing to lie to the world to make their case.

He was up there on the big screen Lying to the World himself and the whole audience was laughing at him!

I can't believe that Loser hasn't been fired yet!

,...one lands him directly behind bars,...the other within a padded room.

Although he deserves neither,...I'd prefer he serve behind bars.

It trumps terrorism in every way: more cowardly, more inhumane, worse than death.

Well, yes, Ted Bundy molested, killed, and in some cases ate dozens of people, but Hitler was waaaaay worse. So let's talk about Hitler instead.

Pffftttt....

The folks in Iraqi prisons were common criminals - not terrorists or even members of Saddam's group.

Asshat.

Rumsfield,...is one very sick MO-FO!!!

Can I have these wackos committed before they tear not only our country but the whole world apart?

I wish!!!!!

Should you be in prison? Yes.

Especially when he is a total morally bankrupt man.

just to be tortured more and then murdered? How is that not comparable to be-heading ... both are equally barbaric.

And so does our sycophantic client state.

Terra doesnt have a flag. So screw em.

It's not nearly as bad as when the darkies do it.

Right Don?

kidnapping their relatives and bombing their neighbors is TERRORISM on a scale not seen since NANKING



peace

Kill them slowly with torture and that's cool.

Just don't behead them. That puts them out of their misery too quickly, and is really waaaaay, too, um French (guillotine)

Comparing things to beheadings on television certainly allows one to justify a lot of stuff, don't it? :eyes:

will it ever stop?

..with his folksy questions.."Was it bad? Yes. Was it unethical? Why, heck, sure it was! Good job pointing that out, by the way, reporter X. Nice work on that. But was it as bad as running someone through with the sharp end of a spear? No. And that's why we're better than the ragheads."

..question-answer gibberish??? It's pretty funny. Al will have a field day Monday with all of this.

What's a matter Rummy????? You're being awfully defensive!

Sure!

Is it annoying? You bet!

:-)

It is not terrorism, you are right... but these abuses are the stuff that lead to hate and discontent and TERRORISM.

So lets assume for a second you are right, happy now? But what was done to peoople in the name of freedom will directly corrolate with some of them joinning the resistance and for some to actually join bona fide terrorist groups.

I am sure that this connection was never explained to you, after all free people make mistakes, and I guess this was a mistake, huh Rummy?

(Oh and for the few that will think differently, take a whiff of the irony and lack of understanding)

not to mention WAR CRIMES.

remember what we charged the imperial japanese military with after wwII?



peace

Not only Abu Ghraib, but kicking down doors at midnight, "disappearing" people, and riddling with automatic weapons fire the cars of ordinary people fleeing from the dangers of the cities we so incompetently occupy--I consider all of this to be "terrorism" to the nth degree.

I concede nothing whatsoever to these monsters. Even if something they happen to say accidentally coincides to the truth, I will look it up for myself before believing it.

I would think that knowing that members of your family were abused might bring about the thought of revenge.

And we killed so indiscriminately, that there is probably a long line waiting to get their shot at us.

This is an form of language 'abuse' Orwell warned about...

If the WH uses 'abuse' then the Free Press follows exactly...

WHY?

When you use the term 'abuse' you are introducing into the public's mind a debate; suggesting a quandry like, for instance, whether 'spanking children is acceptable'
...some would suggest it is child 'abuse'or others would suggest it is justified for the 'greater good of the child'...the child of course is Iraq and it's people.

Other forms of cultural language use of the word 'abuse'...wife abuse, animal abuse, spousal abuse...all considered political causes requiring intrepretation regarding 'expert' knowledge and therefore 'problematic'

The term 'torture' has no dicthomous cultural implications in language...it is always wrong and therefore NEVER used by 'expert' knowledge bases like the Free Press or the White House.

the prison abuse issue.

That bastard the American Minister of Defense Rumsfeld, and I won't say shamelessly, because they don't know what shame means. These are criminals. The whole word can hear the warning sirens. This criminal sitting in the White House is a pathetic criminal and his Defense Minister deserves to be beaten. These criminals lie to the world because they are criminals by nature and conditioning. They consider this a military site! Shame on you! You will forever be shamed! You have ruined the reputation of the American people in the most terrible way! Shame on you! And we will destroy you!"

Rumsfeld, he needs to be hit on the head"

"Yesterday we heard this villain called Rumsfeld. He, of course, is a war criminal, and he is one of the worst of the American rulers. He said the American mercenaries and the British mercenaries, they are defending themselves inside Iraq. They are in a defensive position. They are engaged in self-defense. They are fighting a self-defense war inside Iraq. Well, congratulations, Mr. Villain, you are defending yourself inside our country. We will show you what defense means."

Rumsfeld is a "crook" and "the most despicable creature."

Rumsfeld is "the worst kind of bastard"

"Even those who live on another planet, if there are such people, would have condemned this action before it started"

"We expect the aggressors to use anything, we don't rule out that in their depression at being vanquished, those losers will become hysterical and commit even more folly."

"They are becoming hysterical. This is the result of frustration."

Funny he would make that comparison. There was much speculation that the US/CIA/? had a hand in at least one of those to deflect attention from / try to minimize Abu Ghraib atrocities.

That someone was killed is not in question, but the filmed beheading was
for show.

Sounds like some dissociative personality.

What a sick f*ck he is. I think he was somewhere in Abu Ghraib whacking off while the torture was going on. Sick POS. :puke:

to offset the hit from Sy Hersh's book...

We're the good guys. we don't do things like torture and humiliation and sodo.. worse...

Does it rank up there with chopping off someone's head off on television? It doesn't. It doesn't.
Nope...wrong answer, RumBoy...you don't get to COMPARE atrocities.

It's the WAR CRIMES, Rumsfeld.

Who cares how it compares to terrorism. That is not the fucking point. The question is if it is wrong.
The question is if Rummy is a war criminal.

I guess now everybody who shoplifts can ask for a pass because, hey, they didn't chop anybody's head off. I just cannot believe this country. Since when did you judge the morality of your own behavior by the worst morality in existence? I hate these people, hate them, hate them, hate them.

Rumsfailed Admitted to Violating Geneva Convention

Rumsfailed admitted in public that when CIA Director Tenet requested that an Iraqi prisoner be sent to a secret Afghan/US Prison that Rumsfailed did so. After four months a DOD Attorney stated that this was an illegal act. Rumsfailed then ordered that this prisoner be sent back to Abu Graib but the prisoner was not listed at that location, also an illegal act. That is two violations of the Geneva Convention by Rumsfailed. Tenet and Rumsfailed violated the Geneva convention, thereby also The Constitution of the USA. Recently it has been found out that even more detainees were "ghost detainees". The fact that he has not been charged speaks volumes.

Does the US no longer follow the Geneva Convention or the Constitution of the USA?

It appears so.

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld mixed up Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden with deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein twice in a speech Friday.

Among other things, Rumsfeld talked about the world just before the Sept. 11 attacks, whose third anniversary is today. In Afghanistan, he told the National Press Club, "the leader of the opposition Northern Alliance, Masoud, lay dead, his murder ordered by Saddam Hussein, by Osama bin Laden, Taliban's co-conspirator."

Ahmed Shah Masoud, who opposed the ruling Taliban, was killed by suspected Al Qaeda operatives — not Hussein — two days before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Later, Rumsfeld said, "Saddam Hussein, if he's alive, is spending a whale of a lot of time trying to not get caught. And we've not seen him on a video since 2001."
...
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-rummy11sep11,1,2859808.story?coll=la-headlines-world

is that you soon lose the ability to recognize reality.

Right.

Surprising to see this sort of moral relativism coming from the Bush administration, considering all the bollocks you hear about "moral clarity" and "values" and so on...

Republicans have traditionally been the most flagrant moral relativists. From Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon, through Ronald "I don't recall" Reagan and George HW "Out of the loop" Bush, to George W "I flew in combat" Bush, these asswipes have done nothing but lie to justify their ignorance and immorality their entire lives. At least Carter admitted to "lusting in his heart"; Republicans can no more give a true confession than Schwarzeneggar can act.

time they show his ugly kisser and every time he opens his mouth.

Terrorizing someone is TERRORISM. PERIOD.

brutal policies initiated by a sovereign power have a greater, long-term negative affect on a civilized world than violent acts of individuals.

nations must be held to higher standards than individuals.

Not good guys vs. bad guys; now bad guys against worse guys.