A Bizarre (and UGLY) CIA Renditions Hearing

A CIA Man Speaks His Mind on Secret Abductions
By Jeff Stein, CQ National Security Editor
Could saying “I’m sorry” save the CIA from a public perdition in the war on terror?

It was an idea that flitted through a revealing and sometimes even bizarre hearing last week on the Bush administration’s “extraordinary renditions” program, which uses “extra-judicial” means to sweep al Qaeda suspects off the street.

Along the way, the panel’s top Republican suggested that President Bush had “a personality problem”; a top former CIA officer said that renowned FBI agent John O’Neill deserved to die at the World Trade Center; and a one-time U.S. diplomat disrupted the proceedings by jumping up and saying, “I don’t have to stand for this.”

But the immediate focus of the April 17 joint hearing of two House Foreign Affairs committees was a report by the European Parliament that labeled the CIA’s abduction program illegal and alleged that torture was being applied inside an archipelago of secret prisons across the continent.

http://public.cq.com/docs/hs/hsnews110-000002494626.html



(The comment about John O'Neill really made me feel sick.)

Just a few minutes, that's all.

and he probably set our relations with the EU back 50 years -- not to mention, he's an obscene waste of space.

NT

know if it was on in real time but, yes, I saw it on CSPAN.

It was horrendous, Eric. Even the so called "good guys" were talking about "rendition" as if it was anything but an atrocity. I couldn't f*cking believe it. I felt like someone was hitting me on the head with a cast iron pan.

in slow motion. Rep. Markey comes on at the end and says paraphrasing now this is better than the get a life C-SPAN regular viewing. It was a jaw dropper and Rohrbacher will make you gnash your teeth. They were all laughing and blown away. The lady from the CSIS was transfixed with how other worldly it was. Must see and bring the :popcorn:

lol

towards that they said could not understand what they were saying about protecting their families because she did not have children. She was flabbergasted and so was I, as I watched the travesty in abject horror. :crazy:

http://www.csis.org/

She said it was bad POLICY because it alienated our allies?

She was right, of course, but still tanking on the Humanity -O- Meter.

:shrug:

/oops

embarrassed themselves. It was so bad that one minute that CIA guy looked like a candidate for Socio/Psychopath of the Year, then DEMOCRATS started saying they agreed with Bizarro Man who had just said he didn't care what happened to people who were not Americans, then Rorhbacher said he didn't care either, then it went to the Canadian guy who got 10 million dollars and then the CIA:tinfoilhat: wingnut says he didn't deserve an apology because he was only released to embarass bush. The hits just kept coming and she pipes up to defend European relationships and then goes back on mute. I tried explaining how bad it was to a friend, but you have to see it to believe it was worse hearing th xenophobia and false patriotism.

:scared:

For Rohrabacher to say this, "And yes, suggested Rohrabacher, who had been an aide in the Reagan White House, maybe President Bush should apologize for the mistakes to put them behind us.

But Bush seemed to have a “personality problem” with apologies, Rohrabacher said, frowning."

Chicken plucking anyone?

are working to bring Blackwater to California -- oh, aided and abetted by our Office of Homeland Sekurity, staffed by former Blackwater lobbists.

You can't make this stuff up.

I hope the townspeople succeed with their protest and, kick those board members who were supposed to be looking out for their interests, out.

I can just see it now. I'm trying to keep my animals safe after an earthquake and there are Blackwater "above the law" mercs on my block looking to shoot brown people? I think not.

Excellent. :rofl:

:nuke:

And those bastards sat there and denied that INNOCENT people had ever gone through that, let alone, that people had been KILLED that way.

Scum.

“It’s just a mistake.”

“That’s right,” Scheuer said. “They’re not Americans, and I really don’t care.” He spread his arms, smiling. “It’s just a mistake.”


Rohrabacher tried another avenue. The CIA had made “maybe three” mistaken arrests, he told the Europeans.

Weren’t they maybe obsessing over “due process”? he said. Their concern for civil rights could have “the unfortunate consequence” of helping al Qaeda kill tens of thousands of people in London.

When we know that more than 80% of the people illegally detained at Gitmo never raised a weapon against an American troop. THEY WERE DEBATING THE MERITS OF TORTURE AGAIN!

:puke:

It was about the worst thing I've seen since the Zabruder film.

Salute the flag? Sing the anthem? respect the government? Of a country that tortures?

kidnapping and torture -- that's a big fat wake up call.

We are now all at risk.

http://eyeball-series.org/scheuer-eyeball.htm

fair use cited

He has beshat himself.

novel The Sot-Weed Factor.

(grown up version)

They ALL participated in this discussion. They ALL agreed to theses terms. The few that objected were faint and tentative.

I got news for the "Greatest Generation" - you didn't win WWII!

They've just re-packaged themselves.

And all this in public hearings.

All that's missing to let these guys hang themselves is sufficient reporting. Including here. At least imagine if we had 20 threads today on Scheuer, instead of Baldwin. The word would be getting out to the hundreds of thousands of DU members plus lurkers, at least.

That's awful. And anybody who speaks against it is liable to be 'renditioned'.

Thank Gawd, someone (EU) is speaking the truth. They have a memory and they are using it, obviously.

And it was humiliating to see those officials from the EU bite their tongues and talk to our Congressmen as if to space aliens who had to be taught empathy for human life. But, yeah, I'm so glad they were there.

Oh, and they were insulted as weak whiners into the bargain.

of this?

Is there a link out there?

hearing last Tuesday. I'm sorry I can't do better. It would be a great thing to put some of it up on the net to out these fascists.

http://www.c-span.org/Search/basic.asp?ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&BasicQueryText=rendition+

It's the first entry.

You have to buy a launch key pad or some such thing. It's on some special Quick Time program that requires additional stuff.

Thanks for the effort. I'll keep poking around. If you find it elsewhere let me know. Thanks a lot for that.

:shrug:

Edit: and it looks like that can be downloaded for free.

I've tried it on 3 different computers. Grrr.

I had to be really fast to turn it off. lol

Whatever the frick that means.

Scotty, get the boys in the Engine Room up here!

I have never been able to get cspan videos to play on my Mac or on my PC.

lol

I don't know how to capture it or if that's even possible. (Well, yes I do. I hook this machine up to the teevee and get it as it comes in.) But, I bet there's another way. Maybe the guys in the Computer Support Group could help?

but I turned it in too late and missed the outburst.

Does CSPAN's website tell when it's going to be on again?

wants to go there again. It was really, really, really bad.

He may have had the intention to defend CIA but he did nothing of the sort.

during the COINTELPRO, CHAOS and other illegal domestic programs-all still "officially" denied yet never forgotten by those of US that were put on various "lists" for political reasons.

These programs continued, the lists grew and became privatized.

This is the Fourth Reich, you can take that to the nearest privatized central bank-and Mr. Scheuer et al will help you get an account set-up.

I have so many better things to do than to fear stupid delusional thugs.

and put it in this thread.

Better yet-here is that link, someone else can get creative with it.

http://eyeball-series.org/scheuer-eyeball.htm

I can't even look at the @sshole.