Quotes of the Morning: Political Objectives
“President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have aggressively challenged the motives of congressional Democrats as the House and Senate prepared to consider a war spending bill that would order troops to be withdrawn from Iraq beginning later this year.
In separate appearances Tuesday that served as a prelude to an inevitable veto showdown, Bush and Cheney accused Democrats of political opportunism in forging ahead with a $124 billion measure that sets a timetable for leaving Iraq.
‘Instead of fashioning a bill I could sign, the Democratic leaders chose to further delay funding our troops, and they chose to make a political statement,’ Bush said Tuesday morning before leaving for New York. ‘That's their right. But it is wrong for our troops, and it's wrong for our country.’"
-International Herald Tribune, April 25, 2007
“Of course it is political! The Democrats just want to hurt our troops by not giving them the money they need for the Glorious Triumph in Iraq. American soldiers will die if they don’t get the money that they need. This goes against everything that Fearless Leader believes in. Remember what he says..”
-Skippy
“You cannot tolerate in a society the ability of people to take innocent life to achieve political objectives.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, March 11, 2007
“Absolutely. Using the lives of innocents for political gain is a terrible, terrible thing, and the Democrats should be ashamed for even thinking of it.”
-Skippy
“The brother of Army Ranger Pat Tillman accused the Pentagon and the Bush administration at a congressional hearing yesterday of deliberately concealing the circumstances of the former football star's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan in an attempt to avoid embarrassment.
Speaking publicly for the first time since his brother was killed in Afghanistan three years ago, Kevin Tillman accused Army and administration officials of exploiting his brother's death to shift attention away from the detainee abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, which at the time was about to become a public relations nightmare for the military.
Investigations by the Army, including an inspector general's report late last month, have not established any conspiracy to cover up the cause of Tillman's April 2004 death. But top officers, including four generals, have been criticized for failing to tell his family the truth for more than a month afterward, and could face criminal charges.
Kevin Tillman, who gave up a minor-league baseball career to enlist with his older brother in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and was nearby the day Pat Tillman was shot by fellow American soldiers, said the military's early, heroic depiction of his brother's death was "utter fiction" intended to deceive not just a grieving family, but the entire country.
‘To our family and friends, it was a devastating loss. To the nation, it was a moment of disorientation. To the military, it was a nightmare,’ Kevin Tillman said, his voice wavering with emotion.
‘But to others within the government, it appears to have been an opportunity.’
In his brother's case, he alleged, evidence had been destroyed, an autopsy did not conform to regulations, and eyewitness testimony ‘disappeared into thin air.’"
-LA Times, April 25, 2007
“For reasons that remain under investigation more than two years later, the Pentagon elected for almost five weeks after the incident not to disclose the fact Tillman had been gunned down by members of his own platoon. Yet some in Tillman's unit knew the night it happened. ESPN.com found that word of the fratricide had filtered through the ranks within a day or two of Tillman's death.
[…]
In some cases, it appears the Army has tried to discourage the soldiers who fought with Tillman from speaking about how he died. Some of the Rangers contacted by ESPN.com said they were told that a nondisclosure agreement they signed upon entering the regiment precludes them from talking about the incident. Others told ESPN.com that a confidentiality agreement they signed upon leaving the Rangers prohibits them from discussing classified information. Notices also have been posted around Fort Lewis advising soldiers not to talk about the Tillman incident with the media, according to a Ranger from Tillman's platoon who was stationed there.
O'Neal, the Ranger alongside Tillman when he was killed, told ESPN.com, ‘I've been advised not to talk by my superiors — people that control me.’"
-ESPN.com, April 25, 2007
“Hey! Not fair. By the time they lied about Tillman for political gain he was already dead. It isn’t like they took an innocent life to achieve political objectives. It’s more like they desecrated a corpse to achieve political objectives. Entirely different.”
-Skippy
“House Democrats burrowed into the histories of Pfc. Jessica D. Lynch and Cpl. Pat Tillman in a hearing today, holding up the episodes as egregious examples of officials’ twisting the truth for public relations in wartime.
They received help in making their case from witnesses who have mostly shied away from the spotlight, Ms. Lynch and Corporal Tillman’s mother, Mary, and brother, Kevin, who enlisted in the Army along with him after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
‘I am still confused as to why they chose to lie and tried to make me a legend when the real heroics of my fellow soldiers that day were, in fact, legendary,’ said Ms. Lynch, dressed in a brown pantsuit and speaking softly but firmly into the microphone as more than 12 photographers clicked away in front of her.
Accounts from officials of Ms. Lynch’s bravery held the nation in thrall in the early stages of the Iraq invasion in 2003 after her maintenance convoy went astray near Nasiriya and she was taken prisoner. After her rescue, which was made into a television movie, she disputed those who said she fought off Iraqi soldiers until she was captured. She never fired a shot, she reiterated today.
The ‘story of the little girl Rambo from the hills who went down fighting’ was untrue, she said.”
-New York Times, April 24, 2007
“Jessica isn’t even dead! That was just a little white lie meant to give this war a visible hero (until they found Tillman of course). No, it is the Democrats who are the true villains here. Look at how they keep trying to get our troops out of a war zone. Don’t they know that that can hurt the troops? Much better to leave them happily in Iraq where they will be safe and sound and where politics play no part in what is going on..”
-Skippy
“The strategy is to help the Iraqi people achieve the objectives and dreams which is a democratic society. That’s the strategy. The tactics — now — either you say yes it’s important we stay there and get it done or we leave. We’re not leaving so long as I’m the president. That would be a huge mistake. It would send an unbelievably you know terrible signal to reformers across the region. It would say we’ve abandoned our desire to change the conditions that create terror.”
-George “Dubya” Bush, August 21, 2006
“Nine US soldiers have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on a base north of Baghdad, military officials have said.
Some 20 troops and an Iraqi civilian were injured in the attack, which happened in the volatile province of Diyala, to the north-east of Baghdad.”
-BBC, April 24, 2007
In separate appearances Tuesday that served as a prelude to an inevitable veto showdown, Bush and Cheney accused Democrats of political opportunism in forging ahead with a $124 billion measure that sets a timetable for leaving Iraq.
‘Instead of fashioning a bill I could sign, the Democratic leaders chose to further delay funding our troops, and they chose to make a political statement,’ Bush said Tuesday morning before leaving for New York. ‘That's their right. But it is wrong for our troops, and it's wrong for our country.’"
-International Herald Tribune, April 25, 2007
“Of course it is political! The Democrats just want to hurt our troops by not giving them the money they need for the Glorious Triumph in Iraq. American soldiers will die if they don’t get the money that they need. This goes against everything that Fearless Leader believes in. Remember what he says..”
-Skippy
“You cannot tolerate in a society the ability of people to take innocent life to achieve political objectives.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, March 11, 2007
“Absolutely. Using the lives of innocents for political gain is a terrible, terrible thing, and the Democrats should be ashamed for even thinking of it.”
-Skippy
“The brother of Army Ranger Pat Tillman accused the Pentagon and the Bush administration at a congressional hearing yesterday of deliberately concealing the circumstances of the former football star's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan in an attempt to avoid embarrassment.
Speaking publicly for the first time since his brother was killed in Afghanistan three years ago, Kevin Tillman accused Army and administration officials of exploiting his brother's death to shift attention away from the detainee abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, which at the time was about to become a public relations nightmare for the military.
Investigations by the Army, including an inspector general's report late last month, have not established any conspiracy to cover up the cause of Tillman's April 2004 death. But top officers, including four generals, have been criticized for failing to tell his family the truth for more than a month afterward, and could face criminal charges.
Kevin Tillman, who gave up a minor-league baseball career to enlist with his older brother in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and was nearby the day Pat Tillman was shot by fellow American soldiers, said the military's early, heroic depiction of his brother's death was "utter fiction" intended to deceive not just a grieving family, but the entire country.
‘To our family and friends, it was a devastating loss. To the nation, it was a moment of disorientation. To the military, it was a nightmare,’ Kevin Tillman said, his voice wavering with emotion.
‘But to others within the government, it appears to have been an opportunity.’
In his brother's case, he alleged, evidence had been destroyed, an autopsy did not conform to regulations, and eyewitness testimony ‘disappeared into thin air.’"
-LA Times, April 25, 2007
“For reasons that remain under investigation more than two years later, the Pentagon elected for almost five weeks after the incident not to disclose the fact Tillman had been gunned down by members of his own platoon. Yet some in Tillman's unit knew the night it happened. ESPN.com found that word of the fratricide had filtered through the ranks within a day or two of Tillman's death.
[…]
In some cases, it appears the Army has tried to discourage the soldiers who fought with Tillman from speaking about how he died. Some of the Rangers contacted by ESPN.com said they were told that a nondisclosure agreement they signed upon entering the regiment precludes them from talking about the incident. Others told ESPN.com that a confidentiality agreement they signed upon leaving the Rangers prohibits them from discussing classified information. Notices also have been posted around Fort Lewis advising soldiers not to talk about the Tillman incident with the media, according to a Ranger from Tillman's platoon who was stationed there.
O'Neal, the Ranger alongside Tillman when he was killed, told ESPN.com, ‘I've been advised not to talk by my superiors — people that control me.’"
-ESPN.com, April 25, 2007
“Hey! Not fair. By the time they lied about Tillman for political gain he was already dead. It isn’t like they took an innocent life to achieve political objectives. It’s more like they desecrated a corpse to achieve political objectives. Entirely different.”
-Skippy
“House Democrats burrowed into the histories of Pfc. Jessica D. Lynch and Cpl. Pat Tillman in a hearing today, holding up the episodes as egregious examples of officials’ twisting the truth for public relations in wartime.
They received help in making their case from witnesses who have mostly shied away from the spotlight, Ms. Lynch and Corporal Tillman’s mother, Mary, and brother, Kevin, who enlisted in the Army along with him after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
‘I am still confused as to why they chose to lie and tried to make me a legend when the real heroics of my fellow soldiers that day were, in fact, legendary,’ said Ms. Lynch, dressed in a brown pantsuit and speaking softly but firmly into the microphone as more than 12 photographers clicked away in front of her.
Accounts from officials of Ms. Lynch’s bravery held the nation in thrall in the early stages of the Iraq invasion in 2003 after her maintenance convoy went astray near Nasiriya and she was taken prisoner. After her rescue, which was made into a television movie, she disputed those who said she fought off Iraqi soldiers until she was captured. She never fired a shot, she reiterated today.
The ‘story of the little girl Rambo from the hills who went down fighting’ was untrue, she said.”
-New York Times, April 24, 2007
“Jessica isn’t even dead! That was just a little white lie meant to give this war a visible hero (until they found Tillman of course). No, it is the Democrats who are the true villains here. Look at how they keep trying to get our troops out of a war zone. Don’t they know that that can hurt the troops? Much better to leave them happily in Iraq where they will be safe and sound and where politics play no part in what is going on..”
-Skippy
“The strategy is to help the Iraqi people achieve the objectives and dreams which is a democratic society. That’s the strategy. The tactics — now — either you say yes it’s important we stay there and get it done or we leave. We’re not leaving so long as I’m the president. That would be a huge mistake. It would send an unbelievably you know terrible signal to reformers across the region. It would say we’ve abandoned our desire to change the conditions that create terror.”
-George “Dubya” Bush, August 21, 2006
“Nine US soldiers have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on a base north of Baghdad, military officials have said.
Some 20 troops and an Iraqi civilian were injured in the attack, which happened in the volatile province of Diyala, to the north-east of Baghdad.”
-BBC, April 24, 2007
posted by Pope Impious XXIII | 4:19 AM
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