By GottaLaff
Two key Bush administration officials — Condoleezza Rice and former National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley — are refusing to lend their support to the claim by Israeli officials, and some on the right, that there was an “understanding” between Israel and the Bush administration that Israel could proceed with certain types of settlement expansion. Spokespeople for both Rice and Hadley tell our reporter, Beth Marlowe, that they will be declining to comment.Ri-i-p.
Oh yes they do Don. (The entire Time excerpt is a must read) Via Taegan.
"They never say Colin Powell lied. They don't say Condi lied."
-- Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, quoted by Time, arguing that accusations that former President Bush lied about Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction were unfair.
By GottaLaff During the Vietnam War, Stanford students succeeded in banning secret military research from campus. Last weekend, 150 activist alumni and present Stanford students targeted Condoleezza Rice for authorizing torture and misleading Americans into the illegal Iraq War. [...] As National Security Advisor, Rice authorized waterboarding in July 2002, according to a newly released report of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Less than two months later, she hyped the impending U.S. invasion of Iraq, saying, "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." Her ominous warning was part of the Bush administration's campaign to sell the Iraq war, in spite of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency's assurances that Saddam Hussein did not possess nuclear weapons. I posted about that here, along with this video:
Marjorie Cohn:
On Sunday, surrounded by alumni and students, Lenny Siegel and I nailed a petition to the University President's office door. The petition, circulated by Stanford Say No to War, reads:
"We the undersigned students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other concerned members of the Stanford community, believe that high officials of the U.S. Government, including our former Provost, current Political Science Professor, and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow, Condoleezza Rice, should be held accountable for any serious violations of the Law (included ratified treaties, statutes, and/or the U.S. Constitution) through investigation and, if the facts warrant, prosecution, by appropriate legal authorities."
I stated, "By nailing this petition to the door of the President's office, we are telling Stanford that the university should not have war criminals on its faculty. There is prima facie evidence that Rice approved torture and misled the country into the Iraq War. Stanford has an obligation to investigate those charges." [...]
A week before the nailing of the petition, Rice made some Nixonian admissions in response to questions from Stanford students during a campus dinner designed to burnish Rice's image on campus.Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and president of the National Lawyers Guild. She is the author of "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law" and co-author of "Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent." Read her articles at www.marjoriecohn.com.
Whether or not any of this petition has any immediate effect, it is still important to keep the pressure on. I applaud Marjorie Cohn for her efforts and support her for them. The more attention this continues to get the better.
By GottaLaff
Despite million of murders by Nazis, Condi Rice, "with all due respect", insists that Nazis were less of a threat to the U.S. than al Qaeda:
"No dear, you're wrong. We didn't torture anyone... Do your homework." Rice goes on to shut the student up, interrupting him, and resumes rattling on her version of the facts. "By the way, I didn't authorize anything."
Speaking with a group of Stanford students Monday, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared that al Qaeda is a greater threat to the United States than Nazi Germany was because Germany "never attacked the homeland of the United States." In a defensive exchange with a student, she also insisted that the Bush administration had always wanted to hold trials for detainees, but the Supreme Court wouldn't let them.The most chilling quote (around 6:07): "We were told: Nothing that violates our obligations under the conventions against torture. And so, by definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the conventions against torture."
Of course, the Supreme Court "stayed" the Bush administration's military commissions because they were woefully inadequate.
RICE: My view is, we got to do our way. We did our best. We did some things well, some things not so well. Now they get their chance. And I agree with the president; we owe them our loyalty and our silence while they do it. […] These are quality people. I know them. They love the country and they won’t make the same decisions, perhaps, that we did. But I believe they’ll do what they think is best for the country.
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By GottaLaff
Anchor: "What's President Bush doing on this, his last day in office?"Sister George.
Reporter: "He's having dinner with Condoleezza Rice, who he feels like a sister to."
Well, Pickles we can blame on over medication, but what's Condi's excuse?
"I think generations pretty soon are going to start to thank this president for what he's done. This generation will," Condoleeza Rice said.
I'm telling you, there are women out there who find her insulting to qualified women.
We're in such a good diplomatic position on this. Condi back from her vaca yet?
MOSCOW — Georgia on Wednesday accused Russia of attacking and occupying the central Georgian city of Gori, in flagrant defiance of an agreement struck only hours earlier to end the war that flared up last week.
There were unconfirmed reports that a column of Russian tanks had left Gori and was on the road toward Tblisi, the Russian capital.
“As I speak, Russian tanks are attacking the town of Gori,” Mr. Saakashvili said. His protests were joined by the leaders of several former Soviet countries from Eastern European, who were in Tblisi to show their support for Georgia.
Just heard Ms Rice finally speaking out on the Russia/Georgia situation. Isn't it nice of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to take a few minutes out of her busy vacation schedule to talk tough to Russia now, 5 days after the situation started? Maybe Manolo Blahnik was having a BOGO sale?
By GottaLaff
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the nation would be safe under a Barack Obama presidency and that she is ruling out a shot at the vice presidency under either Obama or Republican John McCain.In an interview with Politico and Yahoo News released Thursday, Rice was asked if she would feel secure with a president Obama.
"Oh, the United States will be fine," she responded. "I think that we are having an important debate about how we keep the country safe," she said, pointing to the Middle East and Iraq.
There goes J Sid's big campaign line:
McCain has vied to portray the Illinois senator as a dangerous bet for US security given his relative inexperience.
As for the v.p. slot:
Oh, silly me. I thought by "fresh blood" she was referring to Obama."I don't need another job in government with anybody. Look, I'm a Republican, all right? Senator McCain is a fine patriot and he would be a great president," she said.
"But there's something to be said for fresh blood," Rice added in reference to the running mate talk. "And I know that there are a lot of very good people who could be his vice president."
By GottaLaff
Former Australian Army officer David Kilcullen, who helped Gen. David Petraeus “design his 2007 counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq,” is currently an adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In a recent interview with Spencer Ackerman, Kilcullen, the main author of an upcoming handbook on counterinsurgency for senior policy-makers, said he tells them they should “think very, very carefully before intervening” in other countries.Oh, he said a lot more than that:
More bluntly, Kilcullen, who helped Petraeus design his 2007 counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, called the decision to invade Iraq "stupid" -- in fact, he said "fucking stupid" -- and suggested that if policy-makers apply the manual's lessons, similar wars can be avoided in the future."The biggest stupid idea," Kilcullen said, "was to invade Iraq in the first place."
Watch out, Kilcullen. Gitmo beckons.
By Paddy
Tsk, tsk. At least she could lie for the party.
(CNN) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she knows who she’s voting for in the presidential election, but she’s keeping quiet about her pick.
“Have you decided who to vote for?” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked in an interview that aired Sunday on “Late Edition.”
“Wolf, uh, yes,” Rice said.
Asked if she wanted to share her decision, Rice simply responded, “No.”
By GottaLaff
Vice President Dick Cheney fought furiously to block efforts by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to strike a controversial US compromise deal with North Korea over the communist state's nuclear programme, the Telegraph has learned.Wait... so he knows the word "compromise"?
"The exchanges between Cheney's office and Rice's people at State got very testy. But ultimately Condi had the President's ear and persuaded him that his legacy would be stronger if they reached a deal with Pyongyang," said a Pentagon adviser who was briefed on the battle.I bet she has more than his ear... Oh, but that's just a silly rumor perpetuated by Stephanie Miller and Co. You know the rumor, about the two of them having their own "secret meetings" while Pickles was sulking at the Mayflower Hotel... that one. I'd never repeat it here. That would be wrong.
Mr Cheney's office is believed to have played a key role in the release two months ago of documents and photographs linking North Korea to a suspected nuclear site in Syria that was bombed by Israeli jets last year.
And by key role they mean he manufactured them. Oh, but I kid the Big Fat Nation of Dick.
Mr Cheney was so angry about the decision to remove North Korea from the terrorism blacklist and lift some sanctions that he abruptly curtailed a meeting with visiting US foreign experts when asked about it in the White House last week, according to the New York Times "I'm not going to be the one to announce this decision. You need to address your interest in this to the State Department," he reportedly said before leaving the room.And then he took his plans to nuke Iran and stomped off.
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