Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
This same piece was featured on O’Reilley tonight; wonder of wonders what the man would want for the policy-maker? It’s no secret some in the camp of the “BO” would set war crimes trials for such villians once the Big O is ensconced in office.
One can only wonder what type of public expiation will be called for if that dim fate should come about. Could this be just the beginning, if not, certainly a trial ballon???
The Congress is very busy holding hearings about who in the administration was involved in making policy about interrogation, status of captured al Qaeda members, military tribunals, the WMD intelligence in Iraq, and other such issue that they are all hoping will lead to criminal indictments for war crimes. This is no dry run. Obama has already admitted in an interview that , if the evidence was there, he would pursue bringing administration members to justice. That is what these hearings are all about. John Yoo is the primary target, but the counsels for DOD, Bush, and Cheney are in the crosshairs as well.
If a President and members of his administration can be held criminally responsible for policy decisions taken to defend this country, it means that no President can make defense policy without first clearing it with Congress and SCOTUS.
IMHO this borders on treason. It is one thing to disagree with policy decisions, and the dems have made it abundantly clear they have disagreed with many Bush policies, but it is another thing to try to raise them to the level of criminal activity.
This Congressman, (I didn’t get his name) is making my point about not wanting to put Muslim terrorists on trial in civilian courts. They come from an honor-shame culture that reveres revenge. And they do not care if it takes several generations to finally get it. Exposing judges, prosecutors, and juries to public purview is like asking for fatwas of death and oaths of revenge on their lives.
This isn’t about war crimes. There’s 3 things going on here:
1. Hamper the President by attack on his proxies, such as counsel. They may not be making a crime of foreign policy, but they are trying to exert power over the President.
2. Appease the left base. They can’t bring anyone to trial for war crimes, because a) there haven’t been any and b) they would get tossed out of office the next election-the Dems aren’t THAT crazy. Since they can’t “hold the President accountable”, they put on a show by investigation, to be seen as doing something.
3. Attempt to cause a crime by laying a perjury trap for the witness. I don’t mean the witnesses are lying through their teeth. If you make someone testify under oath enough, you’ll get something that sounds like a contradictory statement. That’s enough to go for the perjury charge.
Do I think the Congressman wants AQ to visit this guy? No, I think he let his emotions override his judgement and let that bit slip out. Still, I’ll rate him as I rated GEN McPeak-What a dick.
Anybody else remember the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes,” where 6 year-old Calvin would show up in the living room and inform his father of the poll results of 6 year-olds in the family and how allowances and baby-sitting needed to improve before re-election could be had?
Same thing. Congress funded it, Congress can ask about it, but if it crossses the line of executive independence the words “I cannot comment to this body at this time” should be made and the Congress can use their power of the purse to provide legal counsel to the executive branch member they’re grilling.
I’ve long awaited an answer on CSPAN that consisted solely of the words, “That’s none of your business.”
Seems I have to keep waiting. Or, you know, join the devil I know, rise to power, get a subpoena, etc…
Much easier to just cast them all as parasites upon the body politic. And, as a rule, my chances of being correct are pretty good.
– Max
Huh? Where was that stated in the clip?
That is just untrue, never said, and is unacceptable to state. It is specious demagoguery, nearly rising to redstate’s red-meat, erroneous rant.
Any “craziness” lies in the non-sequitor and inferred (twisted?) hyperbole. Indeed it was Addington who raised the issue of C-Span, and a disgusted Delahunt, given Addington’s consistently contentious and evasive testimony, gave an understandable, disgusted response:
There is no, “something terrible” in there! (despite one’s wishes)
Addington is “the most powerful guy you never heard of” in the Administration, one who rarely is accessible or quoted, but is intimately involved in our nation’s (many failed) policies. He must be accountable, but he is not, and apparently does not want to be.
Delahunt’s response was obviously sarcastic – equal to Addington’s – and a result of understandable frustration, but not impertinent.
Indeed, Al Qaeda could care less about Addington – but as a voting citizen and taxpayer, I certainly do care. And I watched closely what he said. And what I saw (watching most of his testimony) was Addington’s incredible arrogance, evasiveness, condescension, and hubris in answering questions from our democratically elected officials. His ‘testimony’ was contemptuous, for a government official.
Regardless of whether you side with Addington or Delahunt, this disconnect between our two supposed-to-be equal branches of government is debilitating. And the pervasive lack of accountability is a cancer.
XBradTC,
Dunno, I think JimmyJ may be hitting closer to the nail than you credit. Nothing would “mend the bridges” with all our “allies” out there than to actually throw some Americans to the international tribunal system. But you’re right, the consequences for the Dems would be horrendous. The in-house tribunal system, though, is probably the game.
Fliterman, I think we all concur that the disconnect is debilitating. But thank God that we didn’t fight the first two decades of the war with Communism with this kind of congressional oversight. Like it or not, some things need to be left to the executive, and need to be left in the dark. Wars with surrogate armies, for one. If it’s not happening on US soil, or doesn’t involve US citizens, Congress is just grandstanding. After all, who exercises oversight on Congress? The people?
It took 700 years MOL for Islam to take Constantinople. We’ll be gone in much less time at this rate.
Sure is looking like the core Mr. O constiuency would like to see an atmosphere not unlike that in post ’75 Cambodia in order to purge this awful country of its sins.
Change you can Believe in
I already called Delahunt’s office to complain. Apparently, alot of other people have as well.
Just another congressional Quisling.
From Instapundit last night:
http://www.stephenbainbridge.com/punditry/comments/contempt_for_congress/
(Mark Twain’s comment about congressmen seems fitting)
You can email the despicable, treasonous and unworthy congressman yourself at:
william.delahunt@mail.house.gov
fliterman, you’re on a different planet than I am. delahunt (he doesn’t deserve the recognition of an upper case applied to his name) took obvious pleasure at exposing a key public servant in a dangerous position to our enemies in a time of war, and brought further shame upon himself and disgrace to his party by later lying about what he plainly said. As written elsewhere, he lacks the manhood to either stand up for his words or retract them. He has publicly revealed himself to have the moral stature of a worm.
If he isn’t censured, our congress degrades itself. If he doesn’t resign, his continued presence degrades the entire state of Massachusetts, which includes myself.
Best regards, Peter Warner.
How crazy is that?
Blind hatred can make one do/feel/say crazy things…
Another suspect from the “fine State of Mass.” Is there something in the water up there that makes these people such asses?
Filterman, I gotta say, I don’t think Delahunt was trying to get Addington killed.
But don’t tell me this was a Congressman diligently exercising his oversight responsibilities. He isn’t even on the subcommittee holding the hearing. When he first attempted to question Addington, Rep. King pointed out that house rules required unanimous consent from subcommittee members to allow that. Only after King left the hearing did Delahunt question Addington. This was Delahunt trying to score some “red-meat” points with the liberal base.
supposed-to-be equal branches of government
Co-equal is not synonymous with shared responsibilities and authorities. The Congress ought to stick to their own knitting, which IMHO, they are really mucking up anyway.
fliterman,
I have to agree with XBradTC, whether you like it or not, there are certain activities performed during wartime that must remain below the board. The success of those activities and the safety of those performing them is oft times dependant upon not revealing anymore than necessary.
What on earth would make an elected official make the following statement during a time of war?
Delahunt: “Well I’m sure they are watching and I’m glad they finally have a chance to see you Mr. Addington.”
Not only did they see Mr Addington, but I’m sure there was information revealed that could have been of use as well.
The truth is that the Democrats want the United States to be defeated. They have staked a considerable part of their political future on “we can’t win in Iraq, or Afganistan, so we should hang our heads and withdraw now.”
The fact that the surge is working is contrary to everything they’ve been saying for years. They see our nation’s success as their personal failure, and they can’t stand it.
I enjoyed his answers. They are the correct responses to a hostile interrogation that is being done for pointless political reasons. Any high-school debate student could have poked holes so wide in the Rep’s questions that the total knowledge gained from the exercise is that yes, Mr. Addington did work for VP Cheney.
And yes, I do believe the Rep from Mass. needs a rebuke for what was said. Filter, if you can’t pick up on the insinuation, may I recommend watching some British comedy or Japanese theatre to enhance your vision of nuance?
Thanks to Peter W. for the e-mail address for Congressman delahunt. I have sent an appropriate comment and urged many others to do the same. I’m sure it will not cure the BDS, but will at least let him know that not everyone in the country has BDS.
The tar and feathering scene in part 1 of the HBO John Adam series seemed cruel and unwarranted to me.
Then this Congresscritter opens his mouth…
I think I empathize with that mob a wee bit more now.
re “understandable, disgusted response”
I don’t know Flit, but if it had been me as soon as he said it I would have thought of my family, seen red and then jumped across the table and broke his nose, as fast you can read this. It would have been a headliner on the Drudgereport….
Gotta say this- some folks need a good whupping ‘specially some in my boomer generation and a whole passel of nasty little parsing lawyers in the GenX age group. Disrespectful is all….
OBTW, Lex ain’t got a specious bone in his body. Lex as Demagogoue? LOL. Not unless it has to do with Hornets and A-A.
b2