Don't know if anyone else saw any of his testimony today but it was, in all honesty, disgusting. Some things that came out:
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Rummy says there are "hundreds" of photos and videos of Iraqis being abused.
Rummy and Meyers admitted to the fact that President Bush has known about these photos and videos since late January, early February of 2004.
Rumsfeld refused to discuss in detail what he told the president and what Dubya said in response.
Rumsfeld took responsibility for not taking the charges of abuse and knowledge of the photos and videos serious enough. Claiming that only after he saw the photos did he "realize how sickening it was once you see it in color."
Rumsfeld claimed to have only seen the photos and videos yesterday (I assume he means the additional material that the press has not yet got hold of) and claimed the president had also only recently seen the material.
Rummy said it was his failure for not making the president more aware how serious an issue this was when he briefed him on it. He claimed he thought that Bush probably had not responded to the info or questioned him further on it when he first exposed him to it back in early 2004. He said this was probably because it was just one item in a briefing that may have contained as many as 15 issues.
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Now I have many thoughts on these items. None of these paint a very good picture of Bush or Rummy. First, if there are "hundreds" of photos and videos of abuse then that seems to indicate that this is/was a rather HUGE problem. Just knowing that there were a few photos of it would seem to be enough for any idiot to understand that they would have a MAJOR shitstorm on their hands if these photos got out to the press. Knowing there were "hundreds" of them would seem to indicate a problem where there would be no way to prevent some of this information from leaking. We live in the age of the internet and Rummy mentioned during his testimony that he knew photos were taken using digital cameras. That means in a matter of seconds these photos could be available worldwide. This tells me that if Rummy and Bush knew about this back in early 2004 and claim that they didn't think it was a big deal because in Rummy's words "they had not seen the photos", they only knew of their existance and knew that a criminal investigation was underway...well these two are obviously total morons. Anybody would know if criminal charges were being persued and photographic evidence existed of the abuse YOU HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM. So, either Bush and Rummy are total morons or they thought they may be able to hide this until after November...which sort of would also make them morons because there was so much evidence out there. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I don't believe anybody could be that stupid to not think this was a giant problem...but I think, in truth, they were stupid enough to try to hide it until November.
Also, only about 6 or 8 people have been charged at this point I think. I'm thinking if there are "hundreds" of photos and videos of abuse a lot more than 6 or 8 people were involved. I also think this must have been going on for a fairly long period of time if you were able to shoot "hundreds of photos and videos."
Last, I understand impeachment papers are being drawn up for ol' Rummy. I can only say it certainly seems he deserves them and Bush himself deserves them for saying the other day that Rummy was a "really good Secretary of Defense."
How anyone could support this kind of incompetent scum is beyond me. Everytime people from this administration get in a bind or get caught they try to hide it first and then bumble their way through a series of lame explanations. They try to blame someone else if at all possible and then it usually ends with this same phrase "Well, we could have done a better job but..."
What comes after the but is usually something about "Well, there is so much information out there that we need to process how could we know that one little item would become such an issue?"
It's called doing your job! They have shown again and again that none of them should have these jobs! They have shown again and again they are a danger to us all!
We the people are their bosses! When November comes it's time to fire these buffoons!
