Thursday, May 04, 2006

The Bubble Bursters

From the AP:
Anti-war protesters repeatedly interrupted Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld during a speech Thursday and one man, a former CIA analyst, accused him in a question-and-answer session of lying about Iraq prewar intelligence.

"Why did you lie to get us into a war that caused these kind of casualties and was not necessary?" asked Ray McGovern, the former analyst.

"I did not lie," shot back Rumsfeld, who waved off security guards ready to remove McGovern from the hall at the Southern Center for International Studies.

With Iraq war support remaining low, it is not unusual for top Bush administration officials to encounter protests and hostile questions. But the outbursts Rumsfeld confronted on Thursday seemed beyond the usual.

Three protesters were escorted away by security as each interrupted Rumsfeld's speech by jumping up and shouting anti-war messages. Throughout the speech, a fourth protester stood up in the middle of the room with his back to Rumsfeld in silent protest.

Rumsfeld also faced tough questions from a woman identifying herself as Patricia Robertson, who said she had lost her son in Iraq. Robertson said she is now raising her grandson and asked whether the government could provide any help.

President Bush seldom faces such challenges. Demonstrators usually are kept far from him when he delivers public remarks.

When security guards tried removing McGovern, the analyst, during his persistent questions of Rumsfeld, the defense secretary told them to let him stay. The two continued to spar.

"You're getting plenty of play," Rumsfeld told McGovern, who is an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq.

Responding to another protester who also accused Rumsfeld of lying, the secretary said such accusations are "so wrong, so unfair and so destructive."
Check out the video of the confrontation here. A few points: give Rumsfeld a bit of credit for at least engaging McGovern instead of ignoring him, cutting him off, or allowing the thugs disguised as security guards to throw him out as they did to others. The audience members who booed the questions and applauded after Rumsfeld's responses? They must have been warm coated in wool on a spring day in Atlanta; it's a mistake to discount how dangerous the sheep can be. And kudos of course to the Bubble Bursters, who are both honorable and patriotic. We need more of them.

8 Comments:

Blogger phillybikeboy said...

The quote of the day must be Rumsfeld's, "I'm not in the intelligence business." Huh? Isn't he the Secretary of Defense? Isn't the DIA part of the DOD? Yeah, I thought so. Too bad Donald wasn't aware that he indeed IS in the intelligence business. Perhaps, if he were aware of it, he would have paid attention to his own DIA's report that stated "no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons, or where Iraq has -- or will -- establish its chemical warfare agent production facilities." No reliable information....priceless.

5/04/2006 9:58 PM  
Blogger zen said...

I wouldn't say "priceless". In fact I think we're paying a very high price for this kind of ignorance and hubris.

5/05/2006 7:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"We need more of them" Absolutely! Amen.

We need a cathartic moment in our country when the administration lets us finally (3+ yrs late) ask the questions, so we can heal as a Nation.

Enough already with the lies, propaganda, silencing, pre-arranged "meetings", and spin.

Mr. President, "We are a Democracy".

NOT WISE "The government is in a strange and prolonged state of paralysis."

5/05/2006 1:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

McGovern will now be attacked by the neo-con apologists. Who will do all they can to avoid the actual question he dared to ask.

i wish him luck. At least Rummie prevented the gestapo from hauling him away.

5/05/2006 2:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rumsfeld didn't lie to get us into the war? How about "We know where the" [banned] "weapons are. They're in the area near Tikrit, east, north, south, and west somewhat."

5/08/2006 2:04 PM  
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