ABC POLL
70% say stay Rummy.

ABC POLL

70% say stay Rummy.

As usual HH and Ted Kennedy are in the minority.

POINT II

Rummy is in the executivebranch, NOT the legislative branch so congress is fucked.

Why am I sleeping so well at night, then?

Harry Hope opined thusly on May 9:

From The Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/9/04:
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/8621501.htm?ERIGHTS=3561894632008400198philly::rivrvu@ix.netcom.com&KRD_RM=6posnmstmpruspnrsmmmmmmmmn|Harry|Y

Worldview | Rumsfeld is accountable, and so he must step down

By Trudy Rubin

'I am accountable," Donald H. Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services
Committee on Friday at hearings on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

"I take full responsibility."

By that standard, the defense secretary should certainly resign.

Someone at the top must take responsibility for this blot on the honor
of America and our military.

Well who's going to take credit for Taguba, then, and for those whose
criminal investigations he chronicled?

Rummy's the Republican's worst nightmare.

Why am I sleeping so well at night, then?

In article <qddt90hrv2sjt8d6df4nkjf5ul6b2dt3m1@4ax.com>,
Harry Hope <rivrvu@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

From The Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/9/04:
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/8621501.htm?ERIGHTS=3561894632008400198p
hilly::rivrvu@ix.netcom.com&KRD_RM=6posnmstmpruspnrsmmmmmmmmn|Harry|Y

Worldview | Rumsfeld is accountable, and so he must step down

By Trudy Rubin


'I am accountable," Donald H. Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services
Committee on Friday at hearings on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

"I take full responsibility."

By that standard, the defense secretary should certainly resign.

Someone at the top must take responsibility for this blot on the honor
of America and our military.

These revolting photos have left America standing naked before the
court of world opinion, like the proverbial emperor without any
clothes.

Yes, it's true that many of the harshest critics are Mideast pundits
or politicians whose prisons make Abu Ghraib look like the Hilton.

But the shock of those infamous photos has disgusted people all over
the world.

It should disgust them.

President Bush justifies his whole Iraq venture on the premise that
America is bringing democracy to Iraq, as a model for the Mideast
region.

But how can we promote democratic institutions in Iraq if we don't
properly monitor our own?

Rumsfeld notes that military investigations are under way, and he
rightly praises Joseph M. Darby, the soldier whose January protest
triggered the inquiries.

But the mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib represents a systemic
failure, not some aberration of a few perverted reservists.

If Rumsfeld didn't know about it earlier, he should have.

Plenty of information was out there.

Clearly, prisoner maltreatment wasn't high on his priority list.

The International Committee of the Red Cross repeatedly complained to
top administration officials about abuses at Abu Ghraib.

So, reportedly, did occupation czar Jerry Bremer, as well as Secretary
of State Colin Powell.

These abuses were ignored for months, apparently because military
intelligence wanted more leeway to question prisoners.

In August, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller was sent with a team from
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Iraq to suggest changes in interrogation
methods.

Miller recommended that military guards - like the very reservists
seen in the photos - "set the conditions" for interrogations.

After that, treatment of prisoners worsened.

Miller was put in charge of Iraqi military prisons last month.

Was anyone paying attention?

Not Rumsfeld, who famously disparaged the Geneva Conventions when it
came to the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

Yes, it's true - as he said in the Senate hearings - that
interrogators need information from prisoners in order to prevent
attacks on Iraqis or U.S. soldiers.

But the prisoners in Abu Ghraib are not Taliban seized from the
battlefield.

Many were innocent bystanders rounded up in sweeps.

Rumsfeld said on Friday that they are officially entitled to
protection under the Geneva Conventions.

Yet they languished for months without charges or visitors - just like
the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

How can the United States claim to be promoting democracy in Iraq if
it ignores the basic rules of due process when it comes to Iraqi
prisoners?

What lessons does Rumsfeld think this imparts to Iraqis?

The secretary didn't insist on being shown the photos, even after
learning about their existence.

He didn't alert the President.

"I failed to recognize how important it was to elevate a matter of
such gravity to the highest levels," he told the senators.

How can you fail to appreciate the gravity of pictures of naked
prisoners being abused by U.S. soldiers?

Surely Rumsfeld, unlike Rush Limbaugh, didn't dismiss this as merely a
fraternity prank.

If this was Rumsfeld's first such mistake, perhaps it could be
excused.

But it is the latest in a series that have undercut Americans'
interests and image.

Rumsfeld's sharp tongue needlessly alienated NATO allies, including
Britain, in the crucial months before the Iraq war.

He chastised Gen. Eric Shinseki, then-Army chief of staff, who
insisted that more troops would be needed for postwar Iraq.

He debunked the importance of postwar looting in Iraq, with his famous
aside about the "untidiness" of freedom.

The Pentagon's lack of planning for the postwar period - for which
blame lies at the feet of his top lieutenants, Paul Wolfowitz and
Douglas Feith - has led to the current chaos.

The list of errors could go on.

But voters will have a chance to judge the administration as a whole
in November.

The issue at hand is how to show the world, and Iraqis, that America
does mean what it says about rule of law and due process.

At the hearings, Rumsfeld urged the world to "judge us by our actions"
and to "watch how a democracy deals with the wrongdoing... and the
pain of... correcting our own mistakes."

Then let him set an example.

If he wants to counter the slander of those who claim these photos
represent America, he should demonstrate that our system does demand
accountability.

Far from rewarding Osama bin Laden, this will show that the United
States stands by its principles.

So make your next-to-last act in office the order to tear down Abu
Ghraib, Mr. Secretary.

And then step down.

_____________________________________________

Rummy's the Republican's worst nightmare.

Harry

&

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2004 -- Cong. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), a member of
Congress
since 1971 and a Korean war combat veteran, today called for the
impeachment of
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld unless he resigns or President Bush
removes him from office.

Read the rest at:
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ny15_rangel/CBRRumsfeld050604.html