Politics > Politics-USA > Vietnam vet former Senator Cleland blasts AWOL Bush for Nixonian stonewalling of 9/11
| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
22 Nov 2003 08:32:36 PM |
| Object: |
Vietnam vet former Senator Cleland blasts AWOL Bush for Nixonian stonewalling of 9/11 |
Cleland, perhaps known for being a triple amputee Vietnam vet, lost
his Senate seat last November in a race that has gone down in history
as typifying the GOP's take-no-prisoners approach to politics.
The disabled veteran was smeared as soft on terror because he didn't
back Bush's version of homeland security legislation.
What was your reaction when you saw President Bush landing on the deck
of the USS Abraham Lincoln in May to give a victory speech of sorts?
I'll tell you the truth.
I thought, "Oh my God."
A man who deliberately got out of going to Vietnam by hiding out in
the National Guard and who did not even complete his National Guard
tour of duty, now walks onto an aircraft carrier in a flight suit with
helmet under his arm, as if he's Tom Cruise in "Top Gun," and "Mission
Accomplished."
What do you think now?
The president ought to be ashamed because real soldiers are out there
fighting and dying for a disastrous policy that he created.
I'm telling you this is serious business.
From Salon, 11/21/03:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/11/21/cleland/index.html
"The president ought to be ashamed"
Former Sen. Max Cleland blasts Bush's "Nixonian" stonewalling of the
9/11 commission, his "lies" about Iraq, and his flight-suit photo op
on the USS Lincoln after "hiding out" during Vietnam.
By Eric Boehlert
During his six years as a United States senator from the conservative
state of Georgia, Max Cleland was known as a moderate Democrat.
He drew the wrath of liberals in 2001 when he broke ranks with
Democrats and voted for President Bush's tax cuts, and last year he
backed the resolution authorizing Bush to wage war with Iraq (though
on that vote, at least, he was joined by some liberals).
Today, though, Cleland has emerged as one of the president's harshest
critics, especially about the war he voted to authorize.
Today, he says, it's a move he deeply regrets, as he scans the
headlines from Baghdad.
"I feel like I have been duped, I don't mind telling you," Cleland
admits.
"Everybody in the administration was selling this used car. The
problem is all the wheels have fallen off the car and we've got a
lemon."
Cleland, perhaps known for being a triple amputee Vietnam vet, lost
his Senate seat last November in a race that has gone down in history
as typifying the GOP's take-no-prisoners approach to politics.
The disabled veteran was smeared as soft on terror because he didn't
back Bush's version of homeland security legislation.
Now, outspoken and blunt, he's furious about the White House's
handling of the war with Iraq, which he calls a disastrous "war of
choice."
And he mocks the administration's claims that Saddam Hussein and Osama
bin Laden were allies.
"They had a plan to go to war [with Iraq], and when 9/11 happened
that's what they did; they went to war."
Meanwhile, as one of 10 commissioners serving on the independent panel
created by Congress to investigate the 9/11 attacks, Cleland bemoans
the administration's "Nixonian" love of secrecy and its attempt to
"slow walk" the commission into irrelevancy.
At the center of the secrecy debate are sensitive presidential daily
briefings, or PDBs, that the commission wants to examine as part of
its inquiry.
Particularly important is the crucial Aug. 6, 2001 PDB, which warned
of Osama bin Laden's desire to hijack commercial planes in the United
States.
For months the White House resisted, and the commission hinted it
might subpoena the document.
A deal was finally cut last week, which Cleland opposed, allowing a
handpicked subset of commissioners to be briefed on the PDBs.
"We shouldn't be making deals," Cleland complains.
"If somebody wants to deal, we issue subpoenas. That's the deal."
Republicans say the partisan flavor of Cleland's anti-Bush broadsides
are easy to explain; he's still stinging from his surprise reelection
loss last November.
Cleland denies it, but if he were still bitter, it would be easy to
see why, considering he was the victim of a now-infamous attack ad,
which even some Republicans objected to.
Cleland's opponent, Saxby Chambliss, who sat out Vietnam with a bad
knee, aired a spot featuring unflattering pictures of Osama bin Laden,
Saddam Hussein ... and Max Cleland.
Chambliss charged Cleland, the Vietnam vet amputee, was soft on
national security because he'd voted against creating the Homeland
Security Act.
In truth, Cleland co-wrote the legislation to create the Homeland
Security Department, but objected to repeated attempts by the White
House to deprive future Homeland Security employees of traditional
civil service protection.
It's hard to imagine any recent Democratic senator less soft on
national security than Max Cleland, a reflection on the unlikely path
he took to the U.S. Senate.
In 1967 he volunteered for combat duty.
The next year, during the siege of Khe Sahn, Cleland lost both his
legs and his right hand to a Viet Cong grenade.
Two years later, at the age of 28, he became the youngest person ever
elected to the Georgia state Senate.
In 1977 President Jimmy Carter appointed him to head the Veterans
Administration.
He later became Georgia's secretary of state.
And in 1996, Georgia voters sent Cleland and his wheelchair to the
Senate.
In a lengthy phone interview on Tuesday, Cleland wondered why Bob
Woodward gets better access to White House documents than the 9/11
commission ("Just think about that"), blasted Bush on Iraq ("We've got
an absolute disaster on our hands"), while constructing a viable exit
strategy ("They're trying to make Iraq the 51st state.")
________________________________________________________
While Americans were dying in Vietnam and demonstrating in America,
our hawkish President did neither.
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=216
Harry
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| User: "InsuranceBroker" |
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| Title: Re: Vietnam vet former Senator Cleland blasts AWOL Bush for Nixonian stonewalling of 9/11 |
22 Nov 2003 08:48:57 PM |
|
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Subject: Vietnam vet former Senator Cleland blasts AWOL Bush for Nixonian
stonewalling of 9/11
From: Harry Hope
Date: 11/22/2003 9:32 PM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id: <o170sv82lqfqdt6c0pfg3ifbnhk0hdcalt@4ax.com>
Cleland, perhaps known for being a triple amputee Vietnam vet, lost
his Senate seat last November in a race that has gone down in history
as typifying the GOP's take-no-prisoners approach to politics.
The disabled veteran was smeared as soft on terror because he didn't
back Bush's version of homeland security legislation.
What was your reaction when you saw President Bush landing on the deck
of the USS Abraham Lincoln in May to give a victory speech of sorts?
I'll tell you the truth.
I thought, "Oh my God."
A man who deliberately got out of going to Vietnam by hiding out in
the National Guard and who did not even complete his National Guard
tour of duty, now walks onto an aircraft carrier in a flight suit with
helmet under his arm, as if he's Tom Cruise in "Top Gun," and "Mission
Accomplished."
What do you think now?
The president ought to be ashamed because real soldiers are out there
fighting and dying for a disastrous policy that he created.
I'm telling you this is serious business.
From Salon, 11/21/03:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/11/21/cleland/index.html
"The president ought to be ashamed"
Former Sen. Max Cleland blasts Bush's "Nixonian" stonewalling of the
9/11 commission, his "lies" about Iraq, and his flight-suit photo op
on the USS Lincoln after "hiding out" during Vietnam.
By Eric Boehlert
During his six years as a United States senator from the conservative
state of Georgia, Max Cleland was known as a moderate Democrat.
He drew the wrath of liberals in 2001 when he broke ranks with
Democrats and voted for President Bush's tax cuts, and last year he
backed the resolution authorizing Bush to wage war with Iraq (though
on that vote, at least, he was joined by some liberals).
Today, though, Cleland has emerged as one of the president's harshest
critics, especially about the war he voted to authorize.
Today, he says, it's a move he deeply regrets, as he scans the
headlines from Baghdad.
"I feel like I have been duped, I don't mind telling you," Cleland
admits.
"Everybody in the administration was selling this used car. The
problem is all the wheels have fallen off the car and we've got a
lemon."
Cleland, perhaps known for being a triple amputee Vietnam vet, lost
his Senate seat last November in a race that has gone down in history
as typifying the GOP's take-no-prisoners approach to politics.
The disabled veteran was smeared as soft on terror because he didn't
back Bush's version of homeland security legislation.
Now, outspoken and blunt, he's furious about the White House's
handling of the war with Iraq, which he calls a disastrous "war of
choice."
And he mocks the administration's claims that Saddam Hussein and Osama
bin Laden were allies.
"They had a plan to go to war [with Iraq], and when 9/11 happened
that's what they did; they went to war."
Meanwhile, as one of 10 commissioners serving on the independent panel
created by Congress to investigate the 9/11 attacks, Cleland bemoans
the administration's "Nixonian" love of secrecy and its attempt to
"slow walk" the commission into irrelevancy.
At the center of the secrecy debate are sensitive presidential daily
briefings, or PDBs, that the commission wants to examine as part of
its inquiry.
Particularly important is the crucial Aug. 6, 2001 PDB, which warned
of Osama bin Laden's desire to hijack commercial planes in the United
States.
For months the White House resisted, and the commission hinted it
might subpoena the document.
A deal was finally cut last week, which Cleland opposed, allowing a
handpicked subset of commissioners to be briefed on the PDBs.
"We shouldn't be making deals," Cleland complains.
"If somebody wants to deal, we issue subpoenas. That's the deal."
Republicans say the partisan flavor of Cleland's anti-Bush broadsides
are easy to explain; he's still stinging from his surprise reelection
loss last November.
Cleland denies it, but if he were still bitter, it would be easy to
see why, considering he was the victim of a now-infamous attack ad,
which even some Republicans objected to.
Cleland's opponent, Saxby Chambliss, who sat out Vietnam with a bad
knee, aired a spot featuring unflattering pictures of Osama bin Laden,
Saddam Hussein ... and Max Cleland.
Chambliss charged Cleland, the Vietnam vet amputee, was soft on
national security because he'd voted against creating the Homeland
Security Act.
In truth, Cleland co-wrote the legislation to create the Homeland
Security Department, but objected to repeated attempts by the White
House to deprive future Homeland Security employees of traditional
civil service protection.
It's hard to imagine any recent Democratic senator less soft on
national security than Max Cleland, a reflection on the unlikely path
he took to the U.S. Senate.
In 1967 he volunteered for combat duty.
The next year, during the siege of Khe Sahn, Cleland lost both his
legs and his right hand to a Viet Cong grenade.
Two years later, at the age of 28, he became the youngest person ever
elected to the Georgia state Senate.
In 1977 President Jimmy Carter appointed him to head the Veterans
Administration.
He later became Georgia's secretary of state.
And in 1996, Georgia voters sent Cleland and his wheelchair to the
Senate.
In a lengthy phone interview on Tuesday, Cleland wondered why Bob
Woodward gets better access to White House documents than the 9/11
commission ("Just think about that"), blasted Bush on Iraq ("We've got
an absolute disaster on our hands"), while constructing a viable exit
strategy ("They're trying to make Iraq the 51st state.")
________________________________________________________
While Americans were dying in Vietnam and demonstrating in America,
our hawkish President did neither.
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=
article&sid=216
Harry
Good for old Max. The rabid right was about as low as they could go and old
George did nothing to stop them. I feel a vietnam veteran has the right to his
comments on the commmander. Old George sure is a coward compared to Max.
Doing Insurance business in the Garden State
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