excellent question misha!

not so great an answer connddii

torture is NOT legal in the united states OR by united states citizens. no matter WHO orders or approves it

4th-Grader Questions Rice on Waterboarding
Ex-Secretary of State Stresses Legality

By Alec MacGillis

Washington Post Staff Writer

Days after telling students at Stanford University that waterboarding was legal "by definition if it was authorized by the president," former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was pressed again on the subject yesterday by a fourth-grader at a Washington school.

Rice, in her first appearance in Washington since leaving government, was at the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation's Capital before giving an evening lecture at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. She held forth amiably before a few dozen students about her love of Israel, travel abroad and the importance of learning languages, then opened the floor to their questions.

The questions had been developed beforehand by students with their teachers and had not been screened by Rice. At first, they were innocuous: What was it like growing up in segregated Birmingham, Ala.? What skill did she want to be best known for?

Then Misha Lerner, a student from Bethesda, asked: What did Rice think about the things President Obama's administration was saying about the methods the Bush administration had used to get information from detainees?...........

say whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhattttttttttttttttttt

i agree with ccoonnddoolleezzaa

rice. i think we and generations yet to come WILL thank king george for all he's done IF WE'RE F**KING HIGH on acid that is

no one in their RIGHT MIND would even CONSIDER most everything that man has done as beneficial to people OR the earth

ccoonnddii WTF are YOU smokin grrrlfren'?

Rice: 'This generation' will 'soon thank' Bush
Andrew McLemore
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended the last eight years of President Bush's policies as an achievement that is not reflected in the lowest approval ratings of all time.

Rice said it won't be long before Bush's contributions to the world will be acknowledged and that recognition of big achievements sometimes take a long time.

"I think generations pretty soon are going to start to thank this president for what he's done," Rice said in CBS interview Sunday. "This generation will."

Asked what grade she would give the administration on foreign policy, Rice said some decisions merited an "A-plus" while others "deserve a lot less." But she remained adamant that Bush's central decision to invade Iraq was the right one......

this is what i'm talking about

our new best friends over in libya. they're STILL terrorists. no two ways about it. they're STILL monsters. i don't care how much money they toss at us or at a teeny tiny fraction of those they wronged. i am a great proponent of talking. talking even with someone who may be our enemy if it will save lives. talk is one thing. being best buds and putting your arm around someone's shoulders is quite another matter indeed.

do not EVER forget not only WAS gaddafi a terrorist HE STILL THE HELL IS!


Forgotten In Libya's Dungeons
By Mohamed Eljahmi

Today, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libyan Col. Moammar Gaddafi and the regime's point man in dealing with the United States, is scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the State Department. The visit by Saif, who also heads the Gaddafi Foundation, will be the first trip to Washington by a member of Moammar Gaddafi's immediate family. Sadly, it comes as Libyan democratic dissidents suffer in the dungeons of his father, their plight ignored by the State Department.

After nearly five years of engagement with the United States, Gaddafi rules supreme in Libya and enjoys renewed legitimacy at home and abroad. The United States, which in 2006 removed Libya from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, has failed to push consistently for meaningful reform. Libya has no domestic opposition worthy of the name. There are no domestic constraints to keep Gaddafi from reverting to his old ways. Dissidents continue to disappear, and the death squads organized by Gaddafi's Revolutionary Committees remain a terrorizing force within Libyan society...

we do NOT torture

except when we DO torture. we should be ashamed. we are no better than THEY are. we are now the beast

Rice admits officials approved 'harsh interrogation techniques'
David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently became the first Bush administration official to admit that high-level discussions of the use of torture had taken place in 2002 and 2003.

According to a written statement provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month and released on Wednesday by committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), officials were told that waterboarding and other "harsh interrogation measures" routinely used in a survival training program for US soldiers would not cause "significant" harm if used on prisoners.

Rice's statement is the first acknowledgment of those meetings by any of the officials involved. Rice did not name the other officials who were present, but reports last spring based on anonymous sources mentioned Vice President Dick Cheney, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft........

i am by NO means

by NO way shape or form endorsing ONE thing saddam did. he was evil and a murderer. however, if you ask an iraqi were things better under saddam or NOW - what do you think they'd say? i know because i've heard them say it over and over and over again.

this woman (the whole administration) is spouting SHEER LUNACY

Condoleezza Rice: ‘I Am Proud Of The Decision’ To Invade Iraq

In an interview last March with Bloomberg’s Judy Woodruff, the late conservative scholar William F. Buckley said President Bush’s legacy would be judged purely on Iraq. He stressed, “It’s important that we acknowledge in the inner councils of state that it (the war) has failed, so that we should look for opportunities to cope with that failure.”

In an interview with Bloomberg TV yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was unable to acknowledge the failure of Iraq. Woodruff presented Buckley’s argument to Rice that Bush’s legacy will be Iraq. “That’s just fine,” said Rice.

“We tend to forget very quickly what Saddam Hussein meant. … In the post 9/11 environment, you couldn’t let a threat to international peace and stability like that remain.” She added:

Yes, it’s been very, very tough. But I know that great historical events go through difficult phases and often emerge with the world left for the better. And I am proud of the decision of this administration to overthrow Saddam Hussein. I am proud of the liberation of 25 million Iraqis.,,,,,,,,,,,

(liberation? haven't tens of thousands been killed and even more maimed? haven't AT LEAST one million been displaced? isn't their water and electricity barely working? haven't the rights of women been slashed? )

what a giant steamin' piece o' shite

HE gave up effing golf? that's HIS contribution to end the war on terror? he's not putting HIS life on the line defending his country against the weapons of mass destruction (which were phantom weapons i might add) in iraq. he's not defending his country against the 9/11 terrorists (who almost ALL came right out of saudia arabia -trained there and were funded there - i might add). he, our king, is directly responsible (along with big dick and a handful of others) of the deaths of more than 4,000 of our men and women. the deaths of countless INNOCENT iraqis (sure some guilty ones too). the maiming both inside and out of THOUSANDS of american serivce men and women and their families.

yet he thinks giving up effing golf will absolve him? fuck it.
Bush Says He's Not A Golfer In Wartime

By Dan Eggen Washington Post Staff Writer
President Bush said yesterday that he gave up golfing in 2003 "in solidarity" with the families of soldiers who were dying in Iraq, concluding that it was "just not worth it anymore" to play the sport in a time of war.
"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," Bush said in a White House interview with the Politico. "I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."
Bush said he decided to stop playing golf on Aug. 19, 2003, when a truck bomb in Baghdad killed U.N. special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello and more than a dozen others.
He said he received word of the attack while playing golf during a stay at the family ranch near Crawford, Tex. Press reports at the time indicate he took the call from Condoleezza Rice, then his national security adviser. ...........

this needs no further comments from the likes

of me

CBS: Iraqi government corruption funds insurgents who kill Americans
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
The government of Iraq is facing many challenges to its ability to run the country, both internal and external. According to a new report by 60 Minutes, "one of the biggest problems is corruption, which is robust even by Middle Eastern standards."
"Bribery and outright theft are flourishing in virtually every Iraqi ministry," notes CBS's Steve Kroft, "and some of those ill-gotten gains are being used to kill American troops."
State Department official James Mattil told CBS that the corruption is "across-the-board." Much of the stolen money finds its way to Iraqi insurgents or militias, while "in other cases, it is the militias and insurgents themselves who control some of the ministries who are involved in the corruption."
"It's known and tolerated by the prime minister and other officials within the government," emphasized Mattil, who observed the corruption first-hand while assigned as an advisor to Iraq's former Commissioner of Public Integrity, Judge Radhi al-Radhi.
Judge Radhi himself told CBS during an interview in 2006 that more than half a billion dollars had been stolen from the Iraqi defense ministry. Following that interview, he attempted to widen his investigation to other ministries, but was met with death threats and the murder of thirty-one members of his staff. In July 2007 a missile was fired at his house. He and his family finally left Iraq last September and are now living in the suburbs of Washington, DC............

we are now best buds with one of THE

most evil men on this goddesses' earth. he is directly responsible for MANY deaths murders.
this country is even WORSE than saudi arabia. there are NO freedoms. yet we 'support' them? they blew a plane full of innocent people out of the sky yet we're patting them on the back? here is the story of one man's (the author of this article) experience. his brother is of the missing.

Libya's Inconvenient Truth
By Mohamed Eljahmi
Tomorrow, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam is to meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Their sit-down at the State Department will come nearly seven months after President Bush declared himself a "dissident president" and promised active support for dissidents around the world. "I asked Secretary Rice," Bush said during a speech in Prague, "to send a directive to every U.S. ambassador in an un-free nation: Seek out and meet with activists for democracy. Seek out those who demand human rights."
Nothing of the sort happened. In fact, in its embrace of Tripoli, the Foreign Service has built a wall of silence around human rights concerns.
More than a year and a half ago the State Department removed Libya from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, confirming Libya's status change from pariah to example. "Libya is an important model to point to as we press for changes in policy by other countries," a department statement declared. But if Libya is a model, human rights advocacy and reform will be casualties. ...........

monday humor

Bolton: Bush must 'rein in' Rice
Former American ambassador to UN slams president's foreign policy, says Bush 'doesn't supervise Secretary of State Rice enough'
US President George W. Bush's foreign policy is in free fall and puts the nation's security at risk, former ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton told a German magazine on Sunday.
Bolton , who was a leading hawk in the US administration and favored a tough stance against Iran, North Korea and Iraq, told the Der Spiegel weekly that Bush needed to rein in Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"His foreign policy is in free fall. The president is acting against his own judgment and instincts (and is) under the influence of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice," he was quoted as telling the magazine.
Bolton said Rice's was the dominant voice on foreign policy and that she was a channel for the views of liberal career bureaucrats in the foreign ministry. .......

this speaks for itself

Embattled State Dept. official quits Blackwater probe over brother's role
By Warren P. Strobel McClatchy Newspapers The State Department's embattled inspector general suddenly removed himself Wednesday from investigations into security contractor Blackwater Worldwide, after belatedly acknowledging that his brother sits on a Blackwater advisory board.
The revelation came at a House of Representatives hearing that cited allegations from current and former State Department employees — and the Justice Department — that Inspector General Howard Krongard had impeded investigations into Blackwater and the construction of the $740 million U.S. Embassy complex in Iraq.
The allegations before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee added to the questions about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's management of the massive U.S. diplomatic presence in Iraq and of the State Department in Washington.
Krongard initially said that he was unaware that his brother, former CIA executive director Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard, had any financial ties with Blackwater...........
WASHINGTON — The State Department's embattled inspector general suddenly removed himself Wednesday from investigations into security contractor Blackwater Worldwide, after belatedly acknowledging that his brother sits on a Blackwater advisory board.
The revelation came at a House of Representatives hearing that cited allegations from current and former State Department employees — and the Justice Department — that Inspector General Howard Krongard had impeded investigations into Blackwater and the construction of the $740 million U.S. Embassy complex in Iraq.
The allegations before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee added to the questions about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's management of the massive U.S. diplomatic presence in Iraq and of the State Department in Washington.
Krongard initially said that he was unaware that his brother, former CIA executive director Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard, had any financial ties with Blackwater...........

State Dept. Inspector General Agrees To Recuse Himself From Key Probes

By Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer
State Department Inspector General Howard J. Krongard said yesterday that he will no longer participate in high-profile probes of Blackwater Worldwide and of the State Department's troubled construction of the new U.S. Embassy in Iraq, after a House panel confronted him with evidence of conflicts of interest, including his brother's role as a strategic adviser to Blackwater.
Krongard's announcement, made under pressure from House Democrats, means that the top independent investigator at the State Department will recuse himself from examining two of the biggest management headaches facing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has investigated allegations that Krongard impeded State Department probes in Iraq -- including potential criminal activity involving alleged gun smuggling by Blackwater and the awarding of the Baghdad embassy construction contract -- and has harmed his office with a mercurial management style. ...........

i was listening to

bbc world news on npr this morning and i heard some dude saying we were giving pakistan (well musharraf who then distributes it as HE sees fit. greasing palms and paying off soldiers so they won't turn against him and on and on) MILLIONS, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars A MONTH. well, it was WICKEDLY EARLY and i thought i misheard all of that shite UNTIL, i came across this (and i wasn't even looking for it)

U.S. Aid to Musharraf is Largely Untraceable Cash Transfers
By Spencer Ackerman - November 7, 2007, 5:05PM
After Pervez Musharraf declared martial law this weekend, Condoleezza Rice vowed to review U.S. assistance to Pakistan, one of the largest foreign recipients of American aid. Musharraf, of course, has been a crucial American ally since the start of the Afghanistan war in 2001, and the U.S. has rewarded him ever since with over $10 billion in civilian and (mostly) military largesse. But, perhaps unsure whether Musharraf's days might in fact be numbered, Rice contended that the explosion of money to Islamabad over the past seven years was "not to Musharraf, but to a Pakistan you could argue was making significant strides on a number of fronts."
In fact, however, a considerable amount of the money the U.S. gives to Pakistan is administered not through U.S. agencies or joint U.S.-Pakistani programs. Instead, the U.S. gives Musharraf's government about $200 million annually and his military $100 million monthly in the form of direct cash transfers........

i'm stunned at my own ignorance. i had NO IDEA this was happening when i sure should have
and our veterans are homeless AND lacking care AND our children don't have health insurance OR enough educational supplies AND there are victims from coast to coast of natural disaster that have NEVER recovered and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and andand and and and and and and and and and and and and and...........

critical allies?

more like a puppet on his lap (or is that dick in a box?-which by the way IS wickedly funny if you've not seen it)
this f**ker is OUT OF CONTROL
U.S. Is Likely to Continue Aid to Pakistan
By DAVID E. SANGER and DAVID ROHDE
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 — The Bush administration signaled Sunday that it would probably keep billions of dollars flowing to Pakistan’s military, despite the detention of human rights advocates and leaders of the political opposition by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the country’s president. In carefully calibrated public statements and blunter private acknowledgments about the limits of American leverage over General Musharraf, the man President Bush has called one of his most critical allies, the officials argued that it would be counterproductive to let Pakistan’s political turmoil interfere with their best hope of ousting Al Qaeda’s central leadership and the Taliban from the country’s mountainous tribal areas.
Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that ...........

Musharraf Leaves White House in Lurch
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 — For more than five months the United States has been trying to orchestrate a political transition in Pakistan that would manage to somehow keep Gen. Pervez Musharraf in power without making a mockery of President Bush’s promotion of democracy in the Muslim world. On Saturday, those carefully laid plans fell apart spectacularly. Now the White House is stuck in wait-and-see mode, with limited options and a lack of clarity about the way forward.
General Musharraf’s move to seize emergency powers and abandon the Constitution left Bush administration officials close to their nightmare: an American-backed military dictator who is risking civil instability in a country with nuclear weapons and an increasingly alienated public. .................

seems they've found their

blackwater scapegoat. oh, i'm guessing he should have been fired, but i'm also thinking the man was never given a choice. he HAD to use blackwater. once again one of the little players goes down while the big ones continue to float. so once again we're all feeling warm and cozy since they've taken care of that 'blackwater situation'

State Dept. Ousts Its Chief of Security

By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer
The State Department's security chief was forced to resign yesterday after a critical review found that his office had failed to adequately supervise private contractors protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq.
Richard J. Griffin, a former Secret Service agent who was once in charge of presidential protection, was told by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's deputy, John D. Negroponte, to leave office by Nov. 1. Griffin's chief deputy, Gregory B. Starr, will become acting assistant secretary for diplomatic security. .........

huh?

do we need FURTHER proof king george has no clothes? the man is f**king INSANE
Bush certifies Saudi Arabia as anti-terrorism ally
US President George W. Bush certified Saudi Arabia as an anti-terrorism ally on Friday, weeks after a top US Treasury official sharply criticized the kingdom's record.
Bush's move came in a memorandum to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, required under US law to free up aid from Washington to Riyadh, that the White House released to reporters.
"I hereby certify that Saudi Arabia is cooperating with efforts to combat international terrorism and that the proposed assistance will help facilitate that effort," the president said.
His memorandum came a little more than a month after the US Treasury undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Stuart Levey, charged that Saudi Arabia has failed to prosecute the bankrollers of terrorist groups...............

there is NOT A DOUBT in my mind saudi arabia hosted most if not ALL of the 9/11 terrorists.

Saudi Government Provided Aid to 9/11 Hijackers, Sources Say

i had no idea

king george and his court wanted us to deny the genocide of armenians in 1915. turkey can deny it all they like. it happened. hey, i'm italian and THEY did some NASTY things throughout history. i don't LIKE it, but i'm NOT going to DENY it. when you deny things such as this it just makes it MUCH EASIER for it to happen again.

i have a question for king george and his court-what next, the holocaust (cause you don't want to piss off the germans)?
AND
to all of those who backed out of supporting this measure. you are a bunch of COWARDS
Panel Labels Armenian Killings Genocide

By Elizabeth Williamson Washington Post Staff Writer
A House panel voted yesterday to approve calling the mass killings of Armenians that began in 1915 genocide, defying the White House, which warned that the measure could damage U.S.-Turkey relations.
The Foreign Affairs Committee passed the nonbinding resolution on a 27 to 21 bipartisan vote. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has promised she will bring the resolution to the full House for a vote.
Turkey, one of Washington's most staunch Islamic allies, lobbied hard to kill the measure, launching a multimillion dollar campaign and threatening to curtail its cooperation in the Iraq war. President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates were joined by eight former secretaries of state and three former defense secretaries in condemning the proposal. ......

here's how we're going to

make some of the money back we've spent on iraq

1.4 billion dollars in possible US arms sales to Mideast announced

nice, huh
i'm getting the warm and cozies

rep waxman, you are surprised

ccoonnddii is interfering with your investigation into corruption? you're surprised the white house is too? i like you rep waxman. i like your stones (see previous story). i like your chutzpah. i like your mind. but c'mon, you're shocked THEY are like a cat and trying to cover up their shite? c'mon.....

House Panel Says Rice Is Hindering Its Work
Blackwater, Corruption in Iraq at Issue


By Karen DeYoungWashington Post Staff Writer
An ongoing battle between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a House committee investigating Iraqi government corruption and the activities of the Blackwater security firm erupted into another skirmish yesterday as Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) accused Rice of interfering with the committee's work and preventing administration and Blackwater officials from providing pertinent information.
In the latest of a series of exchanges, Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wrote Rice to urge that she "reconsider the unusual positions you are taking." Congress has a "constitutional prerogative" to look into the issues, he wrote, and she is "wrong to interfere with the Committee's inquiry."
State Department spokesman Tom Casey cited a "misunderstanding" on Waxman's part. "All information requested by the committee has been or is in the process of being provided," he said. ...........

i personally cannot imagine

making my living as a soldier of fortune. i don't understand what is inside of someone that could possibly MAKE them want to be a mercernary (you know i want to use the word killer, right?) .

and as an aside? why are THEY guarding crocker and state department employees anyway? why aren't our troops?

Iraq Bans Security Contractor
Blackwater Faulted In Baghdad Killings

By Joshua Partlow and Walter Pincus Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Sept. 17 -- The Iraqi government on Monday said it had revoked the license of Blackwater USA, an American security company involved in a shootout in Baghdad that killed at least nine people, raising questions over which nation should regulate tens of thousands of civilian hired guns operating in Iraq.
The Iraqi government's announcement was its most public assertion to date of its right to take action against foreign security companies when a suspected crime has been committed.
Several violent episodes involving Blackwater have infuriated Iraqi officials. An Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, said the decision meant Blackwater "cannot work in Iraq any longer."............

and even more info:

Will Iraq Kick Out Blackwater?
Monday, Sep. 17, 2007 By ADAM ZAGORIN AND BRIAN BENNETT/WASHINGTON
TIME has obtained an incident report prepared by the U.S. government describing a fire fight Sunday in Baghdad in which at least eight Iraqis were reported killed and 13 wounded. The deadly incident occurred when a convoy of U.S. personnel protected by Blackwater security contractors came under small arms fire. Blackwater returned fire, resulting in the Iraqi deaths. The loss of life has provoked anger in Baghdad, where the Interior Ministry has suspended Blackwater's license to operate around the country. Several Iraqi government officials have indicated their opposition to Blackwater's continued presence in their country. If the suspension is made permanent, it could significantly impair security for key U.S. personnel in the country, a U.S. official in Baghdad told TIME. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose State Department depends on Blackwater to protect its Iraq-based staffers, called Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki to say that the U.S. has launched its own investigation into the matter......

(please understand IF i happened to be in iraq, would i want these guys - yes, i think they're all men, but i could be wrong - watching my back? YES the answer is YES i would. morally, NO but in real life, YES)

a good analysis (by Robert Scheer)

of the SHEER (just a coincidence here) lunacy that is the king george and his court administration. and this is just on ONE subject. arming the saudis.

Keeping Enemies Close--and Saudis Closer

Robert Scheer

Go figure: From the White House comes the news that self-styled anti-terrorism crusader George W. Bush wants to sell $20 billion in high-tech military equipment to Saudi Arabia, the source of most of the financing, and fifteen of the nineteen hijackers, for the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. ......

...........White House officials told the New York Times that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates intend to use the occasion of their joint visit to Saudi Arabia "to press the Saudis to do more to help Iraq's Shiite-dominated government." Huh? Why in the world would the Sunnis, who control Saudi Arabia and are frightened to their bones of Shiites throughout the Gulf, be party to consolidating Shiite power in Iraq?
To complete the circle of madness, White House officials tell reporters that the hope of the latest arms sale program is that the Saudis will be so thrilled with their new weapons that they will stop funding the Sunni insurgents who are currently killing Americans............