Scotty McClellan: Quran abuses have been taken OUT OF CONTEXT

[Bluebear]

Evidetly you had to be there to understand how urine climbed through the air vents to 'splash' on the detainees. Meanwhile Bush is clearing more brush in Crawford.

===

CRAWFORD, Texas - A Pentagon report detailing incidents in which U.S. guards at Guantanamo Bay prison desecrated the Quran is creating another public relations challenge for President Bush.

Two weeks ago, the White House was thrown on the defensive by a now-retracted Newsweek report alleging that U.S. interrogators at the detention center for alleged terrorists in Cuba had flushed a Quran down a toilet....

On Saturday, a day after the Pentagon described a series of cases of U.S. personnel mishandling the Quran, the White House downplayed the issue.

"It is unfortunate that some have chosen to take out of context a few isolated incidents by a few individuals," presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said in a statement.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050604/ts_nm/security_guantanamo_bush_dc_1

[ewagner]

1. So exactly

in what context are we supposed to take these incidents?

Scotty McMoonface?

[anarchy1999]

2. Note to Scotty: Resign like your predecessor, Ari F. It will be a wise

career move, other option, stick with it and go down with Bush Inc., you little darling sychophant!

[kath]

3. OMFG. Umm, Scotty, exactly in what context would these acts be considered

okay?!?!

jeebus.

[JerseygirlCT]

20. That's what I was wondering, too! nt

[anarchy1999]

4. "out of context.... a few individuals...." how many times have we already

heard this before. The rest of the world is getting tired of "our" few bad apples rotting the rest of the barrel.

[elehhhhna]

5. "Hey! We did the same to the Bible & the Constitution! Quitcherbeefin!"

[MGKrebs]

6. Well, he's telling the truth for once.

They were taken out of the context that they weren't supposed to come out at all!

[burythehatchet]

7. first of all the word is now "mishandling"

here one example of mishandling as heard on Fux news: Apparently a guard left an interrogation in order to go urinate. He happened to urinate right next to a vent, and his urine got sucked in through the vent and splashed on the Qu-ran.

We have the worst fucking luck.

[Bluebear]

9. Those vents must have hurricane force air conditioning

Of course they do, we want our detainees comfortable in humid Cuba. The air pressure is sufficient to transport piss across a room.

[eleny]

19. That's how stupid they think their "base" is

Their base will believe anything.

[Straight Shooter]

14. "the urine got sucked in through the vent"? Pul-eeez

That has got to be the most stupid, asinine, ridiculous, childish, pathetic excuse I have ever heard.

We thought bush was being stupid with his "disassembling" remarks, but I think Scotty needs to wear the dunce cap for a while.

edit: typo. I admit my mistakes :)

[annabanana]

16. every see the "Rosemary Woods" twist?

(About as plausable)

[BringEmOn]

32. Well, there's been a lot of urine suckin' goin' on in the WH, lately.

[wallwriter]

8. Really. Taken *in* context, urine on the Quran is

not a problem at all.:sarcasm:

[Igel]

17. That's what one of the Muslim inmates apparently thought.

Maybe the guard was just trying to emulate a Muslim.

[BrklynLiberal]

10. That is just about the stupidest thing Scotty has said so far..but there

is still time for him to outdo himself.

[Bluebear]

11. He is not the sharpest knife in the drawer is he?

One would think that the equally dim W would want someone a little more quick on his feet.

[Jack Rabbit]

12. The context of these incidents

The context of these incidents is the way the Bush regime has chosen to wage a war on terror.

First of all, the very term war on terror suggests a war designed not to be won. We are not fighting a war against specific terrorists; there can be no rational measure of success. This is a war against a tactic. Instead of resolving to arrest murderers, which would be a practical goal, the regime has promised to wipe out murder, which is not. This allows war to perpetuate, and with any real and imagined emergency powers the chief executive may have to wage war. It is more likely a pretext for tyranny.

Second, the term is dishonest. Invading Iraq had nothing to do with fighting either the tactics of terror or specific terrorists. Saddam had neither a working relationship with terrorists nor any weapons of terror to give or sell. It was colonial piracy, pure and simple. The invasion of Iraq only became a part of the war on terror afterward, when some Islamists chose terror as a tactic to resist the foreign occupation and the colonial rape of their country. The Downing Street document shows that Bush and members of his regime were not concerned about facts, that they were probably aware that facts contradicted their case against Iraq, but that they were determined to make facts and intelligence fit the pre-determined policy of regime change. In other words, they lied and dissembled (that means didn't tell the truth).

Third, we have the Gonzales memos (here in pdf format). These show that from the outset violations of the Geneva Conventions and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment were to be the order of the day. Mr. Gonzales' memoranda is less a legal justification of what the regime is doing by maintaining a network of gulags and of what goes on inside them than an outline of dissembling written in legalese. All one has to do to make it legal is to say the President ordered it, and he is above the law, especially in time of war; this is nonsense. If one assert the right of detainees as prisoners of war, then all one has to do is assert that they are not prisoners of war but something else and that all that is required to call them something else is the President's say so; this is also nonsense and the Third Geneva Convention explicitly says that a battlefield detainee is to be regarded as a prisoner of war until a court of law (not an executive) determines otherwise. Finally, the Gonzales memos define torture in such a way as to say that nothing is torture unless the torturer says its torture; this is clearly nonsense.

So, the context is that a bunch of dissembling, sadistic tyrants bent on world domination are telling us that the situation is not as bad as what some would have us believe, and we are just to take their word for it. We don't need an independent world body looking into the matter, they say, because their word is good enough.

Yeah, right. Just like it was when they said Saddam had a vast biochemical arsenal that should be obvious to anyone who looks and that independent weapons inspectors weren't needed and couldn't prove anything because they were blind anyway. Those were willful lies. Are we supposed to believe them now?

Bush and his neoconservative aide are liars. They are war criminals. They are torturers. It is long past time to start treating them accordingly. If the United States is incapable or unwilling to bring these thugs to justice, then we must urge the United Nations to convene a war crimes tribunal, issue indictments and begin apprehending suspected war criminals.

[Kelvin Mace]

13. How do you piss out of context?

[Spazito]

30. ROFL! Very succinct .....

oh how I wish the WH press corps would pose that exact question!

[Jack Rabbit]

15. Bump

:bounce:

[tabasco]

18. Their distortion and obfuscation tells the world one thing.

Our guards pissed on the prisoners and their Korans.

This is a further disgrace to the US that we do not admit our crimes but cover them up with fairy tales. How fkkking stupid do they think we are? As stupid as Bush voters apparently.

[JerseygirlCT]

21. How come when it was one incident that Newsweek -m

supposedly had wrong that caused riots and death it was a terrible big deal. Now it's many incidents and it's "a few isolated incidents" and taken all out of context?

How the hell does he pull that off?

[Jack Rabbit]

22. That makes sense

One would suppose that Mr. McClellan would say that if he were telling the truth. Crime investigators know that it is always easier to tell the truth because if questioned repeatedly one only need remember what happened rather then the lie that one made up on a prior occasion.

So, what does this inconsistency suggest?

Maybe McClellan should resort to an old master from a bygone era of White House dissembling, Ron Ziegler, the Nixon White House's press spokesman:

This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative.

[JerseygirlCT]

23. LOL. I'd forgotten that one. nt

[Bluebear]

33. Blast from the past! nt

[Protagoras]

24. What is the proper Context for Splashing Urine Scotty?

nt.

[yella_dawg]

25. Hey Scotty!

What exactly was the context? I wanna know so that when I wipe my ass with you tie, you'll understand that no insult was meant.

[Darth_Ole]

26. C.J. Cregg is my press secretary...

Scott McClellan is a joke...

[kliljedahl]

27. had flushed a Quran down a toilet....?

From everything I've heard they don't have toilets, only buckets & latrines. Buckets & latrines don't flush,therefore nothing happened.

End of story, move along folks.


Keith’s Barbeque Central

[ogradda]

28. Well then just explain that.

How about"We peed on your Bible in a NICE way'? Or the ever popular "We wrote dirty words in your Holy Book as a sign of respect"? Just be honest, I'm sure they'll understand.:eyes: :sarcasm:

[Mr.Green93]

29. We Tortured their Holy Book

the fact can not be denied. This is an affront to Islam and all Muslims.

[bpilgrim]

31. 'some people say' the same thing about Mr. Galloway and his TRUTH 2 POWER

SMACKDOWN the other day...

'some people say' that he's an EVIL DO'ER at worst, lover at best

'some people say' that we shouldn't listen to what he has to say

'some people say' that we should avoid the American/Israel hater at all coast

DU, as usual, says different

Thank GORE he 'invented' the INTERNETs :evilgrin:

peace

[Bluebear]

34. For the morning shift

[Vinca]

35. Sure, Scotty.

And Jeff Gannon was delivering Girl Scout cookies. Right?

[elehhhhna]

36. "When Jeffy splashes urine on me, I kinda LIKE it!" Scot Mc Clellan