Thanks for getting this stinking stupidity our here. She made lots of mistakes along the way and still too blind to see…looks like she needs alot of reminders and some reality info. Bring it on, as they say.

Still insisting they had no idea that WMDs didn’t exist, which ignores reports they undeniably received, and that a big coalition was the invading party, which later events prove wrong, Rice displays once again the inability to deal with facts that made her a terribly wrong advisor for the administration determined to take over Iraq.

The lack of accountability is astonishing.

Condosleeza was still fighting the Cold War when “we” invaded Iraq. The whole rationale was predicated on lies and irrational fear and the strategy harkened back to the time when the objective was to set up a friendly puppet in __________ before the Soviet Union could, at all costs.

Don’t be so hard on Condi. She had no idea — no idea, I tell you — that terrorists would try to fly airplanes into buildings, despite the fact that the Bojinka (sp?) plot was well-known by then and Bush slept on a warship when he went to the Genoa conference ca. 2003 because of precisely that fear.

She’s a talking-point-spewing automaton. Do you think she’s capable of reflection or admitting error?

She could never acknowledge that there was any information about airplanes…really scary denial…and lack of accountability…of course, she’s not the only one.

Spot on. She’s Orly Taitz with slightly more style and O’Donnell should have treated her the same.

Just what I would expect a self respecting war whore to say.

Torture turns her on though in a patriotic type of way.

Maybe she confused LoDo with Tweety and was trying to give him a thrill up his leg.

I thought he was more than rude enough.

Thanks for the post BT. Rice is beneath even the most vile curses.

Rice is supposed to be something of an academic. One of the anomalies of the post Vietnam era is that the Vietnam War scholars ALL developed out of what might be referred to as second tier universities. No Vietnam war scholars at Harvard, Stanford, etc. Now comes Ms. Rice and Stanford supporting the Iraq War and the lunies like George “it’s a slam dunk” Tenet (he’s at Georgetown) and the Clintons. You won’t even get the Clintons to admit the Iraq War was a mistake, just the way it was prosecuted.

Here’s what I remember about the interview most “Lauuuurence . . . Lauuurence . . .” Sounding almost like the guy who says “Buuuueller, Ferris Buuueller. . .”
Generally I can’t stand O’Donnell’s interviewing, he just cannot keep it together and he does not know how to frame a question. There is a way to cut through someone’s prattle of talking points particularly if they are trying to run out the 7 minute interview time allotment, but sadly “Lawrence” does not know how to do that.
What I cannot understand is how she gets away with using an incident in 1988 (He gassed his own people, with our gas, given to him by Donald Rumsfeld, ) to justify a war in 2003. If “Lauuurence,” could just simply ask her to explain why we cared about a 1988 incident in 2003 when Ronald Raygun and Donald Rumsfeld looked the other way while it was (allegedly,) happening.

The Bush administration claimed there was an operational relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda. There wasn’t.

and he was told by every single agency there wasn’t

They claimed Saddam had WMDs, including an advanced nuclear program. He didn’t.

and bush was told by every single agency, he didn’t

They said that getting rid of Saddam would cost about $50B, that Iraq would finance it’s own reconstruction, and that the war would be over in a matter of months. It wasn’t.

this one he might have believed

when every agency told the bush cheney criminal team there was no association between al-qaeda and Iraq, cheney went back to his “team b” to create data he knew would be false

he did that before under ford and he followed the very same play book to get us into Iraq

while most everyone here at the lake already knows these things, I just want to republish for emphasis

She’s a talking-point-spewing automaton.

she did look kind of hot in her nazi walking boots though

I couldn’t help but notice that Rice brought up how Hussein invaded Iran but didn’t mention it was done at US request, nor that we supplied those weapons.

“We’re not going there”? Translation: “I’m not answering questions that make me look like a warhawk and an idiot.”

There is some “good” news:
Azzaman, Apr 12:

“Iraqi Minister of Human Rights says there are only 1.450 million orphans in the country and not five million as previously claimed. Sayya al-Sudani said media reports had exaggerated the number of orphans in the country. Sudani was ostensibly pleased to have come up with the new figures, refuting earlier estimates of five million orphans.”

“Why Is The US Gov’t So Afraid of the International Criminal Court” (image from “Giant Puppets invade pro-Watada antiwar rally!” by dinazina, Feb. 06, 2007)

She can’t admit the Iraq war was wrong, or initiated on utterly false pretenses — because to do so would be to publicly admit to a serious war crime.

I thought it was also odd that she said “We made a mistake” when we backed Iraq in that war.

The “we” was Reagan, Rummy & company.

DING!

Well, she did get the best of him in pointing out he is a horrid interviewer. Call an interview and not let people speak? Of course she would admit no fault. But, damn, if he would have kept his mouth shut, she just might have slipped up somewhere. But the Cheney admin did always have their lies and mushroom clouds down much better than Obama talking heads. Including talking head Lawrence.

You won’t even get the Clintons to admit the Iraq War was a mistake, just the way it was prosecuted.

Actually, Bill has since renounced the war. Hillary (as far as I know) still refuses to.

http://firedoglake.com/2007/11/28/beg-your-pardon-mr-president/

Rice was just repeating the same old tired bs about seeing threats differently after 9/11 that we’ve been hearing for years.

Meanwhile, the biggest surprise for me is that Lo’Doh is still on the air. Thank you, MSNBC, for taking away the last reason I had for turning on my tv.

Ah, Yep.

LoDo may not have been able to get the best of Rice but atleast he made her very, very uncomfortable, which is more than alot of MSM reporters would have done.

Even with the admission, Obama doesn’t look back. He looks forward. Their backs are covered either way.

I object to what I see as an attempted “redemption” of Rice: she was courtside at Stanford men’s and women’s basketball games [and on camera all-too-much], and she just had a very minor role on NBC’s 30 Rock.

Looks to me like attempts to portray her in a “kinder, gentler” role.

I still hate her.

… all those calls were wrong and led to horrific levels of human suffering, including hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis and over 30,000 American casualties.

If we only had a President with the balls to say so.

She’s a weird bird. Gullible. Distracts her self with football. She needs to go on a long, winding, trip within herself.

Hillary’s position seems clear enough to me.

Here’s a clip from a MTP interview in 2007:

Well, I cast a sincere vote based on my assessment at the time, and I take responsibility for that vote. I also said on the floor that day [in 2002] that this was not a vote for pre-emptive war.

She said several times since 2002 that her vote “was clearly intended to demonstrate support for going to the United Nations to put inspectors into Iraq” and was “not a vote for pre-emptive war.”

She wouldn’t have done what Bush did had she been president.

What a perfect example of conservative mindset. Start with the predetermined and always idealogical conclusion, and reverse-rationalize your way to the argument that supports that conclusion. And never, ever, back down or admit you were ever wrong about anything. It’s the one thing that makes having a conversation with these people so frustrating. Conservatives apply this formula to everything. Climate change, voter “fraud”, economic policy, torture, you name it.

That’s why they are conservatives. They are chickenshits and can’t face reality, so they create their false reality in their little cocoons and stick together…that’s why they f up everything.

Just arrest this war criminal. She is such a lieing sack of crap. I watched this and I think L O should have kept at her and let her walk of and show what a petulent little prick she is. She is a liar a fraud and a war criminal and if I ever get near I will be sure to let her know. Oh and those idiots who gave her the cameo on 30 Rock….. shame on you as well. Anything that give this cretin any cover is complicit in the crimes against humanity. Oh yeah and this is an excellent example of fillibustering. Any time she got a question from LO she went on and on and on and on and the muck just kept rising then when LO would wnat to say well you are off the track with my original question she gets all huffy. What and amazingly F’d up excuse of humanity.

She didn’t renounce the vote, though — and reaffirmed it many times during the primary.

Also, I think her spin that she wasn’t “voting for the war” is nonsense. She knew what Cheney & Co. were going to do.

Cheney & Co lied all of us into war. Had you been a US Senator at the time, even you would have had a hard time ignoring the “evidence” that was presented to you.

Hate Hillary all you like. The fact remains that Cheney & Co lied all of us into war.

Where did you get “hate Hillary”? Geez.

The fact is — 21 Senate Democrats voted against the Iraq War. With all the years she spent in the WH, Hillary knew who these people were and lit the fuse anyway. She’s a hawk — and no doubt, she believes it was the right thing to do.

Democrats who voted “Nay”

* Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii)
* Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico)
* Barbara Boxer (D-California)
* Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia)
* Lincoln Chaffee (R-Rhode Island)
* Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota)
* Jon Corzine (D-New Jersey)
* Mark Dayton (D-Minnesota)
* Dick Durbin (D-Illinois)
* Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin)
* Bob Graham (D-Florida)
* Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii)
* Jim Jeffords (I-Vermont)
* Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts)
* Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)
* Carl Levin (D-Michigan)
* Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland)
* Patty Murray (D-Washington)
* Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island)
* Paul Sarbanes (D-Maryland)

I disagree with her. I don’t “hate” her.

And it is really hard to know what Obama would have done as CIC. Oh wait. Today I look back and think he would not have only cast the vote but he might have gone in. I don’t know if Gates would have gone to the UN with a bottle of white powder though or Hillary say mushroom cloud over and over again. I have been thinking back since the killing of Osama, about Obama saying he would take it to Pakistan (not his exact words) back in the debates. The drones have indeed been taking it to Pakistan.

Had you been a US Senator at the time, even you would have had a hard time ignoring the “evidence” that was presented to you.

WTF?

Not to mention ruining the reputation of Colin Powell by foisting the lies on him and making him the front man for the lies. Of course he chose to get into bed with liars and criminals to beging with so he has to accept a large part of the blame to begin with and I think he knows he was used as the Bush regimes “Step n Fetchit” to his ever lasting shame.

Fair enough.

David Dayen has a fresher cross-post up: US Drone Strike Kills 8 in Pakistan, Days After Bin Laden Raid

And I heard a bit of real scorn in her voice during, might have been her confirmation hearing, when the Republican hawk said something like, “Well Cheney’s view…” and she interrupted and said something like, “Do you think what Dick Cheney says has much weight with me.” The smirk on even his own staffers face was priceless. I think she takes the “shame on you” quote unlike bush who flubbed it and the resentment that can come from that pretty seriously.

Not sure what part of that particular quote isn’t clear to you.

Anyway, I’m far more upset by Colin Powell presenting “evidence” to the UN and throwing the full weight of his credibility behind it than I am at sitting US Senators like Hillary Clinton who already had a difficult enough vote to make without being lied to.

But if you want to be angry at a Senate Democrat, how about getting mad at Tom Daschle for making the hugely stupid calculation that it would be better to have the vote before the 2002 midterms in order to get the issue out of the way?

I changed the channel, because I didn’t think O’Donnell would be able to ask Condi Rice how she could justify coddling Gaddafi, a Middle East dictator who everyone agrees was responsible for terrorist acts that killed Americans. Given Rice’s high-profile visit to Libya less than three years ago, you might think she wouldn’t be doing any interviews right now!

I like how Powell was portrayed in the movie “W”. He really didn’t have the political savvy of knowing watch your back. That is probably why the picked him. I suppose his endorsement of Obama might have been his get back. Though I still want a book. The hearings we should have had against Cheney.

Given Rice’s high-profile visit to Libya less than three years ago, you might think she wouldn’t be doing any interviews right now!

You expect her to have a sense of shame?

Not true. They were ramping it up for a very long time before anyone really caught onto the fact that they were going to war…Powell’s cartoons were extremely obvious. History repeats itself.

What “evidence”? Hillary’s vote was obviously political cynicism writ large. As were the votes of every other Democrat who voted for that piece of shit.
Powell has always been a bag man. All the way back to Vietnam.
Daschle is simply another corporate whore who never had any business being in the Senate.

Hillary’s position seems clear enough to me.

Me too.

On October 11th 2002, Hillary Clinton voted to authorize President Bush to use military force against Iraq. She later called that vote “probably the hardest decision I have ever had to make.”

H.J.RES.114
Oct 2, 2002– Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq– The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to (1) defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and (2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq.

SEN. CLINTON: Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort and sanctuary to terrorists, including al-Qaeda members. Any vote that might lead to war should be hard, but I cast it with conviction. So it is with conviction that I support this resolution as being in the best interests of our nation.

The previous day, she had voted against the Levin amendment, which would have required UN approval for the use of force against Iraq; and, failing that, another Congressional vote authorizing the President to use American military force.

That same day, she had also voted for a Byrd amendment that would have set a time limit on the use of US forces in Iraq — but that also included procedures for extending the date.

Clinton’s other notable Senate action on that day was drawing a link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, saying Saddam had given “aid, comfort and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members.”
http://www.radioopensource.org/hillary-clintons-war-vote/

What “evidence”? They were told about Uranium from Niger among other things. Bush even put that bullshit in a State of the Union address in Jan. Remember? It was retracted by the summer of 2003, but by then the lies had achieved the Bush/Cheney & Co goal and no longer mattered to them.

Wow, she actually said Canada was part of the coalition in Iraq? What an idiot.

To borrow from her final bit of her interview, “anyone who believes Canada went to Iraq in the coalition is clearly ill-informed.”

Not sure her vote against a requirement to get UN approval for the use of force is about this one issue of whether or not to invade Iraq at that time.

You write:

Clinton’s other notable Senate action on that day was drawing a link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, saying Saddam had given “aid, comfort and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members.”

Unless you’re arguing that she made that up, I’d say it makes far more sense to blame Cheney & Co for lying about it in order to lie us into war.

It’s disconcerting, still, to hear Rice say she’d do it all again.

And that refusal to learn from past mistakes, hell the refusal to admit that there even were past mistakes, explains the failure of the Bush Administration.

Wow, she actually said Canada was part of the coalition in Iraq? What an idiot.

Back-formation logic, reverse engineered yellow cake mojo. Canada allowed the airliners still in the sky on 9/11 to land in safe harbor, no problemo. Therefore (sic), Canada supported the US since (sic) Saddam let al-Qaeda train in Iraq.

Actually all that Hillary knew for sure was that 3,000 people were murdered in New York on 9/11, and she was the US senator from New York. Hobson’s Choice.

yeah, but I wish it had been Rachel. She would have gotten the follow-up questions right.

My read of this appearance is that the heat or search for a scapegoat/fall guy must be significant as Condi wouldn’t show up on teebee unless she is now feeling very exposed.

“The first casualty when war comes is truth.”
-Hiram Johnson

Three words

Downing Street Memos

I believe that George Bush, Tony Blair, Condi Rice, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and an assortment of others trumped up a war they wanted to have for a variety of reasons,none of which had anything to do with Osama Bin Ladin or 9/11. I don’t understand how anyone anywhere could draw a different conclusion.

She really trotted out every old excuse in the book in that interview and they are still just as tired and transparent now as they were then.

I also noticed how she clearly said ‘we failed to act on intelligence’ in regards to 9/11. People with long memories will remember George Tenet and Cofer Black clearly saying they warned her in July of 2001, something that came out long, long afterwards and which actually dwarfs the whole issue of the PDB in August, which most people focus on. Rice actually tried to deny that the July meeting ever happened, from what I recall.

Just a quick refresher:

from the Washington Post

This extremely significant meeting also miraculously did not make it into the 9/11 Commission’s report.

Condoleezza Rice should be in prison.

Condoleezza Rice did get the better of Lawrence O’Donnell. The reason why she was elevated from National Security adviser to Secretary of State is that she always stays on message. She, like all loyal Republicans, never admits mistakes and her speaking style never lets anyone interrupt her robotic, programmed logic under any circumstances.

While speaking last night of the non-existent WMD she simply replayed the same message she had programmed into her brain from the day Bush bombed, invaded and occupied Iraq. Saddam Hussein possessed and used WMD. Yes, he did, in the past and long before Bush’s genocidal war against Iraq.

But, that fact did not deter Rice from insisting that Iraq was an immediate threat to the interests of America.

No matter to Rice who threatened to end the debate if she was not allowed to finish her tortuous reconstruction of the illegal war in which she aided and abetted the deaths of 4,400 U.S. military and hastened 100,000 Iraqi men, women and children into early graves.

O’Donnell came across as a chastened school boy whose teacher, Rice, reminded him to practice better manners when speaking to higher authority — meaning herself. She was cool, he was not.

But, he got what he deserved in the same way he deserved Orly Taitz who he invited on his program to make the demand that Taitz should apologize to Barack Obama after his long form birth certificate was released to the public. She had no intention of apologizing and he should have known that. So, all it turned out to be was a shouting match until he, not Taitz, ended the risible interview.

Condoleezza Rice, however, took O’Donnell to the woodshed and made him look chagrined and embarrassed of himself.

If he wants to bring drones and automatons on his program to make his point he better do a lot more vetting of their past opinions and policies.

The only thing I ever heard Bush say he regretted or was sorry for was Kanye West’s accusation that G. W. Bush was a racist, an accusation that Kanye West later apologized for.

Murdering 100,000 people, however never caused Bush to blink an eye. And so it was with Condoleezza Rice, Bush’s faithful servant who will follow him and his propaganda to the final underground bunker.

Rice and Taitz 2, O’Donnell, 0.

He is extremely proud of his non-existent journalism skills.

It’s too bad Maddow didn’t “get” Rice, but surely Condi knows better. Rachel looked quite chagrined as she came on LO’D to chat after.

There it is: the face of bullying right-wing authoritarianism. Dominate the conversation by filibustering the interviewer and ignore inconvenient questions and truths. Man, she has rehearsed this BS so thoroughly her eyeballs are floating. Notice how she interrupts the questions at a point where she is ready to misdirect the issue.

Lawrence never challenged her on the illegality of the war as defined by the United Nations. She is a war criminal because she took material steps to execute a classic war of aggression. No self-defense against an imminent threat and no UN Security Council sanction.

Let’s be honest with ourselves. Barack Obama and the Democrats don’t have any real problem with Rice and the other Bush administration criminals. Obama and the Democrats have protected Bush and company.

In other times and places war criminals have been hanged. In the United State they are invited back to the White House and go on book tours.

Good post but you left off the “water is wet” tag.

That makes me want to spew.

Except for the Maury Povich value, I don’t see any reason to interview any of these sociopaths. And Schools like George Mason, Georgetown, Pepperdine and Stanford, and for John Yoo maybe even Berkeley, should have their accreditation revoked. Their students are getting nothing of value, not even as honest examples of folly, for their tuition.

O’Donnell wasn’t rude enough to that contemptible criminal.

ask the republicans running for President whether they would do it again