With the administration set on full out damage control, Sec. Def Rumsfled and at least two key Generals ( Myers, Chr, J.C.S. and Smith) appeared before representatives of both houses today, in order to answer questions surrounding the torture of POWs scandal which, according to reports, is going to get much worse. I spent most of the day watching this unfold, and the past couple of hours listening to political analysts go over what happened today, and what it means, on a few channels but, as usual, predominantly MSNBC. The following is a summary of what I saw and thought, and what the analysts had to say. The Good Whille there were certainly examples of partisan posturing, there was also a great deal of crossing the lines, as some of the toughest questions came from Republicans, whereas some of the most glowing praise for Rumsfeld, Myers et al came from Democrats. Rumsfeld himself, despite some serious issues I will mention later, appeared to be the most human I have ever seen him today, and despite my opposition to what he has done and stands for, there were times I felt myself feeling for him and the incredible pressure he is under right now. When he responded to questions about his resignation by stating he had given it serious thought, I didn't doubt him. Gen. Smith was very impressive in some respocts, and seemed to have a far greater graps of the details of this situation than either Rumsfeld or Myers, which is in part understandable given his portfolio. The most serious issue I took from today will somewhat contradict this later, but to begin with Rumsfeld stated, and was echoed by everyone present, that this was a matter of the gravest concenr, was incredibly damaging to both our war effort and our credibility, and Rumsfeld himself said on at least 3 occassions that I counted that he took full responsibility, and that as far as the upper branches go, " if anything went wrong, it went wrong with me." I have no doubt that Rumsfeld was sincere when he said how personally sickened he was by the pictures, and more than anyone else today, he made the point that the pictures yet to come are far worse than what we have already seen. All three often admitted that things could have been handled better, as far as their roles in this affair. The Bad As I said, there was a great deal of partisanship at play here. It was most obvious on the Republican side, not because I think Republicans are more partisan, but because their efforts today stood the most in contrast with everyone's superficial vow that this was an extremely damaging set of circumstances that needed full attention and that tough questions had to be asked. With this as a foundation, the need for some Sneators and Congressman to spend most of their time praising Rumsfeld, Myers etc., citing their career accomplishments,praising them for their respective handling of the situation, making repeated and counterfactual statements about how we're only talking about 6 bad apples, and ending off with a softball question like " We are aware that you have done everything possible to rectify the situation, so can you tell us some of the things you envision will get better in the future?" I don't doubt the veracity of their records or the sincerity of the praise, but it seemed ideally ill timed for a venue that is supposed to be about getting to the bottom of a catastrophe, and letting the rest of the world know how seriously we take this. There was more...one Senator ( can't recall his name or party) apparently felt it would benefit all to listen to an account of what a wonderful administrator he was back in the Navy, with specific examples. I don't even think he finished with a real question, but Rumsfeld felt then need to fill the awkward silence by thanking the Senator for his brave service. The Senator seemed gratified, and apparently his role in the hearing had been fulilled. A female Democratic Representative asked some pretty decent and to the point questions, but finished off with a hanging curve about why weren't the Red Cross complaints ever heeded or revealed...or actually, that might not have been the specific gist of her question, but she left it open to interpretation as such, and Smith stepped up and reminded her that Red Cross records could not be revealed, by mutual consent with the ICRC, in an effort to protect where they get their information, and followed it up by stating that the ICRC's recomendations on at least one occassion had been followed up with improvements which the Red Cross had noted. The Congreswoman felt the need to get in a last shot by asking " Could that be because they weren't there at night?", to which Smith, understandably, answered "Possibly." WHich made him seem reasonable and her a trifle sharp. General Myers seemed to comfirm suspicions that he is the least in touch whith what's going on, and was really not impressive. Despite both Smth and Rumsfeld seeking to deflect questions to him often, he never seemed to be able to really go with anything, usually giving vague or scattered responses and then passing it back. He would answer some questions to the point, but that was all too rare. To a degree in the Senate, but much more in the Congress there seemed to be an incredible amount of self-serving anger about being kept out of the loop. Your first reaction might be that it is righteous anger, as they are our representatives, and we need to be informed, except that many of the representatives who were chastising Rumsfeld et al for failing to inform them felt the need to point out that, had they been kept informed, they would have been able to help muffle the blow and lessen the exposure and profile of these damaging revalations. It was hardly universal, as others were quite upset about the desire to hide this, but there was a senes among some of being ticked off because they should rightfully be kept in the Big Boys Club. The Ugly There were three main issues which take precedence; 1) Despite his opening statements to the effect that this is a catastrophe, and that he assumed full responsibility, Rumsfeld let slip a few statements, usually in the heat of an exchange, which contradict those sentiments, and shed light on how he actually sees this. For example, would someone who truly feels this is, as he said, an event of enormous magnitude with consequences of the highest level also chaffe at having to answer questions, imply several times that this was a political witch hunt, and when someone acknowledged that some of the criticism might be partisan say " Now that's the understatement of the morning." Addtionally, he several times said that "the real issue we should be looking at here is the illegal leak of secret reports and pictures to the media!", again contradicting the seriousness with which he eariler claimed to regard this situation. The implications about how Rumsfeld really sees this situation are fairly clear, and while I have no doubt his disgust at the particulars of this situation are sincere, I think they do not take the top billing his initial words would have us believe. 2) Myers admitted to asking CBS to bury the story and pictures for an indefinite amount of time, on the grounds that he felt the effect it would have on the troops and civicilans in Iraq would be detrimental to the war effort. As one Senator noted, this kind of action ins antithetical to the workings of a responsible government, and Myers was far exceeding his position in trying to stifle the reporting of atrocities because of their import, and the realistic reaction people would have to them. Rumsfeld said that there were precedents, but those were of a material nature, such as not reporting that troops were massing in a particular area until after an invasion, etc., all examples of not wanting the truth to get to the enemy, not examples of not wanting the truth to get to the world simply because it makes us look bad, and people on both sides would respond as they should. 3) There was an extreme sense of uncertainty and confusion when the principals in question were asked particulars about who high up knew what when. There were all kinds of contradictions, and while Rumsfeld earlier had said that if there was any fault it was his, he later brushed off responsibility by claiming to have known no more than anyone else until 7:30 last night, because the higher ups in the military command had failed to pass on the pictures or their import. People on both sides of the aisle repeatedly pointed out huge gaps between officials knowing startling pieces of information, and any kind of action, and the general sense was that, had the story not leaked ( against which Rumsfeld's seemingly strongest feelings were directed), we would still probably not know about this through the propoer channels. RUmsfeld kept trying to say that no one high up knew anything, that the Taguba report etc. never were digested because too much was going on, but at the same time he repeatedly tried to defend the actions of the administration by pointing out that the fact that investigations into allegations of misconduct towards POWS had been released ack in January. Additionally, and aside from his slips of the tongue which revealed his underlying feelings, Rumsfeld's greatest failure today was that he repeatedly tried to explain away the fact that the administration had known about these things, had had reports and completed investigations which detailed the specific and systemic nature of the abuses, like the one conducted by Gen Taguba, for months, and yet had failed to take any real action, or inform Congress, the Sentate, by citing that the pictures realized the degree and significance of the torture in a way that the mere words could not. Many Senators and Congressional Reps pointed out that this was pretty weak, pointed out that the taguba report gave specific examples of abuse even worse than that shown in the pictures thus far, and also noted that this failed to explain why neither he nor Myers had even read Taguba's report as recently as a week ago, and if they had not read it, how could they say that the words being less impactive than the pictures was even relevent? I have tried to give a fair and impartial breakdown of both the events today and the analysts' takes on them later.
I pretty much agree with your report. I did like the Republican Lindsay's questions who seemd like he was earnestly trying to get to the bottom of the whole mess. To me the worst part of it was the fact that they seemed so concerened about the material leaking to the media. That isn't the real problem. The real problem is that the events happened. That's the root of the problem. Stop that, and there won't be any material to leak to the media.
Was it Lindsay who later was doing a Rain Man impersonation while the woman next to him was speaking? Rocking back and forth at an incredible rate? I was surprised she didn't give him a look, but maybe she gace him a kick under the table. I forgot to mention that, as Rummy began testifying, several protesters arose and began hollering about other incidents of abuse, and demanding that Rumsfeld resign. It went on for a lot longer than I'd have thought possible, as they were buffered from the guards by a phalanx of media.
