I Never Said That Or Where's My Leader

I have been away this week and I have had some interesting conversations. I must tell you that there seems to be an over riding theme in my conversations as well as a few recurring questions. There is one recurring question that I particularly want to share with you because it is at the core of my blog and my purpose in writing this blog. I am often asked why I am so passionate with regards to the President, Vice President and the neocon leadership in the Senate and Congress. Well I can sum my answer up in a very few words. In fact I can sum it up with just two words. Honesty and Integrity. The simple truth is that the President, Vice President and the neocon leadership in the Senate and Congress posses neither of these qualities. As one example this past Wednesday evening on the Keith Olbermann show Countdown Keith aired two clips of Vice President Cheney giving two speeches that he gave within a few days of one another. These clips showed the Vice President saying one thing in the first speech and the exact opposite in the second speech. The sad reality is that the Vice President, like the President does this very, very frequently. It’s not just that they twist the facts to fit their situation or desires but that they simply lie. Please understand that I am not just talking about misspeaking. I am talking about lying. Telling falsehoods. Speaking untruths and doing it blatantly and openly. In my earlier post I promised to give you and example of one of their lies. Okay here goes. Below are two quotes by Vice President Cheney with regards to an Iraq and Al Qaeda connection and in particularly the infamous (and it never happened) meeting between Mohammed Atta and an Iraqi intelligence officer. The first quote is during an interview with Tim Russert on December 9, 2001 on Meet the Press and the second interview is 3 days after the 9/11 Commission released a statement saying there was no such meeting or connection during an interview with Gloria Borger on Capital Report.

MEET THE PRESS

RUSSERT: A couple of articles have appeared which I want to get you to react to. The first. “The Czech interior minister said today that an Iraqi intelligence officer met with Mohammed Atta, one of the ringleaders of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, just five months before the synchronized hijackings and mass killings were carried out”….

CHENEY: Well, what we now have that’s developed since you and I last talked, Tim, of course, was that—it’s been pretty well confirmed that he did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April, several months before the attack. Now, what the purpose of that was, what transpired between them, we simply don’t know at this point, but that’s clearly an avenue that we want to pursue.

CAPITAL REPORT

BORGER: Well, let’s get to Mohammad Atta for a minute because you mentioned him as well. You have said in the past that it was, quote, “pretty well confirmed.’

CHENEY: No, I never said that.

BORGER: Okay

CHENEY: I never said that.

BORGER: I think that is….

CHENEY: Absolutely not. What I said was the Czech intelligence service reported after 9/11 that Atta had been in Prague on April 9 of 2001, where he allegedly met with an Iraqi intelligence official. We have never been able to confirm that nor have we been able to knock it down, we just don’t know.

Now I don’t know about you but in my book it would appear that Mr. Cheney is either lying or he is hmmmm….. he’s lying. Those would be the two options. What he denies saying and then reports that he did say are two completely different things. That to me is lying. Now his statements on Countdown are just as diverging as these two. Sorry I don’t have that transcript. The point is that this is the story over and over with this administration. What makes me quite ill is that they are doing this in connection with taking this country to war and because of these actions over 2,100 American soldiers are dead and over 15,250 more are wounded.

Now for my thoughts on this. I have repeatedly seen this administration and this President and Vice President conduct themselves dishonestly. I understand that I am using strong language throughout this writing and in many of my past posts but we are at a point in this nation and its history that we must use strong language and we need leaders who are strong enough to stand up to the neoconservative movement and say enough is enough. We don’t need dishonesty in leading this nation and there is no place in our government for it. Where honesty is lacking or missing there is no integrity. Where there is no integrity there is nothing. This administration has created a void in leadership through dishonesty. Our government and nation are leaderless. Neither people nor soldiers will follow where there is no leadership and there can be no leader or leadership where there is no honesty or integrity. These are simple and true principles.

"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you." —George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss., Sept. 20, 2005

Those are the Sergeant Majors Thoughts on That.