Hoekstra On Syria Photo Release: ‘O’Reilly Would Have Been Proud’ Of Bush Admin’s ‘Massive Spin Campaign’
Hoekstra On Syria Photo Release: ‘O’Reilly Would Have Been Proud’ Of Bush Admin’s ‘Massive Spin Campaign’
Yesterday, the Bush administration released images of a Syrian nuclear reactor, destroyed last September by Israel, that it says was built with the help of North Korea. Hours before releasing the photos to the public, the administration briefed the House Intelligence Committee. Before yesterday, only a handful of “crucial members of Congress” had received “highly classified” briefings on the subject.
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) blasted the administration yesterday, saying the briefing came “eight months later than what it should have been,” and said that trust betweeen Congress and the White House “does not exist.” Today on Fox News, he repeated his criticism, calling the timed — and selective — release “a massive spin operation by the administration” of which “Bill O’Reilly would have been proud.”
Watch it:
Fox’s Bill Hemmer grew visible annoyed by Hoekstra’s questioning of the administration’s motives, calling it “quite a charge” and insisting that “there is a perfectly good reason” for the selective and tardy release of information.
As Hoekstra should know, the Bush administration’s modus operandi is to keep Congress in the dark on many of the most important issues:
– The administration insists it does not need Congressional approval for a long-term force agreement with Iraq.
– The administation refuses to testify to Congress on the U.S. attorneys it summarily fired for political reasons.
– The administration dragged its feet on briefing Congress about the warantless wiretapping program.
– The administration instructed the Attorney General to stonewall Congress on discussing torture or the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes.
Considering the White House has even refused to show Congress documents relating to former NLF star Pat Tillman’s death in Afghanistan, why is Hoekstra surprised it refused to brief Congress for eight months on nuclear weapons proliferation?
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38 Responses to “Hoekstra On Syria Photo Release: ‘O’Reilly Would Have Been Proud’ Of Bush Admin’s ‘Massive Spin Campaign’”
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Two points:
1. The timing of the release of this “new Syrian” evidence wouldn’t have anything to do with the conviction of an Israeli spy this week, would it?
2. Remember Pat Tillman and how cowardly politicians hid behind executive priviledge to avoid admitting that a football star was murdered by US troops for his dissenting political views.
Bush-style compassionate conservatism, diplomacy and support for our troops in action.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:21 pmConsidering the White House has even refused to show Congress documents relating to former NLF star Pat Tillman’s death in Afghanistan
So the American people - ya know, the idiots who pay for all this stuff - cannot see the details of the friendly-fire death of an American hero? The WH is REFUSING to show the docs. Where is Tillman’s congressional representative on this? Where is the press on this? We are a doomed nation.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:23 pmThe occupants in the White House are criminals, what do you expect from criminals other than criminal activities.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:24 pm*sigh*
In the next controversial vote, Hoekstra will vote the party line.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:24 pmZooey Says:
*sigh*
In the next controversial vote, Hoekstra will vote the party line.
Yes Ma’am, he will.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:27 pmI think Hoekstra has finally seen the light. He and the rest of congress have been treated like mushrooms by this administration. Kept in the dark and fed bullshit. Only it is coming 7 years too late. He could have done a better job when he was chairman and in the majority
April 25th, 2008 at 1:30 pmHey, Strat_92117,
Unfortunately, there are about 29% of our fellow citizens that think Pat Tillman probably had it coming. Just wait long enough on any Pat Tillman thread, and the trolls pop up.
THREE bullets from a US weapon, fired from ten yards, in PAt TIllman’s forehead. His personal effects and clothes burned, so they could not be used for evidence.
HOW DOES EXECUTIVE PRIVILEDGE APPLY?
April 25th, 2008 at 1:31 pmCheney: So?
April 25th, 2008 at 1:35 pmnellieh Says:
——————————————————————————–
I think Hoekstra has finally seen the light. He and the rest of congress have been treated like mushrooms by this administration. Kept in the dark and fed bullshit. Only it is coming 7 years too late. He could have done a better job when he was chairman and in the majority
Unfortunately, He and his party enabled this administration to treat them like mushrooms and even encouraged it!
It’s way too late in the game for the “R”s to start crying foul!
April 25th, 2008 at 1:37 pmHoekstra is a media whore telling everyone who will listen about the boogie-man under the bed. How the good people of Michigan put-up with this idiot is breathtaking.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:38 pmPoor fixed news anchors….. they get annoyed so easily when their world of lies/non-reality gets shattered to pieces by someone THEY thought drank the Kool-Aide too…call the WHAMULANCE!!! They may all need to be taken to an asylum……
April 25th, 2008 at 1:39 pmMy God things must be bad when Fox is upset with as reliable a pro-administration mouthpiece as Hoekstra.
It really is a Democratic year.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:42 pmHemmer, like a typical reich-winger, started to have a bit of a hissy fit\.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:43 pmChrist, another Republican who can’t pronounce “nuclear”. Hoekstra sounds more pissed that the media got briefed before Congress than that the administration is cherry picking what information to release.
Hemmer meanwhile, like Mittens Romney, is proof that when the lights go out at J.C. Penney the mannequins come to life.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:43 pmrobbez_92107 Says:
Hey, Strat_92117,
Unfortunately, there are about 29% of our fellow citizens that think Pat Tillman probably had it coming. Just wait long enough on any Pat Tillman thread, and the trolls pop up.
I have a feeling the entire planet has been over-saturated with the criminal behavior of the administration. So much so, we cannot keep up with it all. We start discussing the current (or recent) criminal behavior and another sunrise brings another scandal. So before we even have a concensus on the recent behavior, we are faced with still another example of the Bushco’s tendancy to circumvent any law or situation which doesn’t benefit them. Rules are for suckers.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:44 pmPoor Hemmer, a good looking suit, and not much else.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:47 pmGood for Hoekstra. A repug with integrity is a rarity.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:49 pmHere’s something you have also apparently not been briefed on …
April 25th, 2008 at 1:49 pmSigning statements make the legislative branch of government non essential but hey, Cesar liked the entertainment value of the roman senate !
I have a feeling the entire planet has been over-saturated with the criminal behavior of the administration. So much so, we cannot keep up with it all. We start discussing the current (or recent) criminal behavior and another sunrise brings another scandal.
We are like the frog in the boiling water. We have been so conditioned to the lies that are being told they really don’t seem to make us mad any more (not “us” here but “us” as in the citizens of the USA). We are being boiled to death and we have become too lethargic to jump out of the water.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:49 pmHey this used to be a hot tub !
April 25th, 2008 at 1:58 pmWe are being boiled to death and we have become too lethargic to jump out of the water.
A very, very wise observation.
I was describing it to my 14 year old daughter this way: If you are in a moving car, and put your head out of the window -you won’t be able to get a breath of air because the car is moving too fast (too many things are coming at you all at once). The best we can do is to get one or two short blasts of air, then hope for the car to slow down. But in Bush’s world, the car will never slow down, because the truth will catch up to him - so he must keep going faster and faster. In Jan. 2009, his car will be forced to the side of the road. Maybe we can all get a large breath of fresh air then.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:59 pmSlightly OT: Mary Tillman (Pat’s mother) has written a book, due for release in May.
“Tillman’s mother, Mary Tillman, focuses her story on the anger, grief and frustrating quest for answers into her son’s death, which was surrounded by allegations of a government coverup.”
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8999709
April 25th, 2008 at 2:00 pmStrat_92117,
The world hasn’t been over-saturated - travel or talk to people from other countries and try to explain what is going on in this country. They don’t understand and I can’t explain well enough to make smart, rational people understand. I think the truth is as Bilbo stated uppost - the sheeple have grown lethargic, and are taking everyone down with them.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:01 pmStratRat Says:
——————————————————————————–
Strat Rat ~~
Zooey Says:
*sigh*
In the next controversial vote, Hoekstra will vote the party line.
Yes Ma’am, he will.
Uh oh, somebody used the M word…
April 25th, 2008 at 2:02 pmPete Hoekstra is a liar. A war mongering liar. He has carried water for Bush/Cheney from the start without blinking an eye and I don’t believe a single word he says. If he says “Bush is being deceptive”? He may as well tell me the earth is flat.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:08 pmRUCerious Says:
StratRat Says:
——————————————————————————–
Strat Rat ~~
Zooey Says:
*sigh*
In the next controversial vote, Hoekstra will vote the party line.
Yes Ma’am, he will.
Uh oh, somebody used the M word…
April 25th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Having been called whore, c*nt, ‘tard, b*tch, and insane — all in the same week. I’m gonna let that one slide. :-)
April 25th, 2008 at 2:09 pmHaving been called whore, c*nt, ‘tard, b*tch, and insane — all in the same week. I’m gonna let that one slide. :-)
Of course, it was meant with respect.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:20 pmZooey Says:
*sigh*
In the next controversial vote, Hoekstra will vote the party line.
Bingo. This guy is merely starting his re-election sound-bite collection.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:29 pmNext thing we’ll see Hoekstra demanding Michigan give Pantsuit One all the primary votes / delegates.
I wouldn’t trust this ‘mfo any further than I could throw him.
As stated above, he’s pissed the MSM found out about Syria before he did.
OTOH, b!tch slapping a Fux noise mouthpiece is priceless…
April 25th, 2008 at 2:32 pmI really think this just pure propoganda from the White House and CIA–I’m willing to bet that the pictures we have seen were taken somewhere else. This latest fable just doesn’t hold any weight or credibility.
Remember: When this Administration and all of its spokespersons open their mouths–their lips are moving but they are lying like hell.
This is an effort to stir stuff up. I’m thinking something gets dumped today in the news as it is Friday, it’s springtime and people are out and about not paying attention.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:40 pmThis appears to be just part of a larger campaign to beat the drums of war against Iran by showing how dangerous Iraq’s neighbors are.
It really got underway with the firing of Adm. Fallon as Centcom Commander. That was followed by Cheney going to Iraq to give Maliki his marching orders to take on the Madhi Army and the identification of Iran as the source of rockets fired on the Green Zone in response to that attack.
The release of this charge against Syria has grown an angry response from the UN IAEA team for the go-it-alone methods on both this attack by Israel and the release of this intelligence data now. Today also saw shots fired at an Iranian speed boat in the Gulf waters. The last time this happened the Iranian government had a different view of events and it turned out that the Bush administration actually use file photo’s to depict the alledged shooting.
What all of this taken together points toward is some kind of military action against Iran. Apparently Bush does not feel the need to go before Congress to obtain authority to go to war and by playing the fear card often and loudly he thinks that the American people would not take kindly any attempt to remove a commander in chief while the troops are in harms way. That is a high risk, reckless gamble that the American people should not even have to face.
April 25th, 2008 at 3:11 pmUuhhh, because it took eight months to put together the bogus “information”? Fabrications take longer than the truth. Is there any REAL evidence that this was a nuclear facility? Or are we just supposed to believe the same people who gave us all the “evidence” on Iraq’s nonexistant WMD?
April 25th, 2008 at 3:12 pmSy Hersh confirms: Syrian facility bombed by Israel was not nuclear
by David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Sunday February 3, 2008
http://rawstory.com/ news/ 2007/ Seymour_Hersh_reports_on_Israel_bombing_0203.html
April 25th, 2008 at 3:20 pmUS intelligence does not show Syrian nuclear weapons program, officials say
by Larisa Alexandrovna
Published: Thursday October 18, 2007
Allegations that a Syrian envoy admitted during a United Nations meeting Oct. 17 that an Israeli air strike hit a nuclear facility in September are inaccurate and have raised the ire of some in the US intelligence community, who see the Vice President’s hand as allegedly being behind the disinformation.
http://rawstory.com/ news/ 2007/ US_Intelligence_does_not_show_Syrian_1018.html
April 25th, 2008 at 3:24 pmHey, Petey! Welcome to OUR world!
April 25th, 2008 at 3:36 pmWe need a new law.
If one can’t pronounce “nuclear”? One is disqualified from public office. (Unless one suffers a speech impediment, or, English is a “second language”.)
April 25th, 2008 at 4:51 pmRe #1: From robbez_92107: “The timing of the release of this “new Syrian” evidence wouldn’t have anything to do with the conviction of an Israeli spy this week, would it?”
If 84-year-old Ben-Ami Kadish is the spy to whom you’re referring, that should be arrested or alleged, not convicted? (http://www.njherald.com/324237153743052.php and http://www.forward.com/articles/13235/) And talk about suspicious and questionable timing — Kadish’s alleged spy activities took place a quarter-century ago!!
April 25th, 2008 at 5:15 pm> that should be arrested or alleged,
> not convicted?
when did we start giving people trials again? thats SOO
April 26th, 2008 at 2:18 amPre-9/11…