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Shortly after his CPAC appearance, former defense secretary Donald "War Criminal" Rumsfeld endorsed the repeal of DADT.
“First of all, we know that gays and lesbians have been serving in the military for decades with honorable service,” Rumsfeld said. “We know that [repeal of a ban on gays serving openly] is an idea whose time has come.” Rumsfeld says he has “enormous respect” for the ground commanders and service chiefs who have expressed concerns about the impact of gays serving openly on unit cohesion, and he urged the top brass to implement the new law “with care.” But Rumsfeld says that congress, which passed the repeal bill in the waning days of the last session, has expressed the will of the American people.The Freepers are very unhappy with this.
CPAC attendees are tweeting that it was a group of "Ron Paul crazies" that booed former Vice President Dick Cheney this afternoon as he approached the CPAC podium. The crowd drowned out the booing with chants of "USA! USA!" but that died down just in time for one unseen man to scream "WAR CRIMINAL!" before being hustled out by security. Cheney appeared to find the entire thing quite amusing.
George W. Bush will not be visiting Switzerland after all.
Former President George W. Bush canceled a February 12 visit to a Jewish charity gala in Switzerland, reportedly out of fears that legal action would be taken against him for his role in authorizing torture. Human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, the International Federation of Human Rights, and Center for Constitutional Rights, said they had intended to submit a 2,500-page case against Bush in Geneva “on behalf of two of men, Majid Khan, who remains at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Sami al-Hajj, a former Al Jazeera cameraman who was released in May 2008.”Duyba's would-be hosts claim they canceled his invitation because of security concerns.
(Tipped by JMG reader Bill)
WikiLeaks has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for the site's "exposure of corruption, war crimes and torture around the world."
Nobel-watcher and Peace Research Institute Oslo Director Kristian Berg Harpviken says he is not surprised WikiLeaks has been nominated and he expects it will receive more than one vote. "WikiLeaks has been on top of the international news headlines for the last 12 months," he said. "It is also something very new in more ways than just bringing interesting news. It is, in fact, newsworthy in and of itself as a phenomenon. It is an interesting and many ways challenging candidate in its own right." A wide range of people are invited to make a peace prize nomination, including politicians, professors, and former laureates.The wingnuts are gonna really lose their shit.
At this weekend's CPAC 2011 conference former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be presented with their "Defender Of The Constitution" award. Irony, the wingnuts know you not.
Rumsfeld, who was Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006, oversaw the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. He was replaced by current Defense secretary Robert Gates after a number of generals called for his resignation. In 2005, he was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union for authorizing the torture and abuse of detainees at facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan. The ACLU claimed that the Constitution prohibited the Secretary of Defense from adopting or permitting policies of cruelty against civilians in US military custody, but Rumsfeld claimed he could not be held legally liable for the torture.Rumsfeld has had to cut short trips to France and Germany over fears that local authorities were about to arrest him for war crimes. He's a defender! Of the Constitution!
