What did they know? When did they care?

Washington Times ^ | 5/11/04 | Wesley Pruden

[kattracks]

What did our important (just ask them) members of Congress know about the abuses at Abu Ghraib Prison, and when did they know it?

Several congresspersons conceded yesterday that they knew about the abuses months ago, sort of, when the Pentagon first put out the news that the abuses were under investigation. But they didn't get excited until they saw the network television technicians arrive on the Hill and start unpacking their cameras.

[leadpencil1]

Awww, they need pictures, like a 1st grader.

[onyx]

The sot's quote is the most disturbing.

[Jet Jaguar]

Anybody have a list of the law makers who received and ignored these messages? I heard or read Sen. Byrd's office saying he does not read E-mails under 500 words. (If he had paid attention, he could have broken this story)

[TheLion]

The congress critters only get excited when they know they will be able to get in front of a camera or microphone.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

The fevered desire by members of Congress and the media, to see the pictures, is becoming rather creepy.
What is to be gained ?
The descriptions are fine enough-actually, more than enough.
I get the picture,the descriptions of the activities are self explanatory and quite sufficient.
During the Catholic Church priest scandal,who needed to see pictures to understand the situation ?
It's beginning to look as if the sickos aren't confined to just that one cell block at Abu Gharib and a great many of them reside in the halls of Congress .
The same people who almost passed out at the thought of Senator Bob Packwood kissing a woman in an elevator, now clamor to see a photo of an Iraqi with a glowstick in his butt.
Remind me again-who are the disturbed ones ??

[HiTech RedNeck]

There's certainly no cover-up; the Pentagon first revealed the abuses on Jan. 12, in a press release that Congress couldn't bother to read, and followed it up with a March 20 announcement that criminal charges would be brought against six soldiers for "dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment, assault and indecent acts with another."

And this is it, doo-wop. These idjits had no staffers to spot a hot story in all the news drek?

[BigSkyFreeper]

Feigning incompetence.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Read pics, as those found on a "McDonalds cash register", the congress critters are all products of outcome based education.

[CyberAnt]

Well .. there were 17 Senators who received letters from the uncle of one of the accused soldiers. Some of them are: Mark Dayton, Bill Nelson, Robert Byrd, Hillary Clinton, John Warner and Reid (don't know his first name).

These people all knew - and ignored the letters. And .. I find it interesting that these are the very same people who were to hateful to Rumsfeld in the hearing. Disgusting people.

[SAMWolf]

Hell, If Kennedy watched the video's he probably mistake them for his Family Reunion pictures.

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. Just looking at Ted in his sailing shorts is torture.

[Bommer]

In a better context

[ScaniaBoy]

Feigning incompetence.

I'm not sure there is any feigning involved, just incompetence.

[SAMWolf]

Just looking at Ted in his sailing shorts is torture

Now how am I supposed to go to sleep with that image in my mind?

[onyx]

LOL!LOL!LOL!

[snippy_about_it]

Better? Have a good night's sleep. :-)

[conservative in nyc]

Don Nickles of Oklahoma, a Republican, recalls that a general mentioned something in a briefing, but the abuses didn't make an impression until he saw the photographs in the newspapers and on television.

Yup there was something in some briefing by some general where some Senators could have asked some questions and found out some answers. But because the pictures were locked up as some evidence in a criminal trial and not yet leaked as some jury-pool tainting propaganda by some lawyer to some "most decorated" war veteran, the Senators didn't know the importance of the investigation of some war crimes. Notice of which was described in some press releases, and articles about which were printed in some newspaper that prints some of the news that's fit to print --- the newspaper of record for some Senators (well, all of them on one side of the aisle, and some on the other, anyway).

Sheesh. Why can't at least some Senate Republicans learn how to grow a spine and play hardball? Senator Lieberman has more sense than most of them. That's some shame.

There was no coverup.

[Howlin]

Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, another Democrat, grumps that he doesn't "want to be on notice every time there's a news release."

God and Baby Jesus help us!

[BykrBayb]

Maybe somebody should have taken photos of the press release and shown them at 6:00 p.m. on the alphabet channels. You think that would have gotten the congress critters to look?