Posted on 05/31/2005 9:23:48 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Recalling how John McCain's "code of honor" is what "separated him from his captors" in communist North Vietnam, on Sunday's Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer casually referred to how he "thought about that as yet another tale of torture and abuse came out about the POW camp we are running at Guantanamo Bay." Schieffer then proceeded to endorse New York Times columnist Tom Friedman's recommendation that "the prison ought to be shut down because the stories about it are so inflaming the Arab world." Schieffer presumed the worst about the uncorroborated charges related to detainee treatment, most of which fall far short of qualifying as "torture." Schieffer asked: "I wondered if the greater danger is the impact Guantanamo is having on us. Do we want our children to believe this is how we are?" Characterizing the U.S. as no better than our enemies, Schieffer concluded: "As we reflect on the meaning of Memorial Day, let us remember first what it is that separates us from those who would take away our freedom," the code "John McCain's dad taught his kid."
In his Friday column, "Just Shut It Down," Friedman, from London, framed the anti-U.S. media in Britain and Germany as the best guide to U.S. policy:
"If you want to appreciate how corrosive Guantanamo has become for America's standing abroad, don't read the Arab press. Don't read the Pakistani press. Don't read the Afghan press. Hop over here to London or go online and just read the British press! See what our closest allies are saying about Gitmo. And when you get done with that, read the Australian press and the Canadian press and the German press."
Friedman insisted that stories of abuse at Guantanamo are "inflaming sentiments against the U.S. all over the world and providing recruitment energy on the Internet for those who would do us ill." He charged: "Guantanamo Bay is becoming the anti-Statue of Liberty."
Maybe we should shut down the media instead which spread such anti-American hatred.
And how would closing Guantanamo achieve anything? Wouldn't the America-hating media -- at home and abroad -- simply publicize prisoner-complaints at whatever facility replaces Guantanamo?
For Friedman's May 27 column in full: www.nytimes.com
In the last segment of the May 29 Face the Nation, Schieffer, who also anchors the CBS Evening News, delivered this commentary:
"Finally today, the other night I went to a screening of Faith of Our Fathers, the new movie about John McCain's five-year ordeal in a North Vietnamese prison that airs on A&E tomorrow night. It flashes back to McCain's high school days, when the principal reported bad grades to McCain's father, whose only question was not about grades but whether his son had violated the school honor code. Had he lied or cheated? When told that he had not, his father said, 'Well, call me if he does that.'
"McCain says that code of honor drilled into him by his father and the Naval Academy is why he was able to survive the torture and the inhumanity of his prison captors. He couldn't let his father down. That code of honor was the center of his life and it gave him strength -- what separated him from his captors.
"I thought about that as yet another tale of torture and abuse came out about the POW camp we are running at Guantanamo Bay. Columnist Tom Friedman said the prison ought to be shut down because the stories about it are so inflaming the Arab world they're making the war on terrorism more dangerous for our American soldiers to fight. But as I watched the McCain movie, I wondered if the greater danger is the impact Guantanamo is having on us. Do we want our children to believe this is how we are? Is this the code of honor we are passing on to the next generation?
"As we reflect on the meaning of Memorial Day, let us remember first what it is that separates us from those who would take away our freedom: What John McCain's dad taught his kid, what we should be teaching ours."
To "inflame" the enemy with "uncorroborated charges" means MORE of our brave and honorable men and women fighting this war on terror will be killed. It means the longer this war in Iraq and Afghanistan will play on, perhaps even moving to other hotbeds of terror in the Middle East.
To question the Code of Honor of those serving in Guantanamo, even though adorned with white gloves to respectfully carry the Qur'an to imprisoned terrorists, questions the Code of Honor of not just a few; but ALL our honorable brave men and women in the Armed Forces. As long as Friedman, Schieffer continue to challenge the Code of Honor of your brothers and sisters, your friends and other family members; no matter what rank they may hold, the terrorists will find it easier to recruit more and more terrorists. Friedman and Schieffer and their Liberal thinking media buddies are the best poster children for Terrorist Recruitment, Incorporated.
Friedman and his own media mimic, Schieffer, need to question their own "Code of Honor".
Just my opinion.
Here's how to get in touch with Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer courtesy of CBS:
Face The Nation with Bob Schieffer
2020 M Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Phone:
(202) 457-4481
To order a transcript, call:
(800) 777-TEXT
To send an e-mail:
ftn@cbsnews.com
or go to the CBS page:
Scheiffers commentary: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/opinion/schieffer/main500158.shtml
cBS wouldn't know honor if it hit them up side a the head.
Do we allow photographers and journalists at any other prison in the US ? We should never have allowed a peep out of this place.
He's a sanctimonious buzzard.
And flagitious old fart.
I have a better idea.
To save America's honor, "Just Shut Down" CBS and the New York Times!
CBS head Les Moonves said "I think talking to ghosts may skew younger than talking to God".
Flush CBS!
I'm all for closing it and sending the lot of them to turkey or some other ally to undergo torture and eventual execution while they rot away in a windowless pit.
Plus .. at the DOJ website, you can find translations of manuals found in the apartments of arrested TERRORISTS - manuals which instructed them on how to MAKE UP STORIES ABOUT TORTURE IF THEY WERE ARRESTED.
For my money - and just plain old common sense - the complaints of torture are ALL MADE UP - and I don't believe any of it.
Sheiffer just continues to do what we already know .. the liberals are a bunch of cowards and if somebody says something bad about the USA - they are only too willing to believe it - instead of defending America.
I really don't care what the Arab world things as they are the cause of their own misery and suffering.
If they were never allowed on or near these detainment facilities, they would just make it up..oh guess that is the same as "uncorroborated charges"..no that means it's fact; but can't be proven.
I get tired trying to think like the NYTimes or Newsweek or cBS. Dangerous reporting is what it boils down to.
To save America's honor, the liberal media must be closed.
I thought it was Newsweak & Izzi's lies that inflamed the Arab world resulting in 15 deaths?
Dragging the statue of Liberty into the discussion betrays either insanity or the ability to coherently connect ideas and concepts.
You better care as this kind of reporting costs the lives of Americans every day.
"Until someone can explain to me how someone leaves a Vietnamese prison weighing significantly more than they did going in, McCain can kiss my glutes."
The NYTimes constantly inflames the Arab world. It should be shut down.
"Recalling how John McCain's "code of honor" is what "separated him from his captors" in communist North Vietnam"
That is why so many of his prisoner brothers stand beside him when he campaigns. HOW MANY? maybe ONE.
They all hate him.
Sorry did not mean to take your head off; agree but tend to disagree. How's that for a compromise?
Bob Schieffer is a dope. I don't know anyone who pay any attention to him.
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