Sunday, December 04, 2005
Wolf Blitzer Hammers National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley
Wolf Blitzer actually took National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley to the woodshed this morning on Late Edition on CNN.
First Wolf asked a question about reports that the United States is imprisoning terror suspects in secret prisons in some countries in Europe. Hadley responded to Wolf's question by talking for about a minute and a half without actually answering the question. So Wolf asked three follow-up questions, actually saying to Hadley "Can I confirm from you that we do have secret terror prisons in Europe?" before Hadley finally went on record by saying, "No, you cannot confirm that. I cannot comment on whether we do or don't have prisons."
Next, Wolf asked about our program of extraordinary rendition in which the CIA kidnaps terror suspects from countries around the world and sends them to places like Syria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia to be tortured. Hadley began by saying it is important for the United States to be able to send terrorists abroad to other countries to be "interrogated" when Wolf broke in to say "You mean terror suspects," pointing out that just because the Bush administration says someone is a terrorist doesn't make it so, especially since many of those rendered are later released.
Finally, Wolf asked Hadley several times how many innocent people we have rendered to other countries as "terrorists" or wrongly imprisoned and later released for lack of evidence (today in the Washington Post Dana Priest relates the story of a German citizen mistakenly held by the U.S. as a terrorist, beaten by interrogators and later released when the CIA realized they were looking for a different man.) Again, Hadley gave some flim-flam response that never really addressed the question, but Wolf noted that press accounts had detailed more than a few terror suspects who had been rendered by the U.S. government to other countries and then were later released.
At the end of the interview, Wolf asked a CIA leak case question, wanting to know about the email Karl Rove had sent to Hadley talking about Rove's July 2003 conversation with Matt Cooper about Valerie Plame, but Hadley said he couldn't comment on the case since the investigation was ongoing.
Fair enough. The damage had already been done in this interview.
The Beard really did his job today, asking tough questions, following up when Hadley was evasive, and fact-checking Hadley when the National Security Adviser offered some bullshit RNC talking point to Blitzer's incisive questions.
Obviously Wolf and his producers at CNN can read the polls. They know most Americans think Bush and most members of his administration are full of shit and Wolf's doing his job as a newsman accordingly, trying to hold these people accountable.
Unfortunately for too long after 9/11, Blitzer and the rest of the Washington press corps abdicated their duties and allowed the Bush administration to say and do anything they wanted without fact-checking them or holding them accountable, which is why the nation is in such bad shape now both domestically and overseas.
But at least Wolf is doing his job now. Many in the media, like Pumpkinhead Russert, continue to give the administration a basic pass by letting them lie and cheat without fact-checking them, and others in the media actually work for the administration unofficially, like Andrea Mitchell, Howard Kurtz, and others, passing along RNC talking points and White House spin with abandon.
So let us praise the Beard for asking tough questions, insisting on forthright answers, and pricking talking points responses with a pin of reality.
First Wolf asked a question about reports that the United States is imprisoning terror suspects in secret prisons in some countries in Europe. Hadley responded to Wolf's question by talking for about a minute and a half without actually answering the question. So Wolf asked three follow-up questions, actually saying to Hadley "Can I confirm from you that we do have secret terror prisons in Europe?" before Hadley finally went on record by saying, "No, you cannot confirm that. I cannot comment on whether we do or don't have prisons."
Next, Wolf asked about our program of extraordinary rendition in which the CIA kidnaps terror suspects from countries around the world and sends them to places like Syria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia to be tortured. Hadley began by saying it is important for the United States to be able to send terrorists abroad to other countries to be "interrogated" when Wolf broke in to say "You mean terror suspects," pointing out that just because the Bush administration says someone is a terrorist doesn't make it so, especially since many of those rendered are later released.
Finally, Wolf asked Hadley several times how many innocent people we have rendered to other countries as "terrorists" or wrongly imprisoned and later released for lack of evidence (today in the Washington Post Dana Priest relates the story of a German citizen mistakenly held by the U.S. as a terrorist, beaten by interrogators and later released when the CIA realized they were looking for a different man.) Again, Hadley gave some flim-flam response that never really addressed the question, but Wolf noted that press accounts had detailed more than a few terror suspects who had been rendered by the U.S. government to other countries and then were later released.
At the end of the interview, Wolf asked a CIA leak case question, wanting to know about the email Karl Rove had sent to Hadley talking about Rove's July 2003 conversation with Matt Cooper about Valerie Plame, but Hadley said he couldn't comment on the case since the investigation was ongoing.
Fair enough. The damage had already been done in this interview.
The Beard really did his job today, asking tough questions, following up when Hadley was evasive, and fact-checking Hadley when the National Security Adviser offered some bullshit RNC talking point to Blitzer's incisive questions.
Obviously Wolf and his producers at CNN can read the polls. They know most Americans think Bush and most members of his administration are full of shit and Wolf's doing his job as a newsman accordingly, trying to hold these people accountable.
Unfortunately for too long after 9/11, Blitzer and the rest of the Washington press corps abdicated their duties and allowed the Bush administration to say and do anything they wanted without fact-checking them or holding them accountable, which is why the nation is in such bad shape now both domestically and overseas.
But at least Wolf is doing his job now. Many in the media, like Pumpkinhead Russert, continue to give the administration a basic pass by letting them lie and cheat without fact-checking them, and others in the media actually work for the administration unofficially, like Andrea Mitchell, Howard Kurtz, and others, passing along RNC talking points and White House spin with abandon.
So let us praise the Beard for asking tough questions, insisting on forthright answers, and pricking talking points responses with a pin of reality.
