FOXNews.com - Politics - Transcript: Bush News Conference
FOXNews.com - Politics - Transcript: Bush News Conference
Interesting juxtaposition in President George W. Bush’s speech today; while answering a question about the recent conviction of Michael Kodorkovsky for fraud and tax evasion in Russia, President Bush said,
I expressed my concerns about the case to President Putin because, as I explained to him, here you're innocent until proven guilty, and it appeared to us, or at least people in my administration, that it looked like he had been judged guilty prior to having a fair trial. In other words, he was put in prison, and then was tried. I think what will be interesting — and so we've expressed our concerns about the system…
Later, President Bush had the following response to a question about Amnesty International’s charge that the US established “a new gulag,”
I'm aware of the Amnesty International report, and it's absurd. It's an absurd allegation. The United States is a country that is — promotes freedom around the world. When there's accusations made about certain actions by our people, they're fully investigated in a transparent way. It's just an absurd allegation.
In terms of the detainees, we've had thousands of people detained. We've investigated every single complaint against the detainees. It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of — and the allegations — by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble — that means not tell the truth. And so it was an absurd report. It just is. And, you know — yes, sir.
The people that President Bush is talking about have been in detention for as long as 3 years without trial and many without formal charges. The US government put them in prison assuming they are guilty and will try them later. President Bush takes for granted that terrorist organizations trained the complaining prisoners to lie and damage America’s reputation. Maybe we should think twice about talking down to President Putin and reconsider freedom and due process in America.
On the other hand, if the US government locked me up for 3 years without formal charges, I would hate America and would take every opportunity to disparage its reputation. Of course, I would not need to lie to do so.
Interesting juxtaposition in President George W. Bush’s speech today; while answering a question about the recent conviction of Michael Kodorkovsky for fraud and tax evasion in Russia, President Bush said,
I expressed my concerns about the case to President Putin because, as I explained to him, here you're innocent until proven guilty, and it appeared to us, or at least people in my administration, that it looked like he had been judged guilty prior to having a fair trial. In other words, he was put in prison, and then was tried. I think what will be interesting — and so we've expressed our concerns about the system…
Later, President Bush had the following response to a question about Amnesty International’s charge that the US established “a new gulag,”
I'm aware of the Amnesty International report, and it's absurd. It's an absurd allegation. The United States is a country that is — promotes freedom around the world. When there's accusations made about certain actions by our people, they're fully investigated in a transparent way. It's just an absurd allegation.
In terms of the detainees, we've had thousands of people detained. We've investigated every single complaint against the detainees. It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of — and the allegations — by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble — that means not tell the truth. And so it was an absurd report. It just is. And, you know — yes, sir.
The people that President Bush is talking about have been in detention for as long as 3 years without trial and many without formal charges. The US government put them in prison assuming they are guilty and will try them later. President Bush takes for granted that terrorist organizations trained the complaining prisoners to lie and damage America’s reputation. Maybe we should think twice about talking down to President Putin and reconsider freedom and due process in America.
On the other hand, if the US government locked me up for 3 years without formal charges, I would hate America and would take every opportunity to disparage its reputation. Of course, I would not need to lie to do so.
Grace, Love & Peace August Ecklund at 10:16 PM
2 Comments:
But August, my friend, Kodorkovsky is a billionaire capitalist. It's the American way to hold the super-rich to a lower ethical standard.
I'm just a little bitter today, because I know some elderly widows, older couples, and young families who are being evicted from the homes they own by a Texas company who bought the land they live on from a steel company. These poor folk have to either move their homes, or PAY to have them demolished, because their homes are now trespassing on this company's land. Of course, it's all legal (who makes the rules, anyway?), but it is wrong.
The situation you described sounds terrible and strange. Curious, how did these people’s homes end up on land owned by a steel company? In addition, if the Texas company now owns the land, how can it charge the evicted families to knock down the homes? It seems the Texas company should pay to renovate its own land.
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