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| An American wearing civilian clothes |
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| bhaloo |
| 04/03/03 at 06:08:56 |
| [slm] An American wearing civilian clothes A man wearing civilian clothes whom US officials described as secretary of state Donald Rumsfeld appeared on television in Washington Friday evening to provide an update of the war in Iraq. He was speaking to an audience of American men and women carrying notebooks and pens who claimed they were reporters. There is, however, no independent confirmation of that fact. The following is an unedited transcript of the remarks made by the man said by senior Pentagon officials to be Rumsfeld. Donald Rumsfeld: I want to begin with a warning to members of the Iraqi regime. Give up. If you resist us, we will kill you. Or force you to listen to a discussion between Christiane Amanpour, Ari Fleischer, Jamie Shea, Geraldo, Sir Jeremy Greenstock and me on why the Geneva Conventions don't apply to you. If your soldiers attempt to fire upon our soldiers as they proceed to liberate Iraq from tyranny, you will be put on trial for war crimes. Also, do not attempt to use your TV stations to claim the war is going great for you, as America will not tolerate such a wanton violation of media freedom. Finally, a word of caution for any journalist in Iraq who sends out reports mispresentating the humane nature of our troops' humanitarian mission or in other ways undermining the war effort. We will treat you as a target of opportunity. All hostile columns, whether in newspapers or on the battlefield, will be dealt with in only one way. You will be tracked and hunted down. Gary, Daily Blah: We are seeing claims by Iraqi officials that 50 civilians in a Baghdad market were killed in a bombing. Could you... Rumsfeld: Gary, Gary, just a minute, I am shocked, really really shocked. I don't think we should even dignify Iraqi claims in this way. Next question. Jacques, Le Monde: But al-Jazeera is showing footage of dead women, children, old men... Rumsfeld: Look Jack. I have seen footage of what purports to be individual Iraqi bodies that appear to be lifeless in one way or another but assuming it was one of our precision-guided, laser-designated munitions which are so accurate they are absolutely safe and humane, I would not jump to any conclusions about who those women and children are just because they are seen wearing what seems like civilian clothing. We are dealing with a very vicious regime that could easily stoop to putting civilian clothes on these individual Iraqi bodies that may or not be lifeless as the case may be. General Myers: And if I may just add to what the Secretary has said, as the Secretary said yesterday, the day before and the day before, and other secretaries said during the Afghanistan, Kosovo, Somalia and Vietnam humanitarian missions, when similar reports of so-called civilian casualties came in, the United States does not target innocent civilians. They may get killed in large numbers, but not because we target them. Jim, CNN: Do you think the Saddam regime could have bombed the market themselves in order to make us, I mean, the coalition for freedom look bad? Do you think that's at all possible? Rumsfeld: That's a very good question, Jim, and I want to thank you for asking it. The short answer is yes, it's not only possible, it's highly probable. In fact, we have intelligence reports that I am not at liberty to disclose that Saddam has pre-recorded hundreds of hours of videotape and is now planning to blow himself up so that his tapes can be played and he can appear as invincible before the Iraqi people. Johann, Der Spiegel: But last week the Pentagon was saying Saddam Hussein might already be dead. Rumsfeld: John, as far as we know, he is either alive or dead. It could really be one or the other. But these are intelligence issues that I would rather not get into. Muffled voices from the back of the room) Journalist from Pakistan: After Iraq, the US should also remember that there is the Jammu and Kashmir dispute which needs your intervention. Journalist from India: Sir, after Iraq, don't you think the US should intervene to get Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism against India? And don't you think India should be made a permanent member of the Security Council? (Transcript ends) |
| Re: An American wearing civilian clothes |
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| oneway2paradise |
| 04/03/03 at 13:24:38 |
| [slm] I don't have much to say exept that I like it....very amusing. ;D Did you write that or did it come from another source? [slm] :-) :-* :-) |
| 04/03/03 at 14:16:32 |
| oneway2paradise |
| Re: An American wearing civilian clothes |
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| bhaloo |
| 04/03/03 at 20:18:09 |
| [slm] It was another source, couldn't find the reference though. |
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