Rohrabacher blundered on CNN just now

[PurityOfEssence]

He blamed Clinton for allowing the Taliban to take control.

It was the Clinton Administration that put sanctions in place due to the oppression of these fundamentalists. The Bush Administration was much chummier with them than the previous administration, and opening this can of worms is nothing but bad for them. What about the pipeline deal? What about the $43M poppycock?

To also say that the plans for the 9-11 attack were already underway during the Clinton Administration is an obvious continuation of the smear insinuation, and should be aggressively shot down at each turn.

Now that the Taliban association keeps being brought up, it leaves a golden opportunity to bring up the pipeline and cozying up to them that the new Administration did from the very beginning.

Here's the approach: greedy for Turkmenistan's natural gas, the Administration turned a blind eye toward human rights violations and the Bin Laden connection in their greed for oil profits for their political supporters. Unwilling to make a fair deal, the Taliban nixed it, and the rest is open to conjecture. Personally, I think that the Bushies were preparing for war, learned that there was an attack in the offing, and let it happen to give them a justification. Further, I think that they were initially scared to death when it was a much bigger success than they thought, but quickly realized that it was even better this way: it really "scared the pants off" the country, as Cleland memorably said.

Call it LIHOP-lite: presuming, through typical Republican superiority, that the furriners couldn't really hurt us THAT bad, but would provide a fine galvanizing hit.

So, Congressman Rohrabacher, why was the Bush Administration MUCH MORE FRIENDLY with the Taliban?

[GOPisEvil]

1. Didn't Dana go VISIT with the Taliban?

Aren't there pictures of him in Afghanistan?

[librechik]

2. yes indeed, he voluntarily trained with the mujaheddin

Rohrabacher is another s**thead con.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

3. This needs to made into and issue. ROHRABACHER is guilty of TREASON!!!!!!

:puke:

[hedda_foil]

4. Here's a picture of Dana and the boys.

And a story from the Orange County Weekly.

http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/03/01/cover-moxley.php

September 6 - 12, 2002
Rogue Statesman
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher’s absolutely crazy, quite possibly illegal back-channel chats with the villains of Sept. 11

by R. Scott Moxley

Rohrbacher with Afghan rebels, 1988
Photo courtesy Congressman Dana Rohrbacher

" says the Taliban are devout traditionalists—not terrorists or revolutionaries. He believes a Taliban takeover would be a positive development."

—Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November/December 1996 issue

<snip>

[GOPisEvil]

5. Thanks! I knew I wasn't dreaming this stuff.

:yourock:

[chookie]

6. Rohrabacher said a LOT just now.

I just started a thread on this same interview.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1372200

Regarding the Taliban, this was just a plain lie, pure and simple. The Bush adminstration had been engaged in friendly relations with the Taliban, who were considered our allies in the War on Drugs. They were rewarded for their efforts in eradicating the growth of poppies.

There had also long been negotiations regarding the pipeline, in which Texas firms close to the Bushistas were directly involved.

I was one of the very lone "bleeding hearts" wailing about the excesses of brutality by the Taliban way back. When 1000 prostitutes were hanged in a soccer stadium in spring of 2001, *I* was outraged and calling for action -- not that fat cow Laura Bush, whose interest in the atrocities of the Taliban has been even of shorter duration than her career as a librarian. None of this stuff, none of this brutality -- and I include the much discussed "millions of his own people in mass graves" in Iraq (filled by Saddam when he was our ally during the 80s)-- was an issue until His Chimperial Highness saw his opening to unleash the neoconservative dogs of war to conquer the Middle East.

They can REWRITE history all they want -- but they can't change it.

IF they had the guts to be honest about their agenda, I would at least have that respect for them -- but they CANNOT be honest about their agenda and their accomplishments -- they just lie and lie and lie.