CNN Reported that Robert Gates Was Not Under Oath Today.

[spanone]

They said Congress presumed he would tell the truth therefore purposely not sworn in.

Please end this session of Congress ASAP. PLEASE.

[rusty charly]

1. "no one could have imagine he'd lie"

[grmamo]

5. that is basically what Warner said ...and... he had too much respect for Gates

I think

[spanone]

13. I'm glad someone else heard it. My cynicism runs too deep to trust any of these MoFo's.

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. !!!

:evilgrin:

[Cass]

2. What?!? That's absurd. How is that even legal? nt

[AngryAmish]

4. Executive branch folks are usually not under oath

Seperation of powers thingy.

[AlamoDemoc]

10. He's not part of the executive branch yet...so exec. privilege doesn't apply here, IMO

[AngryAmish]

14. True, but this was a courtesy/old boys club thingy

[Cass]

20. This is the thing that gets me riled up. This man is testifying in a confirmation hearing for a

pretty important government position and they can't be bothered putting him under oath because they can't imagine that he'd lie and said they did it as a sign of respect to Gates. Well, how about showing some respect for the American public who has been lied to repeatedly by the establishment in DC? This is serious business they are dealing with here and they trivialize the whole damn thing as if they're interviewing a florist or something.

This good old boys club where they don't put their buddies under oath so if they perjure themselves they won't be prosecuted for it is so cute and clever. No one should be averse to testifying under oath if one intends to tell the truth. Remember how Bush and Cheney put all these conditions on their testimony to the 9-11 Commission, including the demand that they not be under oath. Anytime I hear that someone is testifying without being sworn I wonder what part of the testimony they are trying to protect.

These employees of ours continually act as though there are 2 sets of laws and ethical standards to live by - one for them and another for the rest of us. I am getting sick and tired of their elitist games. If we are a nation of laws them its time for them to start living under the same laws we do.

[Occulus]

25. It's not just a red flag that they MIGHT lie; it's a flashing red light and siren that they WILL n/t

[spanone]

15. He's not even part of the gov't. He works for a college. He has NO privilege.

[Hieronymus]

18. Hopefully, lots of republicans will be under oath ..

after January.

[Karenca]

3. Wow---unbelievable. .Kick

eom

[AlamoDemoc]

7. What? is there a link, b/c that's important news?

[spanone]

9. Lou Dobbs reported it was a 'courtesy'. Will post link when found.

Geez no one from this mal administration has lied now, have they?
:sarcasm:

[KoKo]

21. huh? .......a COURTESY? WHOA!

Gates has "special privileges rest of us don't?" :eyes:

[Az]

8. Yes, we rubberstamped him

It is a calculated descision on the part of the Dems that there is not sufficient political gain to be found in blasting this guy to warrant appearing as obstructionists. This is them keeping their powder dry. In fact Gates is more an ally than an enemy to us. The NeoCons are the chief enemy we have right now. They are responsible for the attempt to rewrite our history and undermine our rights. And Gates is an enemy of them as well. It is his intention to purge them from the ranks once put in place.

I say don't worry about this one. I don't always agree with playing politics for expediency but in this case we are seeing a republican purge in action. Let them purge.

[Bjorn Against]

24. Gates is no ally...

The guy is not going to fight the neo-cons, he IS a neo-con. He was part of the Iran-Contra scandal, and he wanted to bomb Nicaragua in the 1980's simply because he did not like their democratically elected government.

Gates is no better than Rumsfeld, and we should not kid ourselves into thinking otherwise.

[marmar]

11. I am soooo sick of this "not under oath" bullshit....

Gawd I can't wait until the Dems are chairing hearings.

[JudyM]

39. It sets up a different standard, so when they *do* swear someone it's implying s/he might lie!?

That's crazy. They should just swear everyone as a blanket rule. I hope the dems have the sense to legislate it as a rule once they get in.

[tomp]

42. excellent point. nt

[Uncle Joe]

12. Did they ask him to cross his heart?

Maybe that would hold up in court, should he be proven to be a liar regarding his testimony.:sarcasm:

[originalpckelly]

16. It really doesn't matter, if he was caught lying he could still...

be punished in the same way as if he'd been under oath.

[Bjorn Against]

29. You are right that he could still be punished, but it still matters that he was not under oath

As you can probably tell by reading the posts that a lot of very well informed people do not even know that it is illegal to lie to Congress when you are not under oath, and who could blame them. After all there have been so many lies told to Congress but it is extremely rare that someone is actually prosecuted for lying. Just look at all the crap we heard in the leadup to the Iraq war.

When people don't even know it is a prosecutable offense to lie when you are under oath, then it is harder to convince the public that someone should be prosecuted for lying. Of course technically the public does not have to be convinced in order to prosecute, but in reality it is far more difficult to make your case if there are many people questioning whether a law was even broken.

[SmellsLikeDeanSpirit]

17. That's a bunch of bushshit

[AlamoDemoc]

19. from Democracy Now

Robert Gates' Former CIA Branch Chief and a CIA Analyst Who Testified Against Him on the Politicization of Intel During Iran-Contra

Ray McGovern, 27-year career analyst with the CIA. He is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.

Jennifer Glaudemans, former CIA analyst and an attorney.

Watch/Listen or read transcript here:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/05/1452228

[w4rma]

22. Ahahahaha, flipping liars. Congress is still run by the GOP, obviously. (nt)

[htuttle]

23. Gates is a PROVEN liar

...to Congress, even!

Seems to be nothing but idiots and co-conspirators in DC nowdays.

:shrug:

[leftchick]

26. So his Iran War comment can not be held against him

when cheney gets his third war on. :puke:

[Duer 157099]

27. So this must mean that anyone put under oath is considered a liar?

I mean, that the clear logical conclusion.

We need to make sure that the Dems, when they take over, DO NOT operate like this. We need to keep on their backs over all of these sorts of things!

[Perky]

28. Ther was no reason to put him under oath

He was being asked his opinions on a variety od issues. He is not currently a government employee. He has had no demonstrable role in policy issues for over a decade.
What would be the value of putting him under oath? Unless he ws going to be asked about something on Iran-contra. WHat would he possibly perjure himself on?

[in_cog_ni_to]

30. You-have got-to-be-kidding-me!!!!!!

:wtf: is wrong with these people? And why in HELL would ANY DEMOCRAT allow that to happen???:grr::grr::nuke::nuke::grr::grr:

[David Zephyr]

31. Put a teenager under oath about hot wiring a car, but not this guy.

Shit!

[Doctor_J]

32. Does anyone in this criminal administration ever promise to tell the truth?

Even their testimony on 9/11 was "off the record" - i. e. all lies.

:shrug:

[Solly Mack]

33. I presumed he would lie - sworn in or not

Never thought the question was, "Will Gates lie?" - thought it was "Will he get away with lying?"

[rateyes]

34. WTF?

That's absurd :wtf:

[Scout1071]

35. Absolute, utter bullshit. The Dems should be kicking. nt

[Zodiak]

36. So we have a new Defense Secretary

And his name is Robert Gates. I am sure that some of you have seen the fawning presentations on television as to what happened at the confirmation hearing today. All of the Senators were so nice to Robert Gates, they didn't even put him under oath because "we can't imagine he wold lie". Well, isn't that nice? Listen, my fellow Americans, we have 2907 dead soldiers in Iraq and 350 billion dollars missing from our treasury because we have been continuously lied to for 3 and a half years....longer than our involvement in WWII. The least that our ridiculous lame-duck Republican Congress can do is provide the courtesy to the American people to put the man who is asked to bring victory to this horrible miscalculation in Iraq under oath so we can be told the truth for once.

But no...because the Republicans have never thought much of the American people. They let Americans drown in New Orleans and take their children to die or lose their mind in Iraq only to neglect them as veterans and leave our mothers and fathers to go without food and heat for medicine.

But I digress. Wasn't it wonderful when Robert Gates said that we weren't winning in Iraq and that Saddam Hussein wasn't responsible for 9/11? What the hell is so wonderful about the truth after all of this lying? We act as if Robert Gates popped Jesus out of his ass when all he did was acknowledge the reality on the ground. Big deal!!!

Here is who we are trusting to run our war in Iraq:

* - in the early 1980's, Robert Gates promoting the bombing of Nicaragua because he didn't like the left-wing government there.
* - Presidential records from the first Bush administration was housed in Texas A&M university under the watchful eye of Robert Gates. This man has a long history in covering up the crimes of the Bush dynasty.
* - Robert Gates was involved with Iran-Contra, selling drug money and selling arms to Iran to fund a secret war against left-wing governments in Central America without the approval of Congress. That's right...Gates sold arms to terrorists.
* - Gates' successful career as a CIA analyist was more predicated on his ability to cook the books in the way his bosses liked than his ability to handle his job responsibly.
* - Gates also sold weapons to Saddam Hussein, which means he helped create the problem we are trying to fix in Iraq...just like Rumsfeld.
* - Gates, like so many of his co-conspirators in Iran-Contra, couldn't remember key conversations and details that were critical when he had to testify before Congress...stuff anyone could remember.

-links to articles-

So, this is who we are going to pick to lead this country out of war without putting him under oath to answer questions in his job interview. Now doesn't that make you feel really good about our Democracy that any idiot on Myspace can look this stuff up in ten minutes and six major news networks on television will only tell you what a great man Gates is for admitting we aren't winning in Iraq?

We are getting more of the same with Gates, and now the war will continue for another six months...and many people will die. Until Americans demand business as usual ends in Washington, they will be asking for another six months...and another..and another, and more of our sons and daughters a chewed in the meat grinder.

Think about it.

-----------------------------------

I posted this on my blog today after reading this thread. Thanks for the inspiration!!

[mopinko]

37. he was only voted on in committee

still needs the full senate to vote. not that i am holding my breath. just sayin'.

[Zodiak]

38. I didn't specifiy one way or another

Just implied we are allowing it (which we will).

But point well-taken, and I edited my blog accordingly. Thanks.

[mzmolly]

40. So oaths are only relevant these days if we presume someone won't tell the truth?!

*sigh*

[progressoid]

41. Well of course not. Why would he be?