Helen Thomas confronts Tony Snow about all the Iraqi people Bush is killing

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/06/20070620-7.html

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 20, 2007

<snip>Helen.

Q A study shows that Iraq is the second-most unstable country in the world. Do we have anything to do with that?

MR. SNOW: Do we have anything to do with that? Yes, I saw the study --

Q -- the killing?

MR. SNOW: We don't -- I'm not sure I got the --

Q I'm talking about Petraeus, also, intensifying -- is he trying to build a kill record before September?

MR. SNOW: No. No. In point of fact, Helen, if you take a look at the record of the last two months, the people who have been trying to put together the kill record are al Qaeda. Go to the mosques --

Q Is everybody who resists our occupation a terrorist?

MR. SNOW: Do you think somebody who goes in and blows up 50 people in a mosque is resisting occupation?

Q What have we done for five years?

MR. SNOW: What we have been trying to do is to work with folks to deal with a highly volatile situation in Iraq in the wake of a murderous regime --

Q We've killed thousands of people, tens of thousands --

MR. SNOW: Many have died, and hundreds of thousands died under the previous regime. This is a place that has too long been wracked by violence. And the fact that in fighting --

Q We're not supposed to be comparing, are we?

MR. SNOW: Unfortunately, if we fought evil guys who simply would say, you caught us, we're evil, we give up, we'll be good -- that would be great, that would be wonderful.

Q Everybody isn't evil who fights for his land.

MR. SNOW: A lot of the people we're talking about, Helen, aren't fighting for their land, because it's not their land. They don't even come from Iraq.

Q Are we fighting Iraqis, inherently, in their own country?

MR. SNOW: Are we fighting Iraqis inherently? I think if you take a look at what General Petraeus is saying, is that increasingly Iraqis are joining with us to defend their country from the onslaught of outside fighters, whether they be from al Qaeda or Iran.

Q Good, but we have to admit we're killing a lot of Iraqis who are against our presence.

MR. SNOW: I'm not sure. I mean, that requires the kind of canvas of those who have died that I'm not capable of doing.

[bdamomma]

1. we need more Helen's to ask questions like that.

[nonconformist]

2. Helen fucking rocks. That is all. nt

[rodeodance]

3. He talks in circles -----no compasion whatsoever.

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. Kinda threw ol' Snowjob off his game

Go Helen! :applause:

[Benhurst]

5. Poor old Tony. The jaws of Hell gape open just in front of him, and he can't stop lying.

[malaise]

8. From beginning to end

I just love the fact that Helen isn't letting up with these liars.

[Judi Lynn]

26. He's an empty, empty man. What a tool. n/t

[L. Coyote]

6. MR. SNOW: I'm not sure. I mean, that requires the kind of canvas of those who have died ... BS

Hooray for Helen. A real beacon of truth in the face of lies and non-answers. How can they just stand there and say this pure BS with a straight face. Try Snow for complicity to war crimes, and everyone else who played a role like this!

[soothsayer]

15. shouldn't we want to know the origins of the folks we're killing?

seems like that would be crucial

[Lasher]

31. We do know, Snow's lying about it.

See my post downthread.

[WinkyDink]

32. Incredibly callous and flip remark of his. Maybe he should have to carry some dead Iraqi children.

[truebrit71]

34. That's why I roll my eyes when some in DU get all squeamish about attacking him due to his....

...'condition'....Fuck that nonsense and fuck Tony Snow...He is the mouthpiece for a criminal organisation that has shredded the US constutution and murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis....he gets no sympathy from me...

[scarface2004]

45. me too....

i am very pleased that he is terminal...only wish he didn't have a health plan to take care of him so he die the rat death he deserves...and soon!!!

[Raejeanowl]

7. God, I Love That Woman

Helen, bless you, keep pinning them to the wall on their own evasive rhetoric. Thank you.

[MadMaddie]

9. And he forgot to mention that if an Iraqi is shot in the forehead

that doesn't count as a war casualty, if it's Shia on Shia, it's not counted as Secretarian violence or a war casualty.....just run of the mill crime the * pundits say...

[UTUSN]

10. K&R for kiss-kiss to Helen & good-FUCKING-BYE to SNOWjob!!1

Although I won't delete these graphics since the bad a-holes ALWAYS return!!1

LIEBERMAN in helmet: Poppy-of-Arabia

[shanti]

19. that last picture!

:rofl:

[Klukie]

11. kick for a great woman!

[Maestro]

12. And the foreign fighters and Al-Qaeda would not even be there

if we hadn't invaded. :banghead:

[spanone]

13. liar liar

[eleny]

14. He's another sociopath prick

And Helen gave him a nice pointy send off. She's a treasure. I'm so grateful we're on the same side as she.

[Lugnut]

16. K&R for Helen n/t

[Matariki]

17. MR. SNOW: We don't -- I'm not sure I got the --

got the what, Mr. Snow? Talking point on that?

[Major Hogwash]

18. She's relentless!

Just like reporters used to be in Washington.

Man, Helen puts all of those talking heads on tv to shame!

[lonestarnot]

20. Tee hee! I love it!

[orleans]

21. he's a fucking asshole up to the end. glad he's gone.

he made all this talk of war one big fucking jousting match with that damn "liberal" media he tap danced for.

that's what i thought when i saw him yesterday -- he was dancing as fast as he could.

what a fucker. (hope it wasn't a genetic thing)

[Elwood P Dowd]

22. I remember Helen when she was asking JFK questions.

She is almost as old as my mother, who will turn 89 soon. Mother is still sharp for her age, but not up to Helen's level.

[deacon]

23. k + r

[Disturbed]

24. She is a National Treasure.

Damn, America sorely needs a few hundred more Reporters that have the spine to ask for the truth.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

25. Thank You for posting this, I missed it yesterday.

Great start to my day, Love that Helen!!

[Judi Lynn]

27. What a shame the rest of them lack every part of her character. n/t

[KG]

28. snow obviously cares little for his own life, why would he have a shread of empathy for an iraqi?

[Lasher]

29. Astonishing atrocity against truth

MR. SNOW: A lot of the people we're talking about, Helen, aren't fighting for their land, because it's not their land. They don't even come from Iraq.

“(Foreign fighters) are very few in number, although as far as we can tell, they constitute about 100 percent of the suicide bombers.” - DoD News Briefing with Col. Sean MacFarland, Commander of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Stationed in Ramadi, July 14, 2006.

According to the Brookings Institution, as of November 2006 there was a total of between 800 and 2,000 foreign fighters in the insurgency. A maximum of no more than two thousand!! That's not "...a lot of people..." by any stretch of the imagination.

And while I'm at it, here's where they came from:



According to this chart if there are any Iranians fighting there, they are included in the 'other countries' total of 5%.

http://www.brookings.edu/fp/saban/iraq/index.pdf
PDF required, scroll down to page 27

Edit: HTML tags

[L. Coyote]

30. Well stated. YES, Tony, WE are the foriegn fighters. Get a clue!

They just bend their untruths to fit the moment. Untruth needs to be a moving target.

[truebrit71]

33. How the fuck would they get those numbers? Send out a G-D census addressed to "Dear Militant"?

Gimme a break...it's all made up bullshit...

Helen Thomas is just about the ONLY one in the press corps that remembers what a journalist is supposed to do, and Tony Snow can go fuck himself.....

[Lasher]

35. Yes, that's exactly what they did.

All respondents were entitled to receive a free set of tupperware.

[truebrit71]

36. Nice!

:rofl:

[Lasher]

37. OK OK, I'll tell you

They based their estimates on prisoner interrogations, and on the nationalities of killed enemies when that could be determined. And then by extrapolation of those results by comparing with the estimated total number of insurgents, a reasonable estimate was produced. There is a significant margin of error, and that's why the wide range of 800 to 2,000 is cited. I believe it is quite safe to put the number at no more than 2 thousand on the dates mentioned.

If you hit the Brookings Institution link I provided you can find more details than you would probably ever want to know.

Thanks fer tha fun.

[Parche]

38. This One Kills Me

MR. SNOW: A lot of the people we're talking about, Helen, aren't fighting for their land, because it's not their land. They don't even come from Iraq.


The US doesnt come from Iraq either..................:shrug: :shrug: :hi:

[Supersedeas]

39. Wordsmithing about the capacity to canvas the thousands of dead -- Snowjob's legacy

[DutchLiberal]

40. Helen Thomas confronts Tony Snow about all the Iraqi people American soldiers are killing

Adjusted headline to match the truth.

But I guess it's easier to just blame ONE guy...

[RestoreGore]

41. Thank you, Helen Thomas

You are what journalism is all about.

[Baby Snooks]

42. Totally delusional

Increasingly Iraqis are fleeing Iraq which they never did under Saddam Hussein. A point quite a few overlook.

Tony Snow claims the insurgents are "outside forces" when in fact they are Iraqi forces. Kept at bay by Saddam Hussein.

Reality is we are fighting and killing the very people Saddam Hussein fought and killed and was hung for killing. The difference is we have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. He did not. What happened to the Kurds was genocide. But it was genocide we turned our heads to. And it was genocide committed with gas we provided to Saddam Hussein. To kill Iranians. It was alright to kill Iranians but not Kurds? Not alright to kill either. I will never defend Saddam Hussein. But I will never defend the Bushes.

Our complicity is indicative of our duplicity but it isn't "our" duplicity or our complicity unless we continue to support this madness of the Bushes. The father's madness as well as the son's madness. Sins of the father visited upon the son. Now in the fourth generation of the father, the third generation of the son.

Regardless of anything, we have another Palestine. Except this time we have three peoples instead of just two who will claim it is "their" country. Not someone else's.

Reality is countries divided serve the madness of the Bushes. Including our own.

[Gabi Hayes]

43. if anything points out the fecklessness...I mean complicity....of most of the

WH Press corpsE, this does

how sad for them

how sad for our 'democracy'

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/515395YXMNL._PIlitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_.jpg

[vanboggie]

44. If only the rest were like you, Helen

This clusterf* would never have gone this far. You are journalism at its best.

[Ilsa]

46. Cappiccino Perino's head is going to explode the first day she deals head-on with H.T. nt