08 February 2007

Secretary of State Rice forgets to throw in sop to right wing nut jobs

[source, source]

In speaking to reporters in Berlin Jan. 18, Rice, discussing the situation of Palestinians prior to 2000, said, “You had Hamas, of course, sitting out as a resistance movement, not at all, by the way, involved in the politics at all.”

Rice’s comments went largely unreported by the American media.

Hamas, responsible for scores of suicide bombings, shooting attacks and rocket firings, is classified by the State Department as a terror organization. The group’s official charter calls for the murder of Jews and quotes widely from the anti-Semitic creed, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Since winning Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006, Hamas has refused to recognize Israel or denounce terrorism.

A State Department spokesman claimed Rice “forgot” to use the word terrorist when describing Hamas during her Berlin press briefing. The spokesman confirmed the State Department has not changed its policy of classifying Hamas as a terror organization.

“Forgot”, in this context, implies that it’s not something any one at State (including Rice) believes, it’s simply a PR exercise to make sure to put it in the sentences. If anyone has wondered why I am no longer a Condoleeza Rice fan, this story is an archetypical example of why not.

Posted by orbital at 7:43 PM | View 1 TrackBacks | Trackback URL

Simplified witnessing

[source]

Jeralyn Merritt has copies of Fitzgerald’s filing opposing the defense’s effort to call Andrea Mitchell as a witness.

Shorter Fitzgerald: Since I never got around to asking Ms. Mitchell for her testimony under oath, it is not fair if the defense does.

Slightly Longer Fitzgerald: We don’t need Ms. Mitchell’s sworn testimony, since we can rely on her many public statements denying any involvement.

That is a pretty bold notion of jurisprudence, but it may represent a huge time-saver for police and prosecutors - just read the papers and if a person denies any involvement, well, case closed.  Maybe in the day of Web 2.0, prosecutors can survey Facebook and YouTube to see if folks have posted denials there as well.  “CSI-Miami” can become “CNN-Miami”.  Cool.

That should save all the tedium of swearing people in - gosh, it must be tiresome for poor Patrick Fitzgerald, who has no doubt had to sit through thousands of people raising their right hands.

And it would save on downtown parking, since folks won’t have to come to court.  It’s all good!

I have to agree that referring to Mitchell as a witness against Libby is a bit of a stretch, but it’s hard to argue that she’s not relevant, having worked for a key prosecution witness yet never having made a deposition.

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