Notable quotes from the "war on terror"

Secretary of Defense Rummy, CNN's Hunt Novak & Shields program 12/01/01, being questioned by Robert Novak on possible war crims by our Afghan ally, the Northern Alliance:

NOVAK: Do you feel, Mr. Secretary, there is a problem, however, when apparently most of the prisoners, all of the prisoners, are in the hands of the Northern Alliance, which I don't believe signed the Geneva Convention and are not the nicest guys in the world? Does that bother you at all? [Novak's premise was wrong; the Northern Alliance was bound by the Genevan Convention.]

RUMSFELD: ... The fact that they don't happen to subscribe to some convention that we do or that other countries do is a fact. It is also a fact that we have to stop those terrorists from killing more Americans. And I don't feel even the slightest problem in working with the Northern Alliance to achieve that end. [my emphasis]

I blogged about this in one of my earliest blog posts on 10/13/03.

Rummy and Bush

From CNN (Last Cabinet Meeting of 2003 12/11/03), reporter questioning President Bush:

QUESTION: Sir, Chancellor [Gerhard] Schroeder [of Germany] says international law must apply in this case. Well, what's your understanding of the law?

BUSH: International law? I better call my lawyer.

Said, as I recall, with his sideways preppie smirk.

Tags: establishment press, bush doctrine, iraq war