[Vision2020] Hecklers Interrupt Rumsfeld

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (May 4, 2006) News Roundup Edition of the Army Times -

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Hecklers Interrupt Rumsfeld

By Shannon McCaffrey
Associated Press

ATLANTA - Anti-war protesters repeatedly interrupted Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld during a speech Thursday, and one of them, a former CIA
analyst, accused him in a question-and-answer session of lying about prewar
intelligence on Iraq.

"Why did you lie to get us into a war that caused these kind of casualties
and was not necessary?" asked Ray McGovern, the former analyst. He said
Rumsfeld had told a "lie" about supposedly known caches of weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq, and had falsely linked al-Qaida to Saddam Hussein's
regime.

"I did not lie," shot back Rumsfeld, who waved off security guards ready to
remove McGovern from the hall at the Southern Center for International
Studies.

Three other protesters were escorted away by security as each interrupted
Rumsfeld's speech by jumping up and shouting various anti-war messages.

At the outset of Rumsfeld's appearance, a protester was escorted out of the
room by security guards after she interrupted the defense secretary. The
woman jumped up and held up a cloth banner that said "Guilty of War Crimes!"

"I cannot stay silent," the woman shouted at Rumsfeld. "This man needs to be
in prison for war crimes."

The woman was booed and others in attendance muttered "Get out of here."

Rumsfeld responded with a smile and told the audience, "I think we can count
her as undecided."

About two minutes later, another protester stood up yelling and was quickly
removed by security.

Rumsfeld focused his speech on a U.S. need to increase its emphasis on more
flexible partnerships with foreign militaries and rethinking of the role of
long-established alliances like NATO.

"A growing concern is that this declining spending is likely to drop even
further given the demographic trends of much of Europe, coupled with their
prevailing threat assessments," he said in his prepared remarks, which were
made available at the Pentagon.

Thus it is "all the more urgent" to transform NATO to make the most of its
available resources, he added.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.