Does Miles O'Brien believe CNN Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware is part of the "'grassy knoll' set"?
On the October 31 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer asked CNN Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware whether the verdict in the Saddam Hussein trial, scheduled to be issued on November 5, two days before the U.S. midterm elections, was "timed to coincide to help Republicans in the elections back here in the states." Ware responded that "officials here on the ground dispute that notion" and say that was a "preordained date chosen by the court itself." But Ware added that "[t]hat may or may not be so. It's very, very hard to tell" and that "the timing certainly is coincidental."
However, as Media Matters for America noted, on the October 30 edition of CNN's American Morning, co-host Miles O'Brien dismissed people who have raised the issue "that somehow the White House is going to try to engineer it so that the verdict on the Saddam Hussein trial will occur on the eve of the election, or the Sunday before, and perhaps tilt the election one way or another." O'Brien characterized those raising such concerns as "the 'grassy knoll' set," a reference to conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
On October 3, the Associated Press reported that the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (SICT), the judicial body carrying out the trial of Saddam Hussein, had "postponed the verdict in the former leader's first trial" beyond October 16 -- the date it was originally expected. Media Matters has documented multiple instances of the Bush administration reportedly manipulating the timing of announcements or actions in the Iraq war and the fight against terrorism for their own political benefit.
From the 7 p.m. ET hour of the October 31 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:
BLITZER: Michael, as you know, the elections here in the United States next Tuesday -- on Sunday, there's supposed to be a verdict in the first Saddam Hussein trial, and some are suggesting that verdict -- the announcement of a verdict, presumably the death penalty -- is timed to coincide to help Republicans in the elections back here in the States. What are you hearing over there?
WARE: Well, again, officials here on the ground dispute that notion. They say that this was a preordained date chosen by the court itself, that this was independent of any political consideration. That may or may not be so. It's very, very hard to tell. Nonetheless, the timing certainly is coincidental.
Does the Bush admin or the US gov't in any way have control of the timing of an Iraqi tribunal? Unless they are specifically controlled by the US (which they may be)... doesn't make much sense to me why Iraqis would want to aid the Bushies in any way...
That is, unless they're getting their own kickbacks and graft by doing so, etc... that may be a bit too conspiratorial.
The entire iraqi 'goverment' was created by and is controlled by the coalition forces. They will do what they are told and when they are told to do it. Many are even directly connected to the US goverment or even closely tied to the goverment members, f.i. Kursai in Afghanistan is one of Bush's oil buddies.
The goverment knows how the US deals with people that do not do what they say, visible by the betrayal against the former rulers of iraq.
After all, that missing 9 billion dollars had to go somewhere.
It appears that Miles knows the shortest way to a Fox News job is to become a mindless hack. I guess he's pissed that they recruited Bill Hemmer last time and not him.
Here's a tip Miles, stick with the space program. Maybe you can be Fox's man on the International Space Station, or you can cover the rest of us losers when we're "Left Behind" after the rapture. I'm sure Fox News has plans for a post rapture world.
after the rapture. If you're thinking of moving to California,lemme know.
I was planning a post rapture move to the LA area and going into the used car business. Maybe we could refer clients to each other. I've already contracted several car carriers to haul the luxury cars from the parking lot of the Superchurch near me. I feel the market and the weather will be better out there, since so few of you people will be taken in the first round of the rapture.
I'd bet that people who drive luxury cars aren't going to be Raptured. On the other hand, plenty of beat-up minivans, station wagons, and Civics will probably be available. Look for 'em at the UCC.
There'll be too many people left behind in California; San Fransisco won't even notice the difference. The real post-rapture boom will be in the Southern states. I plan to set up my own personal empire in Tennessee. I think I'll take Gatlinburg as my headquarters.
I plan to have Mississippi all to myself.
Here in NJ where we have a few of those churches that believe in amassing great wealth, before the rapture, even though, they haven't figured out a way to take it with them. That's where I'm going to pick up the cars.
I hope you don't get too lonely down there, Rusty. I doubt that post rapture Northeast will be much different than pre-rapture Northeast. But it will definitely clean out the riff-raff.
Don't get me wrong. I don't knock anyone for what they believe.
"A man's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another drink."
-W.C. Fields
There is evidence found by the House of Representatives Committee on Assassinations that shots came from more than one directions, and that "the third shot came from a second assassin located on the grassy knoll, but missed."
And over 50 witnesses said to have heard shots coming from in front of the president (location of the grassy knoll).
That House committee report was debunked years ago. It was based on a supposed recording of the gunshots, and the recording was later found to have been recorded at an entirely different time. None of the sounds of the supposed shots matched the timing in the film. And it's obvious from the film that the third shot was the fatal one. No witnesses (there were nearly 200 of them) at the time of the shooting reported seeing anyone with a weapon at the grassy knoll. Reports of a grassy-knoll shooter emerged weeks or months later. There were many opinions among those witnesses about where the shots came from. In an area surrounded by tall buildings, it was impossible to pinpoint the origin of the sound. But, of course, Gov. Connolly said he turned at the sound of the first shot because he thought it came from behind and above - you can see this in the film. And a motorcycle cop in the motorcade passing under the Book Depository building heard the shots come from over his head. More important is that of those nearly 200 witnesses, about 80 percent (I forget the precise numbers) were certain that they heard three and only three shots. Several people saw a man with a rifle on the sixth floor of that building. There were three empty shells there in the sniper nest that had Oswald's fingerprints. More important than that - for this discussion - is that there has never been a single shred of hard evidence indicating that there were more than three shots or that there was another shooter. Nothing. No shells, bullets, no prints. There is absolutely no evidence of a conspiracy or of anyone other than Oswald being involved in the shooting. The fact that the conspiracy theories survive after more than 40 years is incredible to me.
But, then, I'm always astounded whenever a Republican wins an election, too.
millions of witnesses to the first Bush term were said to have thought another one would be a good idea.
People am crazy. ;7)