Pentagon: Only Liars Can Testify About The War
Posted in H.L. News, Main Blog (All Posts) on May 11th, 2007 5:47 am by HL
Pentagon restricting testimony in Congress
Blocks staff of lower rank
Boston Globe
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has placed unprecedented restrictions on who can testify before Congress, reserving the right to bar lower-ranking officers, enlisted soldiers, and career bureaucrats from appearing before oversight committees or having their remarks transcribed, according to Defense Department documents.
Robert L. Wilkie , a former Bush administration national security official who left the White House to become assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs last year, has outlined a half-dozen guidelines that prohibit most officers below the rank of colonel from appearing in hearings, restricting testimony to high-ranking officers and civilians appointed by President Bush.
The guidelines, described in an April 19 memo to the staff director of the House Armed Services Committee, adds that all field-level officers and enlisted personnel must be “deemed appropriate” by the Department of Defense before they can participate in personal briefings for members of Congress or their staffs; in addition, according to the memo, the proceedings must not be recorded.
Wilkie’s memo also stipulated that any officers who are allowed to testify must be accompanied by an official from the administration, such as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and his top-level aides.
HL’s Take
field-level officers and enlisted personnel must be “deemed appropriate”….meaning they have to make sure that these people are willing to lie. The article goes on to say that this action by the Pentagon is Illegal. Of course they don’t want low ranking members testifying. They don’t make enough money to lie about the war just to keep it going like the high ranking officials do. Another blatantly transparent attempt by The Bush administration to cover their asses about all the lies related to the war. How typical
May 12th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
while i disagree whit restricting the testamony of lower ranking officers I can unerstand why. it may be that they just don’t have all the info and have opperated on orders from up high some times they just do as they are told and they just can’t ask questions