"Body Of War" - Cowardly Congress-Spineless Senate 3 of 7

Interview Part 3 of 7
Q & A with Phil Donahue
View it, in its entirety, at: http://www.q-and-a.org/Video/?ProgramID=1172
Read the transcript of the interview at: http://www.q-and-a.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1172
Also check the interview with the suave, urbane and articulate Dr. Hans Blix, maliciously maligned by the Bush administration, politely answer all questions on his NOT finding any WMD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RnQaVS_rRE

Washington, District of Columbia (United States)

-Brian Lamb: - Chief Honcho at C-SPAN.
-Phil Donahue: Renown Talk-Show Host; exiled for being skeptical, Executive Producer, Co-Director of "Body Of War".
-Tomas Young: Honorably discharged Iraqi Invasion Veteran, T-4 Quadriplegic; Cenral character of this heart-wrenching documentary.
-Ellen Spiro: Award winning Director and Educator.
-Phillip Schopper: Documentary editor.
-Bernadine Colish: "..assembled the whole thing for us."
-Cathy Smith: Tomas Young's mother; Stalward physical/emotional/psychological supporter, tireless worker, and nurturer; with another son in Iraq.
-Brie Young: Ex-wife of Tomas Young, also loving, affectionate, reduced to acting mainly as a servant.
-Cindy Sheehan: Well known anti-war activist.
__________Transcript_________
Phil Donahue
Co-Director & Executive Producer

SEN. ROBERT BYRD, D-WEST VIRGINIA: And in the name of the people of this country, in the name of the young men and women whose lives may be put on the line ...
TINSLEY: Mr. Ensign, aye.
Mr. Enzi, aye.
SEN. BYRD: ... by the decision that this Senate will make is too weightening (ph), it is too far-reaching. And it's only fair to the people of America who are going to be asked to give -- in some instances everything that they've got, everything they have -- if a war ensues.
And I tell you, my friends. I don't want that on my conscience. Not I.
(END CLIPS FROM OCTOBER 2002)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAMB: Go back to the erectile dysfunction part. You know that there are people watching and saying, Phil Donahue is just appealing, you know, to the -- I don't know how to characterize it. Why did you have to go there, is what they're saying.
DONAHUE: Because I think, first of all, everybody who enlists in the Army thinks they might come home dead. Nobody thinks of coming home like this.
And I am sorry if people wince when they see that very personal scene. But I think more and more people ought to be wincing at the casualties from this war.
The people who aren't wincing are the people who can't see the coffins coming home draped in the American flag. They can't see that, because the administration has prohibited the photographing of these coffins.
By the way, the administration says you can't photograph this, and the entire mainstream establishment media in America said, OK. There's been no pushback here.
I'm hardly the first person to make this point. I'm not claiming original arguments here, but this is the most sanitized.
I mean, we're naming our invasion "shock and awe?" This is the White House Iraq Group, WHIG. These are the advertising agency warriors who name our -- "Rolling Thunder." They were the ones who wrote these talking points, the ones we just saw.
And, I mean, you can't believe how superficial these are. I mean, this was the debate -- by the way, an unconstitutional debate. This Congress did not vote up or down. Don't bother them with Article 1, Section 8, as demanded by the Framers.
What they do is say, "Here, Mr. President. If you think you have to, here's permission." Then if he goes and it doesn't work, they're able to say, "Well, wait a minute." CYA -- cover your butt. That's what they've done.
LAMB: Do you think, though -- or I'll ask you what you think. Most of the people responding after that on the floor were Republicans.
Do you think those people were insincere? Do you think they were lying? Do you think -- I mean, they're characterized ...
DONAHUE: No, I think they were -- I think they were caught up in the heavy breathing. They were caught up in a belief that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, even though all they had to do was go to the Intelligence Committee, and they would have told them, "Well, wait. We're not sure. Let's let the U.N. finish its job."
No, I don't think they all had a meeting and say let's, you know, let's -- they wanted to -- Pete Stark says in our film, from the floor of the House, "This president wants blood. He wants to go to war."
And that's the fact of it. We had -- he swaggered before the cameras. "Bring it on." Every time I see Tomas Young I think, "Bring it on."
You know, you see a young man in a wheelchair. You think, "Oh, poor guy. He can't walk." He can't do a lot of things. He can't cough. I mean, it just -- the more you -- the closer you get to this, the more it blows you back.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Brian_Lamb
• Phil_Donahue
• Tomas_Young
• Ellen_Spiro
• Phillip_Schopper
• Cindy_Sheehan
• Cathy_Smith
• Sadr_City
• Saddam_Hussein

[soccerdude601]

there should be a rule that if you want war, go yourself.

[mfg0308]

You wont see a video about an iraqi family losing loved ones to insurgent attacks. No one thinks about the death toll of iraqi soldiers and civilians, only our troops. Sounds a bit selfish to me, if everyone cares about ending the violence so badly why dont we buck up, set feelings aside and get the job done. Opinions like that dont get airtime. No one likes war, but this isn't about us anymore. Terror and tyranny are nothing new, i hope people see this isn't just a U.S. problem.

[hairbandfan1967]

Just as bad as the Senate and Bush's swagger is Obama's lies and hypocrisy, i.e. during his campaign, he said we would be out of Iraq and "you can take that to the bank", then he gets a Noble peace prize, yet now are we not only still in Iraq and Afghanistan but now he is bombing Libya and invading areas of Africa. Where is Phil Donohue now? How is that "hope and change" working out for you?

[lunafringe10]

Well said Mr. Donahue!!! A bunch of jerks waging war, killing millions, wasting billions for their own welfare. That is why the world is witnessing today. And it s tiring of it, Yeah rite, shock and awe and rolling thunder. What abt the quakes and the floods now that are coming to America more frequently? A sign of someone being disgusted with states of affairs. This planet, our paradise and ppls lives are being ruined by ruthless gangstas in the white house. This must end

[heartlezz13]

Soccerdude601 Completely agree with u

[thomasg74]

To All the Men and Women who got their bodies Mangled and Mamed because they fell for the age old drumbeat of Nonsensical jingoism........The Wall Street Elite says Thanks a lot ,suckers....we coined it big time!

[meccaturbo]

@Susieshepherd....war criminal bush...ha, you're laughable, and an idiot.

[bapyou]

"we have something called "freedom of press" "

A free press was made possible in the 18th & 19th centuries by government subsidies. Read the new book 'The Death and LIfe of American Journalism' by Robert McChesney & John Nichols, in which the authors have uncovered the true history of America's free press. The same thing was done in Post-War Germany & Japan: Heavy gov press subsidies. Today, concentrated corporate ownership of media has resulted in a LESS free press.

[jobedied]

The press is owned their reporting is bias and misleading. Washington is totally evil place stealing from the people . To even think congress and senate are governing anything is to confuse being robbed with being loved.

[Susieshepherd]

What I know of America, we have something called "freedom of press" created by our founding fathers. Did the "press" those 8 years just think it was more important to listen to war criminal bush than it was to honor our troops, our heros... & our founding fathers?

[Susieshepherd]

What I know of America, we have something called "freedom of press" created by our founding fathers. Did the "press" those 8 years just think it was more important to listen to war criminal bush than it was to honor our troops, our heros... & our founding fathers?