Code Pink at Senate Armed Services Committee hearing - pics

[Kadie]

CodePink protestors stand in the back of the hearing room on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates, right foreground, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the fiscal 2009 Defense Department budget.
(AP Photos/Susan Walsh)


Defense Secretary Robert Gates prepares to testify to the Senate Armed Forces Committee Defense about the authorization request for FY2009, the Future Years Defense Program, and the FY2009 request for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, February 6, 2008.
REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES)

[peace13]

1. Thanks for this!

One bright spot in my day. Peace, Kim

[Echo In Light]

2. K&R

[mmonk]

3. K&R

for human decency and the first amendment.

[lpbk2713]

4. Pic #2 ....

Gates is pressing the secret button up his sleeve that summons the Blackwater

goons who will summarily ship the protestors off to Gitmo.

[Webster Green]

5. Code Pink!

:yourock:

[mogster]

6. Thnx

Good to see something else than threads about.. well, you know.

[mogster]

7. Some links about the Gates hearing

Gates estimates war costs but calls it inaccurate

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, pressed to estimate total war costs, said on Wednesday that Iraq and Afghanistan operations could cost $170 billion in 2009 but warned the figure was likely wrong.

"I have no confidence in that figure," Gates told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/2/7/worldupdates/2008-02-06T220959Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-318005-1&sec=Worldupdates

Great. He says two things at the same time, and gets away with it.

Right after he was appointed Sec. Def. he said this:

"My greatest worry, if we mishandle the next year or two and if we leave Iraq in chaos, is that a variety of regional powers will become involved in Iraq, and we will have a regional conflict on our hands," Gates said.

Iran and Syria, said the nominee, are integral to the "long-term stability" of Iraq and the United States should consider "incentives or disincentives to bring them to be constructive."

Gates also said he is "very sympathetic" toward the idea of deploying extra troops in Afghanistan but that U.S. allies may need to reconsider restrictions that limit their troops' roles in the nation.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/05/gates.confirmation/index.html

Which is exactly what's been happening. Iran and Syria has been subjected to "the stick and the carrot" and the pressure on NATO countries to send more soldiers has increased. But Iraq is still a mess, and Gates now has only ten months to prove that he hasn't 'mishandled' things.
It gets surreal when you think about the facts that this man was responsible for arming Hussein and subjecting the Iraqis to the vehemently misruled daily life of that period:

Defense Secretary Nominee Robert Gates Tied to Iran-Contra Scandal and the Secret Arming of Saddam Hussein
President Bush nominated former CIA director Robert Gates on Wednesday to replace Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. We take a look at Gates’ role at the CIA in connection to the Iran-Contra scandal and the secret arming of Saddam Hussein with former CIA analyst Mel Goodman, who testified before the Senate in 1991 against the nomination of Gates as CIA director, and investigative journalist Bob Parry who helped expose Iran-Contra.
http://www.democracynow.org/2006/11/9/defense_secretary_nominee_robert_gates_tied

On edit: added spooky eye picture

[Kadie]

8. Thank you for the links,

as for the picture...

:scared: