October 2004A Talent for Pithiness“You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.” – Dick Cheney, US Vice President. About the Democratic campaign, while capmaigning in the 2004 US presidential elections. October 2004.
History's actors, creating reality“That's not the way the world really works anymore. We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” – White Houes aide. To journalist Run Suskind, criticizing Suskind's interview with former White House communications director, Karen Hughes, published in ‘Esquire’ in 2002. Reported October 2004.
The Art of Freezing Peace in Formaldehyde“The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process. And when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state…the disengagement is actually formaldehyde.” – Dov Weisglass, senior adviser to Israeli PM Ariel Sharon. On the Israeli plan of withdrawing from Gaza. October 2004.
Human rights as obligations“[I'm willing to consider] any realistic alternative that takes account of the government's human rights obligations.” – David Blunkett, UK Home Minister. About Britain's Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, which enables the government to imprison terrorist suspects without trial. Quoted by Alan Travis in ‘The Guardian’. Published 5 October 2004.
Voting can be a sin“If you vote this way, are you cooperating in evil? And if you know you are cooperating in evil, should you go to confession? The answer is yes.” – Archbishop Charles J Chaput, Roman Catholic archbishop of Denver, Colorado. About voting for Democratic candidate John Kerry, who does not support banning abortion-related stem-cell research, in the 2004 elections for US president. In a ‘New York Times’ report 9 October 2004.
The point of legitimacy“If you do things that are illegitimate in the eyes of the other people, it's very hard to get them to share the burden and risk with you.” – John Kerry, Democratic Party candidate for US presidency in 2004. Campaign speech in Hampton, New Hampshire. 4 October 2004.
What's this about legitimacy?“I don't understand ‘proving to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons’.” – Condoleeza Rice, US National Security Adviser. On Senator Kerry's comments about the need for US actions to be legitimate according to international law. 4 October 2004.
Invasion is defence“When our country is in danger, it is not the job of the president to take an international poll; it's to defend our country.” – Condoleeza Rice, US National Security Adviser. On Senator Kerry's comments about the need for US actions to be legitimate according to international law. 4 October 2004.
Dismissing a nation“Just a bunch of hajis.” – American soldiers in Iraq. About the Iraqi people. Reported 2004.
Yours enormously“We are developing information of enormous value to the nation, enormously valuable intelligence…We have an enormously thorough process that has very high resolution and clarity…I think of Guantánamo as the interrogation battle lab in the war against terror.” – Maj-Gen Geoffrey Miller, commandant of the US military's Guantánamo Bay prison for “unlawful combatants”. Quoted in ‘Guantánamo Bay: America's War on Human Rights’ by David Rose. Published 3 October 2004.
How they got it isn't our problem“We cannot condone torture, but the basis of those incarcerations is protection of other people. If we thought that ‘X’ was going to blow up the Tube and we thought that information was obtained by a foreign intelligence service, can we really say that we can't detain people because that information was obtained by torture?” – Lord Chancellor Charlie Falconer. Commenting on a high court ruling of August 2004 that found it was lawful for the British government to use information obtained under torture by foreign governments to avert an imminent attack. 1 October 2004.
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