State Dept Backpedaling on "PR Stunt" comment

[MsAnthropy]

US: Guantanamo suicides a 'good PR move'
Updated: 06/12/2006 01:59:59 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) - The State Department on Monday sought to distance itself from comments by a U.S. official calling suicides at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay a "good P.R. move."

"We would not say that it was a P.R. stunt," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, using the acronym for public relations. "We have serious concerns anytime anybody takes their own life."

Colleen Graffy, deputy assistant U.S. secretary of state for public diplomacy, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the deaths at the facility in Cuba were a "good P.R. move to draw attention."

Graffy's comments have stoked a fresh round of international criticism against the U.S. treatment of detainees from human rights groups and newspaper editorials.

http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S16873.html?cat=1

Can this administration be any more incompetent?

[gratuitous]

1. So will Ms. Graffy be disciplined?

Or was the plan all along to make a hateful, callous remark, let it fester over the weekend and increase the loathing, and then say, "Just kidding!" come Monday? That way, the administration can again paint its detractors as shrill, angry unreasoning haters. After all, they took it back, didn't they? Why are you still so upset about Graffy's remarks?

[MsAnthropy]

3. You nailed it

I wonder if she understands the meaning of the words in her title: public diplomacy. What a tactless, disgusting thing to say--it HAD to have come directly from Rove!

[Jacobin]

11. They are really good at doing exactly that

Antics of 6th grade bullies who have taken over the country.

[otohara]

15. Medal of Honor Will Be Bestowed

upon her as she leaves her position to spend more time with her family

[MsAnthropy]

16. I just checked the State Dept website

guess who the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs is: KAREN HUGHES! That explains it all. Good God, what a bunch of clowns.

[ThomCat]

2. That is just so incredibly callous.

The entire existance of that Prison at Guantanamo, and everything we're doing to people there just shows an absolute disregard for truth, justice, or humanity.

[MsAnthropy]

5. They are incapable of humanity

it reminds me of Chimpy laughing at Carla Tucker before she was put to death

[ThomCat]

7. That alone should have been enough

to cost him the first election. If not for the damned corporate media... :grr:

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. What a stunt.

Their suicides were not really suicides, but PR stunts made to make our cruel and illegal prison look cruel and illegal.

[MsAnthropy]

6. Exactly

If there is a functioning brain in the State Department, I'd be surprised.

[Kutjara]

8. We may be missing a trick here.

If we just agree with BushCo that suicide is a great new PR technique, maybe we can convince them that it might be just the help their own flagging poll numbers need. Worth a try.

[MsAnthropy]

10. If only....

:grr:

[EST]

12. Thoughtful...

You are so cool!

[EST]

9. In answer to your final question, YES!

The current state of affairs has been softened a little by the presence of long term bureaucrats and indispensable, below the radar operatives who are even now targets for removal, as the neo-con junta consolidates its grip on the government and further squelches thoughtful analysis in favor of the mindless screaming and finger pointing.

"You ain't seen nuthin' yet!" may well become the watchword of the next couple of decades.

[MsAnthropy]

13. I don't think I'll make it

:nuke:

[EST]

19. I understand.

I too, find a bit of haze that far in the future. All well and good--it emphasizes the fact that our efforts can be a little higher on the moral scale, no immediate selfish gain, and a thought toward delivering a fortuitous gift to an unknowing future.

[MsAnthropy]

18. Here's some good news!

Mission Accomplished?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The doors may be closing shortly on the nine-year-old Project for a New American Century, the neoconservative think tank headed by William Kristol , former chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle and now editor of the Weekly Standard, which is must reading for neocon cogitators and agitators.

The PNAC was short on staff -- having perhaps a half-dozen employees -- but very long on heavy hitters. The founders included Richard B. Cheney , Donald H. Rumsfeld , Paul D. Wolfowitz , Jeb Bush , I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby , William J. Bennett, Zalmay Khalilzad and Quayle.

The goal was to continue the Reaganite, muscular approach to projecting American power and "moral clarity" in a post-Cold War world, the group's manifesto said. The targets were liberal drift and conservative isolationism.

PNAC and its supporters dominated the Bush administration's foreign policy apparatus and championed a policy to get rid of Saddam Hussein long before Sept. 11, 2001.

In its famous 1998 letter to President Bill Clinton , PNAC said "removing Saddam Hussein and his regime . . . now needs to become the aim of American foreign policy." Clinton was urged to use all diplomatic, political and military means to topple him.

Despite the happy chatter before the Iraq invasion about cheering crowds and bouquets and cakewalks and how the war was going to pay for itself, the signatories wrote that "we are fully aware of the dangers of implementing this policy."

There had been debate about PNAC's future, but the feeling, a source said, was of "goal accomplished" and it looks to be heading toward closing. Former executive director Gary J. Schmitt , who had been executive director of President Ronald Reagan 's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, left recently for a post at the American Enterprise Institute. (Not a big move. Actually, only five floors up from PNAC.) Still, seems like a short century.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/11/AR2006061100739.html

[MissWaverly]

21. so sad, they just drift off with no accountability

I wonder if anyone will be held accountable for the pre-emptive war strategy, and our current situation in the Middle East, I heard a lot of crow eaters, lately, but is sorry really going to make up for helping to push us into this war and shouting down anyone who had reservations.

[elehhhhna]

14. Here's to wishing the Bush Admin. would do a "good PR move" asap

[MsAnthropy]

17. Either that or the Rapture better come pretty damn quick

so they all get the hell out of here!

[Supersedeas]

20. Another Karen Huge attempt to win the hearts and minds???