Norwich University is a military school justly known for its peace studies program, now known as Studies in War and Peace. Today it was one of the biggest warmongers of recent years speaking to a crowd of nearly three thousand.
Yes, as we posted the other day, Condoleezza Rice was the speaker this morning, and as the event unfolded it was clear that I wasn't the only one who could not imagine letting the event go by unchallenged.
The Burlington Free Press is reporting that several protesters were there, calling her a war criminal and repeatedly interrupting her speech.
Among the protesters was longtime Vermont activist Ed Stanak, who made the following remarks:
I respect your First Amendment rights to give a speech but I have an obligation as an American citizen to confront you as a war criminal.
– You lied about Weapons of Mass Destruction.
-You acquiesced in the use of torture as national policy.
– You are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians and the destruction of Iraqi Infrastructure.
-And you are responsible for the deaths of more than 4,000 American service members.
One of the first Americans to die was a Vermonter who grew up just 40 miles from here in South Burlington . Marine corporal Mark Envin was only 21 years old when he died.
The other American were dead are…[ before being able to read the names of American war dead, Stanak was escorted from the Shapiro Field House exclaiming “War criminal ! “ and “No justice, no peace ! “ ]
(Posted by Ed Stanak on his daughter's Facebook page.)
Naturally Rice made a show of being tolerant, while characterizing the protesters as “those who would defend Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda”. Yes, she's still peddling the lie that there was some connection between the two.
Oh, one other thing: if you want to see the video of the protest you're out of luck because Norwich killed the video feed.
Thank you to Ed Stanak and the other protesters who stood up to the lies of this war apologist.
The unapologetic Ms. Rice should join the unrepentant Dick Cheney.
Both should be wrapped in ribbons and sent on the first transport over to Iraq, where they could play out their delusions in real-time.
It’s hard to imagine so much stupidity, so much evil and so much incompetence all wrapped into a single person’s life work.
Condi Rice was, succeeded in, and remains a leading threat to the United States of America.
While speaking in Vermont, virtually everything she said was either untrue, wrong, an objective inability to comprehend present or historical reality, incompetent or willfully deceitful.
Pick a sentence, any sentence from her speach. It’s too easy. For example she stated, regarding ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Sryia) and in support of her desire to see the U.S. commit more war on Muslims or Arabs:
Professor Rice conveniently ignores that al-Qaida was a group “so bad” that Saddam Hussein “expelled” it from Iraq and kept them out. Yes, long before ISIS’ recent “expulsion” of al-Qaida, Irak’s genuinely evil Dictator kept it out of Irak for the two decades leading to Sept. 11 2001.
Remember 10 years ago when Condi Rice was the person who stated: “The difference between George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein is that Saddam Hussein kept al-Qaida out of Irak? !!” Unfortunately, as we all know, she wasn’t the person who said that; nor is she smart enough to realize it. She did, however, have a front row seat when al-Qaida spread into Irak after the United States’ war enabled that obvious consequence, AND no one worked harder than Condi Rice to open Irak’s door to, what she now realizes is, “a group that is so bad.”
I’m curious. Is this Condi’s first big appearance since ’08? Is she going to do more? Cause, it just may be that she’s testing the political waters. If she ran in the Republican primary in 2016, who would be able to beat her? She’d be the Hillary of the right. The battle of the Secs of State. Scary.
You know, I wouldn’t put it past them bastards to run her.
Perhaps a future Condi Presidency was ‘planned’ way back in ’05, or at least right after Obama beat Hillary for the nomination in ’08. It makes perfect sense. A woman. A BLACK WOMAN. And she’s ‘cuter’ than Hillary.
For those of you who believe in the ‘Magic Bullet’, I give you our next Corporate Reich ‘Conspiracy’. And ‘ignoring’ her will only help her. And protesting against her will get her sympathy.
Man, we is in for another good royal fuckin’ if this is the case. As the Kingfish used to say on Amos & Andy: “Sapphire done gonna kill us!”
but I am not so sure that making a spectacle in a public gathering, especially in the arena of WCAX masterminding the coverage and the message, is the best tactic anymore. It had an effect, but on balance, I am not sure that the sympathy generated for Condi didn’t outweigh the hoped for indignation.