Ray McGovern: "Swear Him In!"

[Sapphire Blue]

Published on Tuesday, September 11, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
Swear Him In!
by Ray McGovern

That’s all I said in the unusual silence on Monday afternoon as first aid was being administered to Gen. David Petraeus’ microphone before he spoke before the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees.

It had dawned on me that when House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Missouri) invited Gen. Petraeus to make his presentation, Skelton forgot to ask him to take the customary oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I had no idea that my suggestion would be enough to get me thrown out of the hearing.

I had experienced a flashback to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in early 2006, when Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) reminded chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) that Specter had forgotten to swear in the witness, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; and how Specter insisted that that would not be necessary.

Now that may, or may not, be an invidious comparison. But Petraeus and Gonzales work for the same boss, who has a rather unusual relationship with the truth. How many of his senior staff could readily be convicted, as was the hapless-and-now-commuted Scooter Libby, of perjury?

So I didn’t think twice about it. I really thought that Skelton perhaps forgot, and that the ten-minute interlude of silence while they fixed the microphone was a good chance to raise this seemingly innocent question.

(snip)

If Petraeus is so honest and full of integrity, what possible objection could he have to being sworn in? I had not the slightest hesitation being sworn in when testifying before the committee assembled by John Conyers (D-Michigan) on June 16, 2005. Should generals be immune? Or did Petraeus’ masters wish to give him a little more assurance that he could play fast and loose with the truth without the consequences encountered by Scooter Libby.

With the microphone finally fixed, much became quickly clear. Petraeus tried to square a circle in his very first two paragraphs. In the first, he thanks the committees for the opportunity to “discuss the recommendations I recently provided to my chain of command for the way forward.” Then he stretches credulity well beyond the breaking point-at least for me:

“At the outset, I would like to note that this is my testimony. Although I have briefed my assessment and recommendations to my chain of command, I wrote this testimony myself. It has not been cleared by, nor shared with, anyone in the Pentagon, the White House, or Congress.”

Is not the commander in chief in Petraeus’ chain of command?

As Harry Truman (D-Missouri) would have said, “Does he think we were born yesterday?”


Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. During his career as a CIA analyst, he prepared and briefed the President’s Daily Brief and chaired National Intelligence Estimates. He is a member of the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).


http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/11/3755/

[whistle]

1. He was evicted for saying that yesterday

[OwnedByFerrets]

2. He was just on Thom Hartmann.....great segment. nt

[Dhalgren]

3. Why on earth would they not swear this scum-sucker in?

Betrayus is an insult and disgrace to the uniform he wears. And his "stars"? Might as well got them from a crackerjacks box...

[Skidmore]

5. Prolly had one of them there "bipartisan agreements" they always talk about

when both sides are smelling like steaming piles of bullocks.

[dogday]

4. K&R

Ray McGovern is my hero.

[spanone]

6. say it with a straight face; generals don't lie bwahahahahahahaaa