The GOP House Intel Chair’s Stunning Display of Insult and Ignorance
I’ve never heard of Rep. Mike Rogers, Republican Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, but I hope the next time I see his name in print it’s because he resigned his position. Obviously, he is not qualified to sit on any committee with the word “intelligence” anywhere in its title or mission.
Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said Wednesday that the Obama administration should not release the gruesome post-mortem images, saying it could complicate the job for American troops overseas. Rogers told CBS News he has seen a post-mortem photo.
“The risks of release outweigh the benefits,” Rogers said. “Conspiracy theorists around the world will just claim the photos are doctored anyway, and there is a real risk that releasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in the Middle East.”
“Imagine how the American people would react if Al Qaeda killed one of our troops or military leaders, and put photos of the body on the internet,” Rogers continued.
[Emphasis mine]
Of all the reasons one could concoct for not releasing photos of a gunshot Osama bin Laden, this is easily the dumbest. We know exactly how Americans would react to that situation because we’ve already seen it. Someone needs to remind the Intelligence Mastermind of the House of Representatives about Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg. Maybe they could also show him the photo of the civilian contractors whose corpses were brutalized and hung from an overpass in Iraq.
And those were civilians. We wouldn’t even interrupt our dinners if they actually defiled the corpse of a soldier who is directly engaged in the fighting*. Did we erupt in fury when al-Qaeda butchers dragged our soldiers through the streets of Iraq?
We did not.
But that is almost beside the point — well, not quite. It does speak to Roger’s woeful ignorance of recent history or our war against the Islamists, which you would expect would be a focus for him as the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, but it’s not the major point.
The larger point is that it ought to insult the hell out of every Americans that Mike Rogers thinks us no better than the typical riot-prone Muslim in the Middle East, even though he has ample evidence this is not the case. How little must he think of you and I (and Muslims in general, but that’s another story) that he believes we have the same limits of self-control as people who murder innocents because some guy in Denmark drew a picture of Mohammed?
You know, I don’t care to find out. I don’t want to hear an apology from him. I just want him gone. He’s disgraced his nation, Congress, and the Republican Party. I can no longer trust him and neither should anyone else. Speaker Boehner…it’s on you now.
*That’s not to say that we respect soldiers less than civilians. Far from it. However, we rational and civilized folk realize there is a world of difference between soldiers and civilians in a war.
UPDATE: Ben Howe has a lot more on the matter and I recommend his post highly. He gets the importance of a symbol in wartime.
UPDATE 2: Here is a roundup of reactions from Stacy McCain. There is a lot of good stuff in there.
Other Posts of Interest:
- Welcome to September 10th, America. Brace Yourself.
- Finally, Transparency in Congress.
- Osama bin Laden is Now an Ex-Terrorist
Category: Fighting the Islamists, The Long War Here At Home, The Republican Minority
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[...] number of conservative bloggers are disgusted with the decision, and with House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers for agreeing with the [...]
I see why you wrote this in anger. He was a monster who deserved what he got and my heart goes out to ANY human that has lost a loved one because of Him. But,you forget,hes one man,there are still hundreds of alqeada and taliban that are are around the world. Releasing the photos is what they want. They will use them for recruting more followers ,they use them as motivation. We cant function with a “one up you” mentality. It will never end. Watch frontline.The number one reason we wont release them? We are better than them. We have morals,compassion and love. They do not. It is always tougher to do the right thing and be the good person, than to just give in and play their game.Or worse,become like them.
See, I don’t buy that, Lewis. How, exactly, will the Islamists hate us more or want to kill us more? They tried to kill tens of thousands of us on 9/11. Every day, there are Islamists looking for ways to end us.
The truth is that we are in a war, and in a war images matter. The image of Osama bin Laden, slain by our proud and skilled soldiers is powerful to us, not our enemies as a concrete sign of our relentless pursuit of our enemies.
He's right. I'm as happy as anyone that OSL is dead, but publishing the photographs can do us no good.
I disagree.
they should pass a new bill for congressman on bolth sides it would be called the keep your dumn ass yap shut if yuo dont know nothing bill im sure it would be used frequently and show the picture of binladin moreons ! doyou think will be in anymore danger then we are with terorist that have allways hated us and a president that is a scammer and a liar give the president a polygraph test you know he would refuse it!!!! scmmmer liar i feel bad about saying that about our president but im afraid its true we have a liar for a president and this country is in a lot of trouble and we neeed to get this liar out of there now!!!
What a stupid stupid dhimmi, he may have even out dhimmied that jackass Lindsey Graham. Fricken morons. He seriously needs to be gone – immediately. I shared your post to the A-C page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ANTI-CRAPTASTIC/12…
and I saw that Michelle Malkin Tweeted it! I'll go check out that other post you recommended, thanks!
[...] I’m betting 72 hours.UPDATE XV: Linked by The Lonely Conservative — thanks!UPDATE XVI: Jimmie Bise Jr. has strong words for Mike Rogers. And not in a good way.Really: Why is it that jihadis post online videos of the executions of [...]
Unfortunately, CBS reported that comment as coming from President Obama. They've since corrected the attribution but have not apologized or retracted…
[...] Bise over at The Sundries Shack sums it up best: The larger point is that it ought to insult the hell out of every Americans that Mike Rogers [...]
Seriously, do you always react to comments taken out of context? You friggin made his point. Yes, we have seen photos of what they did to our soldiers, but are we not better than them??? That is the point. Wow, you guys are true idiots. Rogers has done a lot of good for this country. There is no need to release a photo of a bullet-ridden Osama. Nothing would be gained – other than a bunch of high-fives from drunks at the bar. The shithole is dead and that is what matters.
And yet my point stands.
Our enemies will hate us regardless of what we do.
Here's something that I wish our leadership would understand: WE may not be at war with Islam, but Islam is most certainly at war with us. In fact, since it's inception, Islam has been at war with anyone and anything NOT named Islam. 14 centuries and counting. I'd say that's a pretty predictable record to draw intelligence from regarding Islam's intentions.
[...] Bise has the go-to piece for taking down this flawed way of [...]
[...] Mike Rogers is an arrogant idiot. [...]
[...] The GOP House Intel Chair's Stunning Display of Insult and Ignorance [...]
I guess he missed Pearl, Berg and others as well.
I'll send him a round-up.
Mike Rogers has obviously forgotten how giddy our enemy reacts to murdered Americans.
These people have no soul -they don't need pictures to rev up their hate. They live and breathe it daily!
[...] that’s almost redundant. In regard to releasing the Bin Laden photos, he had this to say, “Imagine how the American people would react if Al Qaeda killed one of our troops or military leaders…”. Yeah, hey Mike – psst, WE ALREADY HAVE and guess what? We [...]