polymania

Scott McClellan, White House Chief of Obfuscation, running interference for Dubya:

Q Scott, there are 17 former POWs from the first Gulf War who were tortured and filed suit against the regime of Saddam Hussein. And a judge has ordered that they are entitled to substantial financial damages. What is the administration's position on that? Is it the view of this White House that that money would be better spent rebuilding Iraq rather than going to these former POWs?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know that I view it in those terms, David. I think that the United States -- first of all, the United States condemns in the strongest terms the brutal torture to which these Americans were subjected. They bravely and heroically served our nation and made sacrifices during the Gulf War in 1991, and there is simply no amount of money that can truly compensate these brave men and women for the suffering that they went through at the hands of Saddam Hussein's brutal regime. That's what our view is.

Q But, so -- but isn't it true that this White House --

Q They think they're is an --

Q Excuse me, Helen -- that this White House is standing in the way of them getting those awards, those financial awards, because it views it that money better spent on rebuilding Iraq?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, there's simply no amount of money that can truly compensate these brave men and women for the suffering --

Q Why won't you spell out what your position is?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm coming to your question. Believe me, I am. Let me finish. Let me start over again, though. No amount of money can truly compensate these brave men and women for the suffering that they went through at the hands of a very brutal regime, at the hands of Saddam Hussein. It was determined earlier this year by Congress and the administration that those assets were no longer assets of Iraq, but they were resources required for the urgent national security needs of rebuilding Iraq. But again, there is simply no amount of compensation that could ever truly compensate these brave men and women.

Q Just one more. Why would you stand in the way of at least letting them get some of that money?

MR. McCLELLAN: I disagree with the way you characterize it.

Q But if the law that Congress passed entitles them to access frozen assets of the former regime, then why isn't that money, per a judge's order, available to these victims?

MR. McCLELLAN: That's why I pointed out that that was an issue that was addressed earlier this year. But make no mistake about it, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the torture that these brave individuals went through --

Q -- you don't think they should get money?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- at the hands of Saddam Hussein. There is simply no amount of money that can truly compensate those men and women who heroically served --

Q That's not the issue --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- who heroically served our nation.

Q Are you opposed to them getting some of the money?

MR. McCLELLAN: And, again, I just said that that had been addressed earlier this year.

Q No, but it hasn't been addressed. They're entitled to the money under the law. The question is, is this administration blocking their effort to access some of that money, and why?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't view it that way at all. I view it the way that I stated it, that this issue was --

Q But you are opposed to them getting the money.

MR. McCLELLAN: This issue was addressed earlier this year, and we believe that there's simply no amount of money that could truly compensate these brave men and women for what they went through and for the suffering that they went through at the hands of Saddam Hussein --

Q So no money.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- and that's my answer.

Thanks Scott, you're a big help. Sheesh.

Friday night was a great booksale at our favorite local bookseller...and as if I didn't already have enough books, I splurged for 5, count 'em, 5 more.

First on the list is Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. I'll write out a more thorough review later when I'm finished, but for now I'll just say it's a pretty quick read, and good fun for all the right-thinking people out there who are fed up with the stream of lies and exaggerations coming from certain quarters in this country.

It's been a month? Where has the time gone? Looks like I'm in need for a little more of the stream-of-consciousness style blogging, to fill up some space and provide some details on what the heck has been happening.

First off, obviously, I'm a married man now. The wedding was awesome. After all that time and effort, it was fantastic to see things unfold before me - before us - in the way they did. As family began to arrive, the wedding went from the abstract into the real, further enhanced by the rehearsing in the park and, well, the writing of the checks. The weather shaped up beautifully, and any concerns I had about how I was going to handle the demands on our time and control of the details seemed to melt away...I stopped looking at this as an analyst and instead simply participated. Which of course was the right thing to do, and the most natural and happiest state of affairs.

And I think the bliss of being that way has kept me from blogging more recently, since I've stayed somewhat averse to thinking too deeply about what happened, preferring more to just revel in it.

Anyway, an entire description of the wedding is beyond the scope of this blog. I will say that it has been a very good month afterwards, as we received so many great gifts from friends and family, and have eagerly looked forward to our honeymoon, which is coming up in less than two weeks now. Also, as described in my previous blog entry last month, I took that extra week off, which was a true godsend. What a fantastic decompression that was - although I suppose I could have blogged then, I chose to simply relax, spend a little extra time with family and friends, and catch up on several other loose ends that had been nagging at me for months. I felt so much better afterwards...enough so that I feel like I can resume this blogging project with the energy it demands.

Of course, I say this just as another 2 week vacation is creeping up. I guess we'll just see what happens.