Obama, More Draft Talk, Rumsfeld On Trial, And Oh My God Are We Really Still Talking About OJ? (Monday's Second Hour)

Hi everybody. This hour kicks off with the Dan Lemon piece on Barack Obama that was previewed last hour. Of course the big question is will he run and that remains to be seen. He's achieved rock star status in the democratic part, but his lack of experience might hold him back. I've seen him speak and can attest to the rock star thing. As far as experience goes, Obama points our that Cheney and Rumsfeld have great resumes and look how well they've worked out. Ooh, good point.

John Roberts continues with the topic, giving us a recap on Obama's short rise to stardom and bringing up the Hillary factor. Right now she's leading him in the polls, but I'm guessing that's just a name recognition thing. I wonder if she's mad at him because he kind of stole her thunder. One big plus Obama has over Hillary is that he's been against the war since day one. I'm still iffy on whether Obama has the experience yet to be president, but I think he would be great as vice president. That would give him a whole lot of experience for 2016. Since Feingold is out, I'm really leaning toward John Edwards. He's been doing some great things lately; really focusing on poverty and the situation in Uganda. Check him out. Also, the other day I was complaining about the focus on GOP candidates with no coverage of dems. Today they did a dem. See, CNN? I notice and give credit where credit is do.

Moving on to a Bill Schneider piece where we get some polls. But you already knew that didn't you? Apparently most Americans don't think we're winning or that we will win in Iraq. Bush thinks it's because Americans are impatient. Well, we are impatient, but this war has gone on longer than WWII. I don't thing we're the problem here. Bill says the people will be patient as long as they know the US is on the way out of Iraq. After this piece we have a repeat of the Michael Gordon interview and Joe Johns piece.

On now to an interview with military draft expert Charles Moskos, who is very gung ho about reinstating the draft. He thinks the military is too small and we need more people to not only fight over seas, but also do things domestically like guard our borders and ports. John wonders if those domestic duties would run up against Posse Comitatus. Hey, good question, John. However, Charles says that shouldn't be a problem. He also says that if we don't reinstate the draft we're going to have to start recruiting foreigners to fight for us and in a way we kind of are already since we sometimes give citizenship in exchange for service. Interestingly, Charles claims that studies show draftees are statistically better than volunteers and he seems to imply it's because draftees come from better socioeconomic backgrounds. Hmm, I don't know what I think about those implications, but it would be interesting to read some of these studies.

Transitioning now to a Nic Robertson piece on the lawsuit against Rumsfeld for war crimes. As reported before, Germany has universal jurisdiction and therefore the case is being tried there. Well, if it ever got to trial, which it won't. The strongest part of the case comes from Gitmo detainees who have reported being abused. There is also a paper trail that tracks the abuse right to Rumsfeld's desk and CNN shows us a memo that is currently a matter of public record. Janis Karpinsky, the Brigidier General who was in charge of Abu Ghraib, will be testifying against Rumsfeld.

We then move onto an interview with Karpinsky and learn that she was demoted down to Colonel due to her role in the situation. She has come forward to testify because she believes the offical story if inaccurate and it was not just seven out of control individuals. Karpinsky states that the torture was endorsed by the highest levels and the pictures don't even show what went on in the interrogation room. She doesn't believe the appropriate individuals have been held accountable. I think it should be pointed out that the original pictures from the abuse scandal that have been all over the media are not the only pictures. In fact there were many more that the government fought to keep under wraps because they were well aware what hadn't come out yet was much worse. From May 2004:

"The American public needs to understand we're talking about rape and murder here. We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience," Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told reporters after Rumsfeld testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Earlier this year, Salon obtained a lot more pictures as well as video and those can be seen here and here. It is unclear as to whether there are more pictures/videos under wraps.

Up next we have Jeffrey Toobin and Lisa Bloom to discuss OJ. Again. Toobin is really surprised that News Corp dropped everything, but Lisa could see it coming with all the momentum growing. Well good for you Lisa. Toobin then calls Judith Regan crazy again and says she is "on one side and the currently explored universe on the other side." Ah, this side of Toobin will never get old. Toobin points out that the book has already been printed, so it's not going away and some independent publisher is sure to snap it up due to public demand. He calls this a "sad statement on parts of this country." You're preaching to the choir Toobin, you're preaching to the choir. The hour then ends with a repeat of the Brooke Anderson piece.

So how long do you think until OJ's book makes it's way into the stores? Do you think Rumsfeld and other will ever be held accountable for their roles in the torture scandal?

Some Housekeeping:
This will do it for the reviews until probably Monday. I've got family coming into town tonight, so won't have the time. However, I do plan on doing a few newsy posts between now and then, so don't stay away! I'll be checking the comments too, so no need to miss me.