Rahm Emanuel: There is no law.

This society is ruled only by the will of men. Don’t you ever lie to your younger kin and tell them otherwise.

Update: Robert “Obama’s Ari Fleischer” Gibbs is forced by a CNN reporter to demonstrate the abject hollowness of the administration’s absurd substitute for a legitimate argument why the law shouldn’t count in this case:

Via Glenn Greenwald.

Author: Scott Horton

Scott Horton is editorial director of Antiwar.com, director of the Libertarian Institute, host of Antiwar Radio on Pacifica, 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles, California and podcasts the Scott Horton Show from ScottHorton.org. He’s the author of the 2017 book, Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan and editor of The Great Ron Paul: The Scott Horton Show Interviews 2004–2019. He’s conducted more than 5,000 interviews since 2003. Scott lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, investigative reporter Larisa Alexandrovna Horton. He is a fan of, but no relation to the lawyer from Harper’s. Scott’s Twitter, YouTube, Patreon.

55 thoughts on “Rahm Emanuel: There is no law.”

  1. Using this defense, no one would ever be convicted of a crime if they said they were doing something to the best of their knowledge under certain particular circumstances and they promise not to do it again ?

    Do these guys ever think of what they are saying before the say it ?

  2. The fact that Obama chose this guy for the post he occupies says more to me then anything else. There isn’t going to be much “change”…

    1. Obama didn’t select Rahm Emmanuel. Rahm selected and promoted Obama. Obama is the front man. Rahm is on the executive committee who guides Obama. That committee is part of a very large organization that effectively controls *all* of the candidates that appear on the ticket as Democrats for all the senate and house races, as well. It’s basically called, the Democratic Party. And that, in turn, is effectively controlled by the expenditures of money and the assertion of power, by a few thousand people who also control the Republican party and prevent emergence of 3rd parties. In other words we live under a bistable 2-party apparatus run by the same people.

      1. Nothing could be more clear than the ownership of our politicians and our political system by the financial and foreign policy interests. And we are little more than subjects because of it. The current financial crisis presents the opportunity of a lifetime for bringing an end to this oppression. Organizations along the lines of A New Way Forward, if they can expand their focus to include opposition to foreign policy as well as financial lobbies, would seem to have genuine promise. Parliamentary means to bring about change are an absolute waste of time. Direct action – demonstrations and the general strike – is the only hope.

        1. John, you had the chance to back a good man, but all you did was rip him apart. Come to your state capital on the Forth of July and join the Ron Paul group (bring your friends), it’s never to late to admit you were wrong.

          I admit I dogged you pretty hard and even in a childish way, but I thought you (who seems to have a brain) would get it eventually. My bad.

          Peace!

          Ps, This Fourth of July we will be demonstating at all 50 state capital buildings. Bring your signs and protest whatever you want, come all come now. Get the word out and bring the whole family, Hell, it’s cheaper and more fun than most vacations. Ex sheeple of the US unite!

        2. Brad,

          “John, you had the chance to back a good man, but all you did was rip him apart.”

          Not quite on the money, Brad. I would have been inclined to have supported Ron Paul had he actually been courageous enough to have made an independent run at the presidency. But he wasn’t. He wussed out when it became clear that either (1) he hadn’t the stomach to endure what it might take to lead an anti-war, anti-system movement into the future or (2) he preferred to settle into a role as a common scold from a comfortable Republican seat in Congress. It seems to me that if you’re going to run against the system, the first thing to do – and the honest thing – is to end your identification with one of its components. Although I could never have voted for him because of his anti-life views, at least Ralph Nader had the guts to run from such a place. For that I respect him. Can’t say the same for Paul.

        3. John, that’s fine I get where your coming from, but I don’t agree. He gets in front of Congress almost every day and tells it like it is. Nobody else does it as well. He fights from the inside, but yet you have no respect for him. Well it’s your choice.

          Without his seat in congress he would have nothing left to fight with. He only has a pulpit but it’s more than Nader has. Ron Paul is fighting for our rights: check out http://www.campaignforliberty.com Our only hope is to wake up the sheeple before it’s too late. It may already be to late but it’s still the only chance we have. You may not be willing to admit that Ron Paul has done a better job of informing the public and waking people up than anyone else but it is a fact. He is what we need and the more men like him the better chance we have.

          peace!

      2. You are so right. And AIPAC is a big part of who runs this country. If you know of an effective counter to AIPAC, please inform me, because I have had enough of other country(ies) running ours. Send me all the info you have which provoked your remarks.

      3. Absolutely Correct! Agree 100%. The whole thing is a show and a sham.

        The Boyz picked Obama. Not the other way around.

      4. Dear Dennis,
        Thank you for your insightful comment. I just wish more people could grasp the truth of it.

    2. How about we split it down the middle? The puppet masters who pull the strings told Obama to appoint Rahm. What a Change we can all Hope for!

      Peace!

    3. It is not just congress that is an “Israeli occupied territory “!
      The White House is too.

      Maybe this explain his position.

      “With mounting evidence that a shadowy group of former Israeli Defense Force and General Security Service (Shin Bet) Arabic-speaking interrogators were hired by the Pentagon under a classified “carve out” sub-contract to brutally interrogate Iraqi prisoners at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison, one only needs to examine the record of abuse of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in Israel to understand what Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld meant, when referring to new, yet to be released photos and videos, he said, “if these images are released to the public, obviously its going to make matters worse.”

      According to a political appointee within the Bush administration and U.S. intelligence sources, the interrogators at Abu Ghraib included a number of Arabic-speaking Israelis who also helped U.S. interrogators develop the “R2I” (Resistance to Interrogation) techniques. Many of the torture methods were developed by the Israelis over many years of interrogating Arab prisoners on the occupied West Bank and in Israel itself.”

      http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen05102004.html

      http://www.le-carrefour-de-lislam.com/Societe/images/abughraib.jpg

  3. And this is why I don’t understand why my liberal-obama-loving friends still love Obama. They always go, “LOOK AT BUSH!” rather than soaking up what Obama is doing now.

    1. Listen Burk. The Bush adm was “fuller” by far with right wing, zionist sympathizers, than the present one. Why do you think we went to war in Iraq? Because we were threatened? No, because Israel wanted us to do it. Now you tell me what Wofowitz, Pearle, Feith, Wurmser, et al were doing in the Bush adm. Just watching?

  4. so it is possible to use the defence: {i was}..” just following orders?” so historical cases like:
    i genuinely believed [ after having been told on the highest authority and by numerous academics versed in race theory] i was from a master race and therefore, had every right, indeed a duty to my race, to exterminate all those various subhumans who were taking up room and threatened to pollute the gene pool….
    and present day cases:
    i have been told on the highest authority [God] and have in my hand a piece of paper [ the Bible- God’s word] that i am of the chosen people, and I have a divine right to smite [ exterminate] all those who are not [ to my mind] similarly chosen, but who while living here before me, are taking up my space and must be transfered [ or smitten some more]….

    well that’s cleared that up….a licence to kill.

    1. Yes, indeed, we have yet again an appearance of the “just following orders” defense, one that is as unacceptable today as it was when it was first rejected by the Nuremberg Tribunals. What an compleat abomination this filth, Obama, is! I was pleased to see that the United Nations official most concerned with torture, Manfred Nowak, sees Obama’s refusal to prosecute as a violation of international law. One hopes therefore that justice will be served in some international court. Clearly, it won’t be served in the United States.

    2. The retired auto industry worker has denied any role in the Holocaust. He said he was drafted into the Russian army in 1941, became a German prisoner of war a year later and served at German prison camps until 1944.

      However, former wartime inmates of Nazi camps in occupied Poland identified Demjanjuk — who changed his name from Ivan when he emigrated to the United States in 1952 — as the notorious Ukrainian prison guard “Ivan the Terrible” during a 1977 US Justice Department investigation.

      Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The Demjanjuk case has been played out on three continents since the end of World War II
      Demjanjuk was sentenced to death by a court in Israel in 1988, but his conviction was overturned five years later by Israel’s Supreme Court after statements from other former guards identified another man as the sadistic “Ivan.”

      He was returned to the United States despite objections from Holocaust survivors and Jewish groups who said he should be retried based on the evidence that he was a guard at several camps.

      http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4178244,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-ger-1023-rdf

      1. What has this got to do with Emanuel?

        (Off topic, Demyanyuk would not be afraid of being sent back to his country if he was innocent)

  5. Bush’s greatest crime was attacking the Afghan and Iraqi populations, invading and destroying their countries, and imposing client governments. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been shot, burned to death, blasted or buried under collapsed buildings–horrific deaths, worse than torture, and DELIBERATE.

    I refuse to be distracted by all his other crimes. To me, none of the other crimes was greater than the War thing.

    Why are we hearing a continuous drumbeat on the torture, and *nothing* on preemptive wars? ANSWER: because even the imperialists, the selfish and greedy Americans, want to stop the torture, in order to refurbish the image of the empire. Their only concern is to pacify the rebellious colonies.

    How pathetic, the left has forgotten the war, in going along with this campaign. Do they *imagine* that the repeated pattern of U.S. military aggression will be reduced by indicting Bush for torture? I say to them: go away. This is ANTIWAR.COM.

    1. On tonight’s menu I am serving up another platter of Red Herring! Get it while you can it’s only $1,000,000,000,000 give or take a few $. Seriously though good point.

      It’s so easy to see when you wake up. The puppets dance and the sheeple follow.

      Peace!

  6. In an essay discussing Kipling, George Orwell wrote:

    ‘No one, in our time, believes in any sanction greater than military power; no one believes that it is possible to overcome force except by greater force. There is no “Law,” there is only power. I am not saying that that is a true belief, merely that it is the belief which all modern men do actually hold.’

  7. OBAMA = PHONY!

    The next time I get called for jury, I’m going to quote Obama as my excuse for refusing to convict anyone for a crime.

  8. “What people need to know is that this practice and technique we don’t use anymore we banned it”

    Yah sure right! Now we are back to the good old days of having someone else torture for us. We just get to watch (whats wrong with a little voyeurism anyway?).

    What people really need to know and get through their thick skulls is that these people are all sick. We are truly living under the yoke of demented people. They know torture doesn’t work and they don’t care. They get off on the bloodshed. These wars won’t make us safer, they don’t care. They get their kicks doing this and make a nice pile of cash at the same time. These people are truly evil and the sad thing is they get some good people to fall for it.

    Check out the video at about 15 seconds, he says “we” worked on this. Rahm quickly backtracks and says “he” but there it is. “We” worked on this. Who is We?

    Fascism, coming to a theater near you! You have seen the movie trailer, now here’s the full length film.

    Peace!

  9. Rahm Richelieu, emissary of the Superbig Cheese of Lalaland: He (blessings and hails) has come to the wise decision yesterday afternoon in the best interest of his beloved people that the torturers of king George (b.a.h.) should not be subjected to punishment, because they were told to these eeky things by king George (b.a.h.) and how could they have refused?

    Joe Lowlife: But how’s about the big shots?

    Rahm Richelieu, emissary of the Superbig Cheese of Lalaland: He (b.a.h.) has come to the wise decision in the best interest of his beloved people that we should look forward to a future where we don’t torture and do very good and just and clean wars and not backward where we tortured and did dirty illegitimate and illegal wars that were unneccesary. He (b.a.h.) wants to convey the message to all of you good people who are bothered by this to just clear your consciences and forget all about it. For it shall be the law of Lalaland henceforward that He (b.a.h.) shall forgive your sins.

    Joe Lowlife: – snickers – (tears of joy)

  10. And it turns out Crapalloverus and Emanuel are buddies who have daily “bull sessions.” From his Wikipedia page:

    Stephanopoulos was quoted in a January 27, 2009 Politico article “Power, Politics, Gossip on a Daily Call” by John F. Harris. The article was about a daily call Stephanopoulos participates in with his friends James Carville, Rahm Emanuel, and Paul Begala. Harris describes the call as ” a street-corner bull session between four old friends who suddenly find themselves standing once more at the busiest intersection of politics and media in Washington.” [8]

    In the cesspool that is the District of Criminals the crooks are all the same (or mostly the same).

  11. Rahm Emanuel in traffic court:

    Thats right Judge, we wuz speeding cuz everybody else was speeding so we made a decision to also speed so as to not endanger others by staying with the flow of traffic for safety reasons. The accident was not our fault because we did not intend to cause harm but were going on the information at hand and promise not to do it again. Therefore, we should not be prosecuted and have to pay reparations to the accident victims.

    Sounds almost like an insanity plea to me ?

  12. How…high..can..the..dam..be..built…

    B4..the..deluge..??

    Or..will..the..reigns..abate..??

  13. Emanuel, and his family, if not directly involved as members of the Mossad have been strong supporters. I’d bet anything that the torture in A/G was directed by Mossad agents disguised as contractors. This one isn’t tough. The torture tactics at A/G were the same as have been used by the Mossad for years. Oh, I forgot, the “bad apples” in the US Army remembered to bring dog collars and sexy women’s underwear with them before they deployed to a war zone. Yeah, that’s what happened.

  14. Whom does he really trying to protect here?!

    Could it be guys like this one?

    http://www.le-carrefour-de-lislam.com/Societe/images/abughraib.jpg

    The Israeli Torture Template
    Rape, Feces and Urine-Dipped Cloth Sacks

    “With mounting evidence that a shadowy group of former Israeli Defense Force and General Security Service (Shin Bet) Arabic-speaking interrogators were hired by the Pentagon under a classified “carve out” sub-contract to brutally interrogate Iraqi prisoners at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison, one only needs to examine the record of abuse of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in Israel to understand what Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld meant, when referring to new, yet to be released photos and videos, he said, “if these images are released to the public, obviously its going to make matters worse.”

    According to a political appointee within the Bush administration and U.S. intelligence sources, the interrogators at Abu Ghraib included a number of Arabic-speaking Israelis who also helped U.S. interrogators develop the “R2I” (Resistance to Interrogation) techniques. Many of the torture methods were developed by the Israelis over many years of interrogating Arab prisoners on the occupied West Bank and in Israel itself.”

    http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen05102004.html

  15. What I found interesting is that during the period of time when Rahm Emanuel was proposed for his position by Obama, there were accusations that he in fact also held an Israeli citizenship. His Wiki page stated back then that he had given his dual citizenship up years ago. However, if you go and look now, there is no longer any mention that he had given up his Israeli citizenship that I could find. So, is he an Israeli citizen, or is he not an Israeli citizen; and is it really wise to keep him in his current position if he is?

    1. Based upon some of the speculation out there, ole Rahmmy may not be the only non-citizen in an important government position either.

      1. After the idiotic performance of the Western Governments at the Racism Meeting in Europe, when they walked out because the President of Iran called Israel’s Government racist, I wonder if they are not all dual citizens of Israel.

  16. Wake up America. We are being run by a foreign power which spies upon us, pretty openly. I am tired of my tax monies (3 billion a year) going to support Israel’s military machine, nuclear arms, settlements and occupation.

    1. I sometimes wonder if Israel is the site of black ops (such as surveillance or interference with Internet communications inside the U.S.) that are really funded and directed out of the pentagon or one of the intelligence agencies. Just as the army needed Guantanamo to do things illegal or too easily observed if done inside the U.S.

      1. Amen to that! Wikipedia is fully staffed with Mother Israel’s little helpers.

  17. Let’s take a step back, and recognize that if Obama goes after the CIA, pentagon, and other agencies and contractors in a *substantial way* that everybody on this page wants– such as arresting people involved in torturing prisoners — there is a non-zero possibility that these large and dangerous bureaucracies would take actions against Obama’s person, or take action to undermine his effectiveness in office, or his political standing in the country.

    My estimate of these possibilities is greater than 50% but I welcome your estimate.

    They could certainly do these things. They could even bring about the election of somebody else they might choose.

    I’m inclined to think that the financial/political establishment is willing to let Obama run with a few programs, give him a little bit of free rein, but nothing major–obviously we are not getting any major policy changes. I agree with this group, we will not see much *UPSIDE*. I just differ with this group, perhaps, on the possibilities for *DOWNSIDE*.

    1. They could even bring about the election of somebody else they might choose.

      They chose Obama knowing he wouldn’t pursue charges. They have no reason to choose someone else; he’s their guy. They’re in a win-win situation at the moment: war is escalating, torture is forgiven, military-industrial complex continuing to make billions, illegal wiretaps still in place, taxpayers being bled white. True, Obama didn’t start this, but he is equally guilty if he continues it — and so far he has been doing just that.

      Besides, who wants the ‘concentration camp guards?’ We should want the ones who made the decisions and gave the go-ahead for the torture. They are the ones who belong behind bars in the first round. We can go after the individual sadists afterward.

  18. Cossiga first expressed his doubts about 9-11 in 2001, and is quoted by 9-11 researcher Webster Tarpley saying “The mastermind of the attack must have been a sophisticated mind, provided with ample means not only to recruit fanatic kamikazes, but also highly specialized personnel. I add one thing: it could not be accomplished without infiltrations in the radar and flight security personnel.”

    Coming from a widely respected former head of state, Cossiga’s assertion that the 9-11 attacks were an inside job and that this is common knowledge among global intelligence agencies is illuminating. It is one more eye-opening confirmation that has not been mentioned by America’s propaganda machine in print or on TV. Nevertheless, because of his experience and status in the world, Cossiga cannot be discounted as a crackpot.

    http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/9-11_solved118.html

  19. Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga, who revealed the existence of Operation Gladio, has told Italy’s oldest and most widely read newspaper that the 9-11 terrorist attacks were run by the CIA and Mossad, and that this was common knowledge among global intelligence agencies. In what translates awkwardly into English, Cossiga told the newspaper Corriere della Sera:

    “All the (intelligence services) of America and Europeknow well that the disastrous attack has been planned and realized from the Mossad, with the aid of the Zionist world in order to put under accusation the Arabic countries and in order to induce the western powers to take part in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

    Cossiga was elected president of the Italian Senate in July 1983 before winning a landslide election to become president of the country in 1985, and he remained until 1992.

  20. Obama’s position on Durban, and the spectacle of Western officals leaving en masse is not good.

    This means war.

    Zionism is Fascism.

  21. But these same goverment are willing to deal with Avigdor Lieberman as foreign minister of Israel.

  22. what part of conspiracy do you not see? Perhaps those with the biggest monuments are the best traitors to this country. All banker supported Esquires from the beginning. Wise up. Look at your damn dollar bill and see who you worship.

  23. Enter text right here!Education makes people able to stand on their own feet. Education is a very useful element that should not be ignored. Education should always get importance and appreciation.

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