Paul O'Neill on 60 min.

[john]

Did anyone see Paul O'Neill on 60 minutes last night? I hope now some questions about ,was the war for oil or not, can be answered now! This should be enough to get ol George back in the hot seat where he belongs!!Check out his interview on the 60 min web site..

[skywalker]

I had the thought that the White House will probably ignore O'Neill. I heard a quote from an unnamed official that they did not listen to him when he was Secretary Of The Treasury so why should they pay any attention to him now. If the press leaves this alone after the 60 Minutes piece, it will probably be forgotten shortly.

I did see it yesterday and nothing in it surprised me except that Paul said no one will attack him over this because he told the truth. He may be surprised, telling the truth does not mean you will not be attacked, it's all politics.

Mark

[Djinn Raffo]

His argument will not be attacked but he personally will be.

[Davros]

Does anyone have a link to any content? Paul was the ex CEO of our company and well respected for the values he instilled while he was with us. I have usually been interested in what he has had to say.

[skywalker]

Here is the link to see the video of the segment on 60 Minutes:
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60mi...main3415.shtml
I believe the transcript is here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/...in592330.shtml


Mark

Paul O'neil may be spending a loooooooooong time in Jail....I'll get to that in a second.

1st. He is hardly an unbiased person, he has been at odds and disagreed with everything the Bush administration has tried to do, hence he got fired.

2nd. He claims that as SecTreas he had access to all the intel..WRONG ANSWER. Obviously He has either forgotten something or chooses to mislead..you be the judge.. There is such a thing as Compartmentalization. What he gets is only there if it is relevent to the treasury and the issue of Money and its counterfeiting the position is NOT privey to military issues and a great deal of other Security related material.

3rd. His claim of Bush being disconnected or distant comes from (according to insiders present) Bush being polite to him and not cutting him off when he would ramble on and on during what was SUPPOSED to be a briefing. (key root word "BRIEF")

4th. The guy took classified documents on air with him. Documents that by law he was not allowed to take with him when he got fired...he got fired and has a bone to pick about getting canned. So it's his god given right to write a book...but not to disclose classified documents or even retain possession of them. This could see him behind bars for a goodly number of years unless he gets a presidential pardon.....or the documents he had were mistakenly identified.

Davros? is this the same Paul Oniel that was Sectreas? He was a CEO of an Aussie Corp? Wow who knew? Well Sorry that you respected him and I said things about him, I had no intention of purposely dissing the guys supporters...I would have respected him more if he had handled classified documents a little more securely, that in and of it self points out why the SecTreas. is not on the Distribute all Intell to: list.... any way mis-handeling of classified information and material is one of my pet peeves.

Edit: to reword some things and fix color and typo's. and no I did not hear his 60 minutes interview. Im responding to what I heard about it from the local morning show radio talk guys. (ABC affiliate.)

[ 01-12-2004, 05:19 PM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

Originally posted by Djinn Raffo: His argument will not be attacked but he personally will be.

His arguments have been long and public, but he is in error on several fronts. Be that as it may, going on national TV with illegally held Classified documents means that he will automaticly be gone after...and rightly so. As for public comments on him by Bush...none were made....yet.

Im sure it won't be any worse for him than any other ladies or persons who have had smear campaings lead against them by sitting presidents. [img]smile.gif[/img] If the ladies survived them...Im sure he will too, unless of course he ends up in jail.

[ 01-12-2004, 05:24 PM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

[john]

My question would be what about the docs. stating that Bush was intent on and was planing from the first wk. in office to oust Saddam,and the papers showing how the oil wells were going to be split up? Why doesn't George answer these questions,or are they all as false as the plane ride for all of Bin Laddens family to flee the U.S. after 9-11.

[Djinn Raffo]

On 1. Every whistleblower is hardly unbiased. But should that negate what they have to say? In some cases yes but i would say because they have an axe to grind (or maybe a book to sell?) but in some cases no. I don't know where O'Neill falls here.

On 2. I understand Compartmentalization but am unclear on what areas the Treasury directly oversees. Would they be involved on how to pay for security operations and possibilities of going to war? If so i could see them being included in the intel loop.

On 3. MagiK who was briefing who? Was Bush briefing O'Neill on what direction he wanted the Treasury to take? Or was O'Neill briefing Bush on what direction he was going to be taking the Treasury?

On 4. Don't know about that but if he did reveal classified docs etc.. then yeah he's probably facing some punishment.

Originally posted by Djinn Raffo: On 1. Every whistleblower is hardly unbiased. But should that negate what they have to say? In some cases yes but i would say because they have an axe to grind (or maybe a book to sell?) but in some cases no. I don't know where O'Neill falls here. Agreed, but Mr. Oneil had a notoriously....negative relationship with the rest of the Bush Administration...it was pretty public in this part of the country, don't know how far outside the DC area it was publicized. On 2. I understand Compartmentalization but am unclear on what areas the Treasury directly oversees. Would they be involved on how to pay for security operations and possibilities of going to war? If so i could see them being included in the intel loop. Well going way way back when I actually knew who did what in relation to National Security, I remember that SecTreas. basicly had all jurisdiction concerning US currency, its manufacture and in all efforts to catch counterfeit rings (both foreign and domestic) and I was always surprised when news would leak out about how MAJOR an issue, counterfeiting of US currency was especially in the Middle East and South East Asia. So he received some intel that would lead to prosecution/arrest/capture (this is a major issue for any government) of such people. Also since he is part of the line of succession should people above him be killed, he could have to take office as President if everyone else is dead, so he is on the list for some of the more routine security briefs. On 3. MagiK who was briefing who? Was Bush briefing O'Neill on what direction he wanted the Treasury to take? Or was O'Neill briefing Bush on what direction he was going to be taking the Treasury? Ok all the Heads of departments are responsible for reporting to the president in Daily, weekly or monthly meetings. The briefings are/were supposed to be an easy to digest and understand report on the state of their departments, basicly to just let the President know if something serious is headed down the pipe. The Story as I heard it is that Oneil...tended to ramble on....and on. No president is supposed ot be hands on in control of all departments but instead of cuttinghim off Bush would just let him go till he ran down. (in theory to be polite) On 4. Don't know about that but if he did reveal classified docs etc.. then yeah he's probably facing some punishment. Well if a normal joe like you or me did that...we would be in jail from now till who knows when. However since he is A. Very rich. B. Can buy himself really good lawyers. C. A white guy and now an Author I can see that maybe he will wiggle free....but it could get very rough for him for a while. We will see.