what DID Rosie actually say?

Rosie O'Donnell: Six-hundred and fifty-five thousand Iraqi civilians are dead. Who are the terrorists?

Elisabeth Hasselbeck: Who are the terrorists?

RO: ...six-hundred and fifty-five... I'm saying you have to look from... We invaded...

EH: Who are you calling terrorists?

RO: ...I'm saying if you were in Iraq, and another country, the United States, the richest in the world, invaded your country and killed six-hundred and fifty-five thousand of your citizens, what would you call us?

EH: Are you saying we're killing their citizens or are they, their people also killing their citizens?

RO: We're invading a sovereign nation and occupying a nation against the UN...

First, the 655,000 figure is not accurate. Second, Hasselbeck's remark that it's not just the troops killing Iraqis but many many more are killing each other is undeniable. Third, what has been most misconstrued is O'Donnell actually calling the troops terrorists. If you listen carefully, you can tell that she is giving another possible viewpoint - a viewpoint that might be one that the Iraqis could have. At no point did she say the troops were terrorists that I could hear.

I was watching the program that day, and I very seldom watch it, and did not think that she actually said that the troops were terrorists. Here is a clip from Scarborough Country that has the dialogue above. Unfortunately, I cannot find a stand-alone version of the exchange. The dialogue happens almost at the beginning and continues until about 1:01 minutes. Then Scarborough goes off on his rant, along with his guests, that she called the troops terrorists.



Of course what became more important is the rant that Rosie had this week with Elisabeth over not coming to her defense against the Republican pundits and now Rosie's early departure from The View. Donald Trump has weighed in on the fray; FOX has hit hard on the exchange; the rest of the media has focused on the terrorist aspect.

Isn't it sad that we are still listening to the main stream media not questioning the basic discourse about Iraq? Not attempting to give a fair balance to the issues? Not standing on its own two feet as the Fourth Estate?

In what should be an inspiration to the media:

"Il nous faut de l'audace, et encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace." Georges Danton

"We must dare, and again dare, and forever dare.

Of course, eventually he lost his head...