Friday, August 04, 2006

Rummy, "My Goodness!"

Goodness has nothing to do with it. Rumsfeld is a bad, bad man, a known war criminal who twists and obfuscates and tells nothing but lies. To use Rumspeak: We know there are known lies, unknown lies, lies unknown as unknown, and lying unknowns.* (actual Rumsfeld quotes below)
"Under your leadership there have been numerous errors in judgment that have led us to where we are. We have a full-fledged insurgency and full-blown sectarian conflict in Iraq."-Sen. Clinton. (D-NY)
Rummy, "My Goodness!" "Senator, I don't think that's true.I have never painted a rosy picture. I've been very measured in my words and you'd have a dickens of a time trying to find instances where I've been excessively optimistic. I understand this is tough stuff." Tough stuff for tough guys that you can't understand little lady. Rumsfeld was "combative" which is ironic since he's never seen actual combat. During the hearings Rumsfeld glared over in Clinton's direction a few times. After the hearing Sen. Clinton said Rumsfeld should resign. He never promised us a rose garden, just rose BUSHES, which supposedly had "proof" of some buried WMD plans.
Rummy rosily promised us a swift Iraq war"It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months,"
Rummy's optimism, 9 days into the Iraq attack.
And now, "Are there setbacks? Yes," said Rumsfeld.
John Warner,(R-VA) fawningly said Rumsfeld's past comments have been "balanced", proving how out of touch and unbalanced Warner is. No such rosy picture emerged upon further questioning of Abizaid and Pace. Grim scenario. "I believe the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I've seen it, in Baghdad in particular," said Abizaid. Pace has adopted career-protecting Rumspeak: "We need for the Iraqis to seize this moment. I think they will seize the moment. I do not know how soon that will be." Pace is keenly aware of what happened to General Shinseki when he publicly disagreed with Herr Rumsfeldt. Both Pace and Abizaid, despite their best intentions painted a darker picture than Rumsfeld has ever let on, now, or in the rosy past.
Abizaid's numbers to Lindsey Graham's (R-SC)questions on what our troops are facing in terms of enemy insurgents: There are 25 million Iraqis: 10,000 to 20,000 Sunni "insurgents"; Shia "extremists" in the low thousands; Al Qaeda "significantly depleted" less than a thousand. So if we're not in the middle of a civil war we created, why this Pull out or take sides opinion from the so-called experts and military analysts? Rumsfeld's take on why there's still so much strife if there are so few "insurgents" relative to the entire Iraqi population: "It's a country the size of California, it's a heckuva lot easier to run around killing civilians." (I hope that's not foreshadowing of some dastardly plan to take over Big Blue.)


General Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Puppy Pace arfed along with Rummy's positions whenever he could.
It's how he got his job.

General John Abizaid, head of the US Central Command.

Is this problem going to get solved in the near term? I think it's going to take some time." Per Abizaid.

Senator Jeff Huckleberry Sessions (R-AL) poured praise on Rumsfeld, Pace and Abizaid; he's spoken with troops who say "We wahwnna win!" Well then, that makes it okay to pour good money after bad. As a former Army Reservist, Sessions understands all those pesky equipment and readiness issues and simplistically stated it's because the equipment has already been deployed overseas. Senator John Warner,(R-VA) ramrod rightist, defended the panel and made sure no Senators probed too deeply, encouraging the attaboys from the majority. "This is an existential struggle", said Sen Jim talent (R-MO) "We do not have the choice of them not attacking us therefore we have to fight the war." "I do think there has been progress" and proceeded to justify the money spent and urge the U.S. to spend more. According to Talent our economy is strong and we can afford this war and it should be up to Rumsfeld how much money he needs, "not the bean counters". "This country can afford to spend what is necessary" Rummy replied. "I don't think there's any way we can win this war, unless we lose it."-Talent the untalented. Sen. Jack Reed, (D-RI), questioned readiness of reserves, Pace agreed with the reports but said it's a math problem.

"What I worry about is we're playing a game of whack-a-mole here," Sen. McCain (R-AZ) said. Lipstick-on-a-pig's son just joined the military and he's still running for president, he has to use gentle rhetoric. And now he might be more interested in the fate of the soldiers in Iraq...just a bit.

Jaw dropper: "I think it's pretty obvious our troops are doing the right thing over there under your leadership"-Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)

What about that forgotten war, the one for the pipeline to the Caspian Sea? Rumsfeld agreed violence has escalated in Afghanistan, "Does that represent failed policy? I don't know. I would say not." So, a combat division of the 82nd Airborne is being sent later this year. The deployment, to include the 82nd Airborne headquarters staff and various unidentified support units, will total about 11,000 soldiers, the Pentagon said. The announcement gave no indication that this would represent either an increase or a decrease in U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, which currently stand at about 22,000.
...
Late last year the Pentagon said U.S. troop levels would be reduced by 3,000 this year, but that has not happened, mainly because the Taliban armed resistance has stepped up its attacks, particularly in the volatile southern areas.


Senator Clinton says this is a failed policy. From the perspective of the PNACers it's a howling success. They've gotten everything they wanted; huge profits, a neutered congress, mayhem in the Middle East and limitless power here and abroad. Failure is in the eye of the beholder.

*
Rumsfeld the war criminal has gotten away with statements like these:

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know."-Donald Rumsfeld


~~~
More Memorable Quotes by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
"I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started."

"We do know of certain knowledge that he [Osama Bin Laden] is either in Afghanistan, or in some other country, or dead."

"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." –on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction

"Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war."

"Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things." –on looting in Iraq after the U.S. invasion, adding "stuff happens"

"As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

"I am not going to give you a number for it because it's not my business to do intelligent work." -asked to estimate the number of Iraqi insurgents while testifying before Congress

"I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think...and I assume it's what I said."

"Needless to say, the President is correct. Whatever it was he said."

"If I said yes, that would then suggest that that might be the only place where it might be done which would not be accurate, necessarily accurate. It might also not be inaccurate, but I'm disinclined to mislead anyone."

"There's another way to phrase that and that is that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. It is basically saying the same thing in a different way. Simply because you do not have evidence that something does exist does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist." -on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction

"It is unknowable how long that conflict [the war in Iraq] will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." -in Feb. 2003

"Well, um, you know, something's neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so, I suppose, as Shakespeare said."

"Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning."

"Learn to say 'I don't know.' If used when appropriate, it will be often."

"I don't know what the facts are but somebody's certainly going to sit down with him and find out what he knows that they may not know, and make sure he knows what they know that he may not know."

"I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty."

"I don't do quagmires."

"I don't do diplomacy."

"I don't do foreign policy."

"I don't do predictions."

"I don't do numbers."

"I don't do book reviews."

"Now, settle down, settle down. Hell, I'm an old man, it's early in the morning and I'm gathering my thoughts here."

"If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly."

~~~~
Transcript
Opening Statements: U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on Iraq and Afghanistan

Thanks to media matters for Some Rosy Highlights Cited
Senator Clinton Highlights Secretary Rumsfeld’s Pattern of Painting Rosy Picture of Iraq

2 Comments:

Blogger Pissedoffcabbie said...

Check this out:

http://bigdaddymalcontent.blogspot.com/2006/08/its-jerry-springer-show-and-todays.html

8:51 PM  
Blogger Panda said...

Heh heh, I like that site's attitude. Thanks. Really funny Springer scenario. If only it could be that simple...stick them all in a room together...hose 'em off if it got too violent...maybe not.

10:50 PM  

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