Rumsfeld Speaks on Iraq and Legacy

So after the election W and Rummy and all kinds of others who swore we are winning, will win, and never acknowledged problems are now confessing. Is that fraud?

By jppollock | Nov 9, 2006 3:11:07 PM | Request Removal

Mr Brubaker you have a said tens of thousands of Iraqi civilains have died in the war. What is this? Where did you get those figures? The US doesnt do body counts. Well they do. It just depends if the lives are American or not. What does it matter to you the difference between tens of thousands or the more likely figure of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths? The story is unfinished and I hope you meet the relatives of some of the dead that you speak so flippantly about.

By seankenan | Nov 9, 2006 3:21:22 PM | Request Removal

The man who cowed the generals down while tortured bodies filled the town and our glorious past renown bled to death is gone. His stain lives on.

By hanley12 | Nov 9, 2006 4:40:49 PM | Request Removal

Nowhere in this story do I see any indication from Dumsfeld of I screwed up. Hell let history judge? Its not going to take that long. The spurting blood from the severed arteries of Iraqis is writing the history of what this ignorant killer has done every day. He says the U.S. has no history of fighting forces that have no armies or navies? What about the native Americans, Dummy? What about the Huks in the Phillipines after the Spanish=American War? What about Pancho Villa? What about VIETNAMMMMMMMMM? People who are so ignorant of history should not be allowed to MAKE it.

By Bukkonen | Nov 9, 2006 4:41:57 PM | Request Removal

Rumsfeld noted that Iraq has ... and opened schools and hospitals. That is impressive, he, Rumsfeld, said. Did Rumsfeld imply that there were no schools or hospitals in Iraq before the US/UK invasion, or that most schools and hospitals were destroyed or closed by the invaders? This tells us a lot about Rumsfeld and the conditions created in Iraq by the US/UK invasion while he was the Defence Sectretary. Well, Rumsfeld was a bad US Secretary of Defence and fortunately he is no more, but VP Cheney, Secretary Rice and Carl Rowe still remain with Pres. Bush -the sad and dark chapter in US history will continue for the next two years unless Democrats perform miracles with their small gains in Congress and the Senate.

By narenidpatel | Nov 9, 2006 10:23:22 PM | Request Removal

Phase I was a success? Wow, General Franks and Donny Rumsfeld managed to overpower a country with a defence budget 140 times smaller than Americas? Truly, they are modern-day Alexanders to have overcome such daunting odds. Even Reagans heroic takedowns of mighty Grenada and fearsome Panama were less impressive. Presidential Medals of Freedom all round!

By kevrobb | Nov 10, 2006 12:13:50 AM | Request Removal

So this guy really works here? This is fun.

By hkaito | Nov 10, 2006 12:17:43 AM | Request Removal

Did I say they managed to overpower Iraq? Well...for about three weeks anyway.

By kevrobb | Nov 10, 2006 12:18:54 AM | Request Removal

To mlemmon and bawrytr: Let us look at the Iraq and Afghanistan wars again, or the so-called war on terror that Bush and Rum mentioned during Rum last speech as complex, little understood and unpopular. The US troops have to fight a completely new kind of war with the following features: 1. There is no clear battlefield or front. The troops have to fight the enemies who hide in cities and mix with the civilians or even are the civilians themselves who hate and are ready to help kill or kill the soldiers. 2. The enemies are mainly not national armies, but terrorists who banded with each other globally or in independent cells and are motivated by a fanatic cause. 3. The motivation cause in the highest one in human history: a holly war for God, against infidels. This spiritual motivation is much more fanatic than Nazism, Fascism or Communism and more popular with its followers and people than any of the others. The religious terrorists are not afraid of pain or even death proven by suicide bombers as they believe they would become martyrs who will be rewarded with 12 virgins in Heavens. I am also excited when thinking of being able to enjoy even one virgin, let alone 12. To be continued under.

By hkaito | Nov 10, 2006 12:19:11 AM | Request Removal

4. The US troops are fighting a war like sportsmen in a sport event under the high scrutiny of the world press and rivals of the US and for the ideals of human rights, freedom and democracy that they have to respect and protect while their enemies do not and need not do so. 5. The US occupation forces conducted a real Western Cowboy policy when taking over Iraq from Hussein: Capturing only a number of high-ranking generals and former regime leaders while ignoring or setting loose hundreds of thousands of high-and middle-level officers many of which later formed the backbone of the resistance forces, the militias or joined the terrorists. The US forces also let the people keep their guns for self protection, treating the occupied population as though they were Texas Americans. If the US remembered how Japanese occupation forces confiscated even a kitchen knife from the people in their occupied countries to prevent any resistance or North Vietnamese Communists herded all the military and civil officers of former Saigon regime into its gulags for torture, starving, hard labor and imprisonment to prevent resistance for more than twenty-years, it would see that its loose security measures/policies in Iraq are the cause of the resulted mess now. But the US cannot act like Communist North Vietnam or Fascist Japan. It has to prove to itself and the world that it is conducting a role model war against evil forces for the values of freedom, human rights, and democracy. The failure, then, is a Zen contradictory. To be continued

By hkaito | Nov 10, 2006 12:21:16 AM | Request Removal

6. And last but not least: The enemies/terrorists are incited, encouraged, financed and rewarded by fanatic, fundamentalist Islam clerics and Muslim sympathizers who form a religious front against the occupation forces and a global war of terror for their final aim of destroying the US, Christian values and establishing a theocracy to take back what they believe what was taken from them during the past Crusades. Many US rivals have taken advantage of this movement to put pressure on or negotiate with the US for their national/regional interests or nationalist ambitions, which makes the war on terror even more difficult for the US and its allies. There may be other features that other readers can analyze. Do not blame Bush or Rum. Blame it on ourselves!

By hkaito | Nov 10, 2006 12:22:34 AM | Request Removal

Dear Rummy, The Communist Party of Vietnam may invite you to teach military science at Nguyen Ai Quoc - Ho Chi Minh - Party School. Please respond to this invitation by submitting your resume with a review of your success in the war on terror to the headquarter of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Hanoi or via the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington. Salary: USD200/month Under tabel income: USD1 million up per year. depending on your resourcefulness.

By hkaito | Nov 10, 2006 12:42:01 AM | Request Removal

Some officers said they are hopeful that Gates will be more receptive to military advice than Rumsfeld sometimes was. A lot of people in the military feel they havent been listened to. Hopefully that will change, one colonel said. The para above says it all. Rumsfeld was smart but most notably he was arrogant. He has a mind set and thinks of the senior mil leaderships as wet behind the ear because in his mind these Generals were just college kids or cadets or maybe junior grade officers when he was the Sec of Defense the first time around. Coming back for the 2nd tour, Rumsfeld treats them in a Parent-Child relationship. And it reflected when no one General Officers would go against his policy, until former BIG RED ONE officers/commanders Eaton Battise publicly spoke about his incompetetnce. His absence from the CSA GEN Sensekis retirement ceremony truly shows his arrogance. Rumsfeld should have been removed 2 years earlier.

By ramente29 | Nov 10, 2006 2:27:30 AM | Request Removal

Rumsfeld and Bush are two unforgetable persons in our lives, they didnt come to bring happines to our homes, but to take out for ever our beloved ones, our sons that die in Iraque. You brought painful sadnes to million of american homes for ever, and a river of blood to cover the arabian desert white land.

By jorge.pons | Nov 10, 2006 6:52:42 AM | Request Removal

Yup he really -worked- that place .

By gadzooks | Nov 10, 2006 8:04:03 AM | Request Removal

For information about the war go to C-span where you can access the bills in the house and senate. you can also go to centcom and see releases by terrorists and stats for you and the iraqis, in arabic, if you like. try researching thru your senators link sites. This is the actual stuff people, not the journalist takes! Thats how they keep this stuff going..one hollering yes, something is true and the other saying it is not. get your info from the source not the interpreter. its kinda like religion and their leaders. Dont let somebody do the interpreting for you.

By homily100 | Nov 10, 2006 9:35:13 AM | Request Removal

finally the sun has set in rumsfeld,s world!!!

By dboening | Nov 10, 2006 10:23:42 AM | Request Removal

The Pentagon is a sleepless giant that operates in its own universe and within its own paradigms. Regardless of the condition of change, when one SECDEF is replaced by another, the giants heart doesnt skip a beat. Of course, SECDEF will have an inner circle of co-workers and friends who will feel loss perhaps relief, too when the Boss departs, but the giants alertness remains constant for the military establishment prizes readiness and being alert is a major component of being ready. While I found his presentation flinty and itching to be confrontational at times, I believe Don Rumsfeld understood the Pentagon, the tools available to the National Command Authotity NCA - President and SECDEF, and the challenge we face in radical islam. In a Pentagon full of secrets, it is no secret that Rumsfelds visibility, influence, and intellectual prowess made him an all-bullseye target in a win-all/loose-all contest. Our system insists upon civilian command over the military. If DoD leadership is wanting, the SECDEF is obliged to hand over his seals of office - and, like a good soldier, to then carry on. In the meantime, the unsleeping giant just beyond the Memorial Bridge continues to watch, listen, and be ready to confront any danger. Thanks for your example of service, Mr. Secretary. Indeed, let History be the judge - as it always is. Steven Myers, CAPT, USN Ret. in Bedford, PA

By oldsalt9 | Nov 10, 2006 10:43:47 AM | Request Removal

I agree with the unamed senior military officer that Rumsfeld is was a distraction. Strategically the US Military position in Iraq will not be affected his departure, or by the insurgency for that matter. Iraq is an ideal staging area to launch an invasion of Iran and thereby controling the worlds oil supplies. It will not be abandoned lightly. Glenn from KC

By visanka2 | Nov 10, 2006 11:13:33 AM | Request Removal

Yes, I agree with vasanka2. Taking Iraq is a good strategy to control and attack Iran when this theoracy gets belligerent. Why did the US not attack Iran first instead? There was not enough evidence or reason to so so, even Iran should be the major target. This theocracy has continue to be an archemeny of the US since the event in which the students ??? took the American diplomats in the US Embassy in Tehran hostages for over one year. And its nuclear ambition. Not for peaceful use, but to compete with the US and the West for power and for the final war against the infidels. God is great.

By hkaito | Nov 10, 2006 11:36:11 AM | Request Removal