Tom Ricks's Inbox
Tom Ricks's Inbox
Sunday, May 13, 2007; Page B04
Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey and Lawrence Di Rita, who was the chief spokesman for former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, recently engaged in a tart exchange of e-mails, excerpted below. I suspect that those involved in taking the nation to war in Iraq in 2003 will be writing similar notes for the rest of their lives.
The exchange was forwarded to me by McCaffrey, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War, and is used with his permission.
  |
* * *
From: Lawrence Di Rita
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 6:32 AM
To: BRM
Subject: your recent comments on rumsfeld
general mccaffrey--
i happened to catch you on one of the cable programs monday nite. in response to a question about whether or not condi ought to engage iran, you said that she no longer has donald rumsfeld 'as an anchor around her neck' and, thus, should be able to be more effective as secretary of state, or something to that effect.
that is a harsh characterization and it was quite unfair to both rumsfeld and rice. in particular, characterizing the matter as you did with respect to iran is also a non sequiter in that rumsfeld was explicit publicly and privately that iran was a diplomatic matter to be managed by the president and the secretary of state.
Post a Comment
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.