By Patrick Lang (bio below)
I watched Rumsfeld this morning on Fox News Sunday. He was asked by Wallace (the younger and lesser) if:
- commanders in the field in Iraq had been denied reinforcements they had requested and
- there was an intention to begin large scale withdrawals from Iraq in calendar 2006.
On both points he responded that such issues were the responsibility of military commanders in the chain of command and the president of the United States. He said that commanders have a responsibility to make recommendations and the president has a responsibility to make decisions. He spoke as though he has no major responsibility in these matters. He portrays himself as a kind of “post office” or “message center.” This, of course, is nonsense. The law is clear as to who is responsible for what, and his behavior in office as architect of military re-organization and generalissimo in charge of the size and strategy of the force that invaded Iraq gives him the lie.
This is typical Rumsfeld.
I once had the “privilege” of asking him a question concerning Army re-structuring. It was a professionally informed question concerning the future structure of the Army. He smiled, as he always seems to do in public, and said that he had no idea whether or not plans to change the army would “work,” but that the generals told him it would. There were a number of these very senior officers present. All they could do is squirm.
You can be sure that if there is blame to be apportioned for mistakes in Iraq, Rumsfeld will not accept any of it.
Pat Lang
Reference: AP
Col. Patrick W. Lang (Ret.), a highly decorated retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, served as “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism” for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and was later the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. Col. Lang was the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point. For his service in the DIA, he was awarded the “Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive.” He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann (interview), CNN and Wolf Blitzer’s Situation Room (interview), PBS’s Newshour, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” (interview), and more .
Personal Blog: Sic Semper Tyrannis 2005 || Bio || CV
Recommended Books || More BooTrib <a href="Posts
Novel: The Butcher’s Cleaver (download free by chapter, PDF format)
“Drinking the Kool-Aid,” Middle East Policy Council Journal, Vol. XI, Summer 2004, No. 2
Saw him with Bob Schieffer (sp?). What a tool. Denied he was informed as to all the “nonsense” going on in the house, because he was on a plane from Australia. In next breath he said the vote was 450-3 or whatever, and Shcieffer said, “So you got that news on the plane, did you?”
His office was in the chain of command they taught me when I was a lowly private. He falls right underneath the number one guy, if memory serves.
America so needs informed journalists though. Perhaps you Col. Lang. That could talk to the man without letting him fling his gibberish around the facts. Schieffer wasn’t prepared to do that this morning. Rumsfeld is citing 200,000+ Iraqi troops as a sign of growing readiness, but no one was there with the facts that show the operation on the ground is a fucking disaster. America has to see how hollow he (and all BushCo) really is. On national TV. So we can end it. End them.
BJ, the 200,000+ Iraqi troops ar ejust a figment of his imagination, in the context he spoke. If that were the case, then why are we still there in the first damn place???!!!! He contradicted his own premice to say such a fact…he lives in the la la land of his own making. Lives are bing lost for his foolishness. he doesnt understand this at all!!!!
Sir, he may be daydreaming about his way, but it wont come down that way! He is as much culpable as anyone and I do blame him as much as anyone else in the WH. They all had their own little job to do and they did it well. He wanted the branch down in Fl to give to him what he wanted and they did it over time. He even sated that the would get someone who would do it they way he wanted if they couldnt do it his way. He is a jerk and one that has displeased me for a very long time. He just cant get out of lying all on his very own. I heard him speak today on This Week and he is such a blatent liar as ever could be! Also he is trying to hide now that they have been caught with their hands in the cookiejar of politics.
I frankly am sick and tired of hearing all this feces like they still want to produce this product!
He says Bush never asked his opinion on invading Iraq. WTF? That has to be the biggest lie ever told (aside from the WMD evidence) and/or Bush is an utter nutter to go to war without talking to the Sec. Def.
BTW, MLK, congrats on your new Democratic Governor.
Thanks BostonJoe. I was surprised at how handily he beat Kilgore. Hopefully that bodes well for the future of VA politics.
Where is it documented that Rummy was advocating for an invasion of Iraq on the afternoon of Sept. 11th? Its seems to be a pretty firmly established fact. How stupid does he think we are?
On second thought, don’t answer that last question. The answer would be beneath all of us.
The story about “hit hard, related and not related, SH,” etc, was run by CBS on Sept. 4, 2002. These are the key graphs, quoting notes taken by aides to Rumsfeld who were there with him:
“With the intelligence all pointing toward bin Laden, Rumsfeld ordered the military to begin working on strike plans. And at 2:40 p.m., the notes quote Rumsfeld as saying he wanted ‘best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit S.H.’ – meaning Saddam Hussein – ‘at same time. Not only UBL’ – the initials used to identify Osama bin Laden.
Now, nearly one year later, there is still very little evidence Iraq was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. But if these notes are accurate, that didn’t matter to Rumsfeld.
‘Go massive,’ the notes quote him as saying. ‘Sweep it all up. Things related and not.’
Nobody in Washington can lift his fingerprints from anything faster than Donald Rumsfeld. He’s like Neo dodging bullets.
didn’t he fire Shinseki for telling him the truth? you know that when they finally admit defeat, it’s going to be our fault, right?