Rumsfeld issued a memo two days before he was sacked that acknowledged our strategy wasn’t working. You can read the whole memo here.
Two days before he resigned as defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld submitted a classified memo to the White House that acknowledged that the Bush administration’s strategy in Iraq was not working and called for a major course correction.
“In my view it is time for a major adjustment,” wrote Mr. Rumsfeld, who has been a symbol of a dogged stay-the-course policy. “Clearly, what U.S. forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough.”
Nor did Mr. Rumsfeld seem confident that the administration would readily develop an effective alternative. To limit the political fallout from shifting course he suggested the administration consider a campaign to lower public expectations.
Read and discuss.
So could that be why he was really canned? If yes – heaven help us.
So, does this officially make W the only person on earth who doesn’t think we’re losing in Iraq?
and then there is his son Barney.
I don’t know, I think even Laura maybe be having a moment of lucidity by now…
take place at the White House?
This is likely the closest that he will ever get to an admission that his efforts in Iraq were a failure.
I guess that makes the question of the day :
Was he fired because he wrote the memo, or did he write the memo because he knew he was getting fired?
He wrote the memo so he could cover his ass no matter what was to happen. A “get out of jail free” memo.
but just as likely a warnnig to Jr and co.: “…don’t try and scapegoat me kid…I’ll bury your ass…”
Rummy knows where a lot of skeletons are buried…he wants his freedom medal and a cushy position
be interesting to know just how many ‘confidential memos’ are out there written by people like Tenet, Bremer, Brownie, Scooter, et al.
dada, I`d say they`re all kept in the cya suppository… Shit, I meant repository.
I`ve been “Pacing the Cage” for a long time. I don`t know if you saw my post last night. Great tune, excellent lyrics.
saw it…thx
if you prowl thru the albums there’s a cut from each of them
cockburn’s one of canada’s greatest exports…very, very good poet, singer, song writer…big activist…comes thru here on almost every tour as he’s quite well received.
check this one out:
they call it democracy from a live album w/ the full band…the cat can rock!
I’m afraid I don’t know much about him beyond “If I Had A Rocket Launcher” and “Wondering Where The Lions Are.” A major gap in my education, I’ll admit.
You are correct. He’s always right just ask him.
Anyone notice Hezbollah is about to take over Lebanon. This is the first wave of blowback from the neocon fiasco in the middle east. Syria kills government officials and their allies take over the government we can do nothing as our moral standing is gone over Iraq. Over Iraq and the administrations support of Israel’s brutal attacks over a hostage taking incident. I have a feeling it will not be in the west’s best interests for Hezbollah to be running that show. Its like having the Pilgrims in charge, an intolerant religious theocracy……
I’m reading “Mayflower” by Philbrick now. ;)I read “In the Heart of the Sea” a couple years age it was gripping stuff.
Guess he was for the war before he was against the war.
I am frankly surprised that Rumsfeld knew we were losing. He’s been an absolute idiot about everything else.
Considering the Afghan opium story in the Open Thread, in 2003 Rumsfeld was asked by the AP, when the report came out that year about the record opium crop, what he would do about it. He responded: “You ask what we’re going to do and the answer is, ‘I don’t really know,'” Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said recently. Associated Press, 04 Oct 2003, Afghanistan: The Deadliest Harvest
This may well be the most honest, informed and candid statement that Donald Rumsfeld ever made as Defense Secretary of the United States of America.
Afghanistan Opium Crop Sets Record Bush failure The drug war is the greatest national security threat that America faces today.
The obvious answer is, someone with a Clue wrote the memo for him. </snark>
They all are in so deep that none of them can turn on each other. I feel that is the scariest part. If congress votes to stop funding the war, what would happen next? I am not being snarkey, I really want to know.
Bush would continue on in Iraq and blame the Dems for the soldiers lack of whatever they ended up lacking. He’s a reckless idiot.
Maybe we’re having an I am not a loser moment.
Interesting memo. The most interesting thing about it in my eyes is the hubris it betrays, even at this (very) late date. The arrogance is breathtaking.
The basic assumption underlying all of Rummy’s recommended (both favored and dis-favored) suggestions is that the US still retains the ability to be proactive and effective in a military sense, on its own. Of course, at the time Rummy was still SoD. I suppose if all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.
The memo is largely devoid of an objective assessment of the situation on the ground. I’m not asking for a full on Nir Rosen-type indictment. That would be too much to ask. I was simply looking for some acknowledgment of the fact that the US is an increasingly irrelevant presence in country. With respect to the warring factions, especially the shiite militias, the US is an inconvenience at best and a weapons cache at worst. As if frogger were trying to play traffic cop.
IMO, the very first thing that needs to happen for Iraq to be saved from failed-statehood is a vast internationalization of the effort. Not only should this include NATO if not the UN, but it should place special emphasis on an option that should have been employed from the beginning–a concerted wooing of neighbors. There has been some feeble sign of life for this course but nothing like what needs to happen. Unfortunately, we need our own coup (impeachment) and a new team. Condi’s latest charade over there was embarrassing (if we still have the capacity to be embarrassed).
No whiff of internationalism in Rummy’s memo. No sense that there’s a broader base than guns and ammo to operate from. What an incredibly cramped and stunted worldview, not to say strategic myopia.
I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised.
We had George Herbert Walker Bush.
Now we have George Herbert Hoover Bush.
or CYA?