Rummy's on hot seat Glum memo on war steams White House

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/129835p-116028c.html

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld angered the White House yesterday with a leaked memo questioning whether the U.S. was winning the war on terror.
"This has put Rummy in a bad spot," one Bush administration source said.

"Before this he had personality and policy problems," the source said. "Now he has a credibility problem because he's acknowledged that they've all been putting on a happy face about Iraq."

It was the latest blow for the beleaguered defense secretary. Earlier this month, the White House switched responsibility for rebuilding Iraq from Rumsfeld to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

"The President isn't happy," but he won't fire Rumsfeld, a Bush official said.

<snip>

"Rumsfeld has stepped on many toes at the Pentagon," a senior congressional source said, "and this was the revenge of the toes."

[Richardo]

1. Dean Vernon Wormer: "...and that foot....is me."

"Revenge of the TOES?" are they KIDDING?

[DrBB]

3. Let me make my dirty--er, duty--clean--CLEAR!

Ah how the authoritarian mind betrays itself by the stumblings of its tongue.

[RandomKoolzip]

6. Thank you for the Firesign Theater reference....

That made my day!

[Webster Green]

2. Watched him spinning on CNN.....

Made me dizzy. He spent lots of time discussing the meaning of the word "slog". What a twit!

[Nottingham]

4. Pentagon & CIA are having their revenge! I feel NO PITY

for Rumsy. I think this is an excuse to Blame the war failures on Rumsfeld and put in another Bush Buddy. :bounce:

[priller]

9. And the Pentagon

Remember, the career professionals at the Pentagon don't like him either. They were very alarmed at his "fast and agile" "new army" plans for the invasion and tried to counter his more ridiculous ideas any way they could.

[Brotherjohn]

11. "I think this is an excuse to Blame the war failures on Rumsfeld ".

BINGO!

I've seen a couple of polls recently that said about 80-90% felt that Rumsfeld bears responsibility for not planning adequately for Iraq, AND that he should resign over it.

They need a fall guy, and he's it.

[peterh]

17. Ahhhh yes…the party of personal responsibility…

Where the buck always stops at the next sword…

[goforit]

21. But did they pick the wrong fall guy?

This is one callus SOB.

I wonder how he will resolve this backstabbing.

[dusty64]

26. Me neither.

Couldn't have happened to a "nicer" guy.

[fizzana]

5. Naturally they're pissed.

Rumsfelt came out and actually told something near the truth for once. How can they win the "War on Truth" this way.

[Beetwasher]

7. This is why I don't think Rummy was behind the leak

I know many think this is some kind of double, triple, quadruple cross, psyops, pre-emptive strategery or something, but I just think the leak is too damaging to everyone in the admins credibility for them to be involved.

[gratuitous]

13. Watch and see

We will know for sure whether Rumsfeld was behind his own leak if it costs him his job. As long as he clings to power, you can bet the leak was staged to head off criticism that he doesn't know how serious the situation is. Avoided in the whole contretemps, of course, is any discussion about whether launching a preemptive invasion was the right course of action.

Humorous side note: There was a letter to the editor in the Oregonian today about how the negative reporting in the media, what little there has been, makes the media complicit in military deaths because those negative reports sap morale or some such horse hockey. I fully expect to see a follow up letter from the same writer blaming Rumsfeld for this pessimistic memo. Well, that is, you will be able to tell I'm expecting it if I stand up to let the herd of monkeys fly out of my butt!

[underpants]

14. Rummy was trying to re-enforce his lead over Iraq

He was asking questions to show that he is "still on top of it". He leaked this thing no doubt in my mind.

[lebkuchen]

8. Rummy met the troops in the Middle East before "shock and awe"

He was specifically asked how long he thought they would be in Iraq. He said, "Oh, goodness, I can't imagine more than 6 months. (I paraphrase)

[caledesi]

10. This story has made my day. I loathe Rummy!

"Are more people gonna die? You bet!" (Rummy on MTP)

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. I bet Rummie finds and fires his leaker

while W will continue to aid and abet the Plame leaker.

[Spazito]

15. I can't see how Rummy would have leaked this, he is evil but not stupid...

and this makes him and the White House look very bad, imo.

[monobrau]

16. Don't forget....

Rummy was on the way out before 9-11. Expect him to develop a sudden interest in spending more time with the family soon.

[peterh]

18. Rummy on MSNBC….says he meant every word

<http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters10-23-134559.asp?reg=MIDEAST>


Though, I think he’s putting a little lipstick on the word “slog” and redefining the context in which it was used.


''a long, hard slog.''

Is it: ''to hit or strike hard, to drive with blows, to assail violently.''

Or

Is it: ''to walk or progress with a slow, heavy pace'' or plod.

I think the reporter was rolling his eyes….

[cliss]

19. He's a hard one to figure out, definitely.

I personally think he's a little too "smart" for his own good. If he leaked the memo intentionally, he can hold himself responsible for the fallout.

If it was done by someone else, then he has a real cadre of people who want him out AT ALL COSTS.

**Underpants, what happened to your underpants?

[ProfessorGAC]

29. Not Too Smart For His Own Good

Thinks he smarter than he is, and that's his Achilles Heel. Mouth works much, much faster than brain. Thinks he knows all the answers, and then has to beat a hasty retreat when he finds out he was completely wrong. You'd think he'd be used to it now, seeing how often he's been wrong.
The Professor

[goforit]

20. Leak intentionally?.......No reason to improve Irag now. Rummy always

takes revenge and goes the distance to accomplish his goal.

Ouch!!!

[jokerman93]

22. Maybe Daddy Suggested to Junior

it's time to sacrifice a Bishop.

But if they are attempting to dump the Iraq FUBAR on Rummy, and he in fact takes the fall, I say they better finish the job off with a boating accident of some kind.

I don't know but if this speculation is true, I could easily envision our present Secretary of Defence becoming maniacally vengeful and bloodthirsty about all this.

The Bush Dynasty can't have Count FUBAR "opening up" to the world on Ophra, now can they?

That would be too gross.

[fujiyama]

24. I think he'll be out...

within the next couple months. His memo has challenged party orthodoxy which is that "we are winning the war on terror because of our courageous and brave leader"...

I heard a few weeks ago that Bush is considering getting rid of both Powell and Rummy. Would Rice have anything to do with this? After all there was that split a week or two ago, where Rummy seemed clueless about various Whitehouse plans (I don't remember the details...there's so much bickering in this entire band of loonies and crooks, it's hard to keep track)...

Rummy's hard to figure but one thing's for sure -- he seems to have an absolutely uncanny ability to make enemies...It's like some sort of gift!

So, just as O'Neil was canned for not absolutely agreeing with all of Rove and Cheney's plans, Rummy will as well...

[jokerman93]

23. Or how about

Two other scenarios for how the leak may have occured:

1:
Someone close to Rumsfeld has realized that he/she has been following an oxymoronic cult of neocon zealot monomaniacs, and that we as a nation have been hurled down the poop shoot already farther than we may recover from and all the poor ignant flag waving jesus loving Bush re-electing Mercan patriots out there in Amerikaland better find out about this before it's too late.

Or

2:

The CIA is still pissed about the "Plame Situation" and they've activated one of their loyal contacts inside Count FUBAR's castle.

[radfringe]

25. missing something obvious about "leaking" the memo

the fact that the "children" are still fighting

the memo give the media a blueprint of questions/issues for evaluating Condi's performance

Rummy's memo sets out a "baseline" - it says here's where we're at, this is what we are dealing with - now how well is Condi doing to resolve these issues

the in-fighting between the children is no longer confined to white-house offices and hallways - it's out in the streets

Rummy, Condi, Powell, Cheney and the whistleass are all out in "public" giving different versions - they are not unified on "message"

Th whistleass is NOT leading, too busy raising campaign funds which leaves the children home alone without proper supervision

In this particular case - shit falls up. any negative perceptions of Rumy, Condi, Cheney or Powell is also a negative perception of the whistleass's ability to lead

my original position on the whistleass still stands - he may want to be in the drivers seat but he doesn't want to steer

[DrBB]

27. Raise your hand if you've actually READ the memo. Cuz...

...Cuz the more I look at it, the more I wonder what the fuss is supposed to be about. It looks to me like he's making gestures toward a wide-ranging discussion but in fact he's just interested in establishing the basis for more power, money, and resources to be glommed up by the Defense Dept. "Are we doing enough of what we're already doing?" he essentially asks, and "No, we must do more of it!" will be the predictable answer. I think everyone (media included) is vastly over-hyping the degree of skepticism he expresses about how the war is going. The essential message is, "The danger is still there: Gimme more power!" Even the much-parsed statement about Afghanistan & Iraq being a "hard slog" is really just a more colloquial phrasing of the current *administration boiler-plate (they NEVER said it was gonna be easy; they ALWAYS said it would be long and arduous; we've ALWAYS been at war with Oceania.) And look at who's on the very short distribution list: the absolute hardcore PNACers, the core group of IraqWar ideologues and no one else. Think we're gonna hear a thorough airing of whether attacking Iraq furthered our ends or those of al Quaeda? That's what I thought.

If Bush really is PO-ed, I suspect it has far less to do with the content of the memo and far more to do with the fact of it: that Rummy is playing his own game, not a team game, by deliberately leaking this. Makes things look messy, out of control, not good for Bush, but serving Rummy's own ends very nicely: shows he's really a thoughtful, smart guy ("I got a handle here, I'm not like that incompetent b*** Condi!"), does a certain amount of CYA for him, etc., and all without really challenging ANY fundamental assumptions about the so-called "war on terror."

[joeunderdog]

28. You're right on track

Two sources that I've seen this week (NYT and a CNBC Talking Head) both said that he leaked this himself. Nothing that's done is done by accident. Nice diversion from the 90B we just rubber stamped, too.

[jokerman93]

30. I read a transcript of the memo but

I couldn't justify Rummy leaking it himself because of the obvious duplicity it reveals -- not only to the American public -- but to congress as well. I couldn't see exactly how it would serve Count FUBAR himself by exposing his public position on the war as merely a glossy cover.

To me, this revelation reduces his credibility as well as that of the entire administration. I think they're long past those crisply scripted propaganda ballets they once engaged in to confuse the public.

The most immediate result I imagined was an amplification of the meltdown that's already apparently happening within the Bushcult White House.

But then again, with Count FUBAR's (Rumsfeld's) new insane comments about the need for some kind of "Ministry of Truth" to fight the Terror war -- I have no idea what's going on in his tiny mind. Does Rumsfeld actually believe that congress and the American people will actually consider yet another boondoggle to create more unregulated government????

He's nuts. Rumsfeld is nuts. That guy'll put a gun to his head someday.

There I said it.

[tedzbear]

31. Rummy will be toast in a matter of days...

Bush desperately needs a fall guy if he expects to begin his reelection campaign on a fresh footing. It looks like he will pin the blame for the current Iraq fiasco squarely on Rummy's nose. I imagine Ms. Rice leaked the memo (with Rummy's reluctant agreement) in order to start the ball rolling.
When Bush forces Rummy to resign it will deflect the responsibility for Iraq onto one of his top dogs just in time for the campaign.
Rove must believe the American people will accept Rummy's resignation as a sufficient sacrifice on the part of Bush to let the Texas rich boy off the hook.
I wonder who will replace Rummy? Will Wolfie have to resign too???
Stay tuned...
:kick:

[ewagner]

33. Same here

Rummy's memo basically admits that not only are we not winning the WOT but, in fact we have no idea how to even address the WOT.

This is the biggest sin that can be made in the bushco administration:
straying off message.

The WH crew will never forgive him for this.

[wabeewoman]

32. The thing we have to remember

with these guys is up is down and lies are truth. There may be more to the picture that we can currently see. The fact that there are so many theories as to what it means does confirm one thing: this is one convoluted and crooked administration!