Rumsfeld on MSNBC now

[The empressof all]

News conference just started

[wryter2000]

1. Welcome to DU

Can you keep us updated? I'm at work. OTOH, do I really want to know? :)

[m-jean03]

2. Good reason to turn off TV.

Although if you can stomach him, more power to you, you are a STRONG person.

[Turbineguy]

3. He sounds remarkably rational

even funny. A new direction for the Bush Admin? Try not to sound crazy?

[worldgonekrazy]

4. They are desperate

Someday very soon we will look back at the past few days as the beginning of a very quick end for the Bush Administration. I sincerely doubt they will make it through the next round of questioning by the 9/11 Commission next month (mid April). Their goose is cooked, and they know it.

[worldgonekrazy]

5. "19 people killed 3,000 people in the United States"

Rumsfeld said, when talking about how a small number of terrorists can cause a lot of damage.

They feel the big lie slipping away so they are trying to push it even more in a last ditch effort. Problem for them is that the commission (and I think the media as well to a certain extent) are on to them. Dead man walking.

[ellie]

6. Someone

just asked how appropriate it is to joke about WMD (must have been about the dinner last night).

Rummy-
I'm not in a position to be judgemental about that.

Next question

[ellie]

7. When did you begin

planning to invade Iraq?

Rummy- Probably 12 years ago. The DOD is in the business of planning. Contingency plans, etc. I wasn't in govt. When I arrived, there was an Iraq continengy plans on the shelf for years. I got briefed on it and was concerned that it was old and based on old assumptions. I think we'd better review them. Wanted a brief on the assumptions, not the plans, when these assumptions were made. The conclusion was that the contingency plans did not fit the 21st century. Things move faster now.

Now talking about how he changed the process and the speed at which these plans are formulated. The Iraq plan was one of many plans that he changed when he got there.

[ellie]

8. I'm unclear on what this is

supposed to be accomplishing. Every time he speaks it sounds like he is lying.

[neoteric lefty]

9. Is it me

or is Rummy one of the worst people trying to explain anything other than military topics. He stutters and can't get his words out. Its quite sad.

[ellie]

10. Rummy

said that he is unsure of when Smirky asked about the plans. He will have to go back and check.

Question-
Do newly released Gitmo prisoners pose a threat?

Rummy-
There is a complex process used. Working with the lawyers and the International Red Cross. Also a process to screen for release. We don't want these people, we want them to go back to where they came from. Time to time they are deemed appropriate for transfer. The countries take responsibility for them. We may have made a mistake in the past and someone we released may have returned to their terrorist ways.

How can we be confident that released prisoners are not a threat?

Rummy-
I don't get involved in the process, I am not a lawyer.

[ellie]

11. That's it n/t