"Leaked" (yeah, right) Rumsfeld Memo: a Cover Your Ass operation...

[Postman]

Gee, golly, willikers. How did my memo to 4 or 5 close associates get in the USA Today?

Ever heard of a secure landline?

Nevermind that, I saw fit that I put down on paper everything the anti-war crowd was saying and asking before the war to cover my ass about this clusterf**ck Iraq.

[KoKo]

1. I agree, Rummy leaked the memo himself. Trying to look "human, agonizing

over how long we are going to be in "perpetual war."

It's so obvious it's laughable.

[joeybee12]

2. If Condo-liar can leak, Rummy can too

He's evil, no doubt, but it was laughable a few weeks ago when the buzz was that Rummy was out, and Condo-liar was in charge. She's not only evil, but amazingly incompetent.

[DrBB]

3. I kinda disagree

I agree that it was probably deliberately "leaked," but I don't think it covers his ass, if that's what was intended. I just read Josh Marshall's item on this, which confirmed my impression. I think it's supposed to be a PR plug for Rummy. Shows him "human," shows him "thinking outside the box," shows him taking the long view, really examining things from all sides, ya know?

Except that it's pure bullshit, that's the message. Bullshit, though, because what's really scary is that, if THIS is what constitutes taking a skeptical look at his own policies and our security situation vis a vis world terror, it's appalling what is LEFT OUT. No real questioning of the Iraq strategy, whether it might have been a mistake or leading to more terror rather than less. It's not about whether or not our strategy is loony and a diversion from the real enemy (OBL); it's just about whether we're doing ENOUGH of it.

I think it's meant as a PR piece, a self-justification. "See? We're not really ideologues! We really DO think about things 'n' stuff!" And of course the press is falling for it--"Rummy expresses skepticism" etc--so the right can turn around and say, "Actually, it shows a thoughtful man coming to grips with complexity. Isn't that what the liberals always say they want?"

I'm not one of those who thinks every mistake these guys make actually reflects some deeper, more devious strategy. But this looks like a very clever bit of self-serving leakage to me.

[gratuitous]

14. It doesn't cover Rummy's ass, but . . .

Who's going to read the memo and analyze what it says and actually means? Regular folks are going to see a report, think whatever the leaker wants them to think in the first 10 seconds, and then not think about it again. If it comes up, they'll parrot, "But even Rumsfeld was having doubts," without really knowing what the memo said.

Your main point is well taken, nevertheless. Was launching a war on Iraq the best strategy? Is it accomplishing what it set out to do, or is it accomplishing anything at all? Certainly Saddam is no longer running Iraq, but beyond that one fact, what has happened? Thousands and thousands are dead because of the "war." Those deaths will demand atonement somewhere along the line.

And those questions are never asked, much less proffered an answer.

[Sperk]

4. I agree....can't make him the scapegoat now.....

he's TRYING to make the war on terra a success. It's not his fault it all went to hell. Get rid of him now, and it will look like retaliation for the memo.

[radwriter0555]

5. THANK you. This smells of plant n propaganda...

I get so smacked around on here, glad someone else brought it up.

[Loonman]

6. Karl Rove ploy

Don't buy it!!!

This is a sham and a scam.


Little Tommy Daschle already made a horse's ass of himself(big surprise, I know) over this fakery.

[Brotherjohn]

7. It's so completely obvious. I think it was to lower expectations.

To a certain extent to cover their asses (or just Rummy's). But mainly to lower expectations, to make it seem as though THEY were the ones that saw all the potential pitfalls and drawbacks and considered them.

They're hoping that by election time, when Iraq is an even bigger mess, they can point back to the memo and say "We told you it would be complicated! But we have to finish what we started!". They're hoping people will forget that a year before, anti-war protestors by the millions were saying all the same things and arguing that we shouldn't have started it in the first place.

[Gin]

8. Yep...hes sooooooooo obvious..

The inmates are running the asylum!

[diamond14]

12. "But we have to finish what we started" is classic Vietnam logic

that continued for 14 or so years...we have to finish, we'll be embarrassed if we leave, communists will overrun the whole wide world if we leave....

and finally we left...the exit was very embarrassing, it was humiliating, Vietnam managed to improve all by itself, communism did not overrun the world.....

we can leave Iraq anytime, with a simple phone call from the commander-in-chief....

come to DC and SF on Saturday and tell the shrub to BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW.....unless you want to be part of the long long 'slog'...

http://www.InternationalANSWER.org

[Warren Stuart]

9. With Bush out of the country, the rats will play

Gotta get that 87 bil, one way or another.

I see the Republicans are working on a changeup pitch, just when the Democrats have started to show signs of someday being able to hit the fastballs.

[kentuck]

10. So Rummy is getting ready to go back to New Mexico..?

and write a book? And he leaks this memo so he doesn't get tagged with this quagmire in the works?

[caledesi]

16. That's what I think Kentuck. n/t

[John_H]

17. Close

It was a warning to buch that if Rummy goes, he won't be going gracefully--or silently.

[Brotherjohn]

11. What I find funny is the memo reads just like Doonesbury's parody...

...of Rummy.

"Can we do a better job in the war against terror? Sure!"

"Do we need more ideas? You bet!"

"Are we gaining any ground? Beats me!"

"Do I know WTF I'm talking about? How the hell should I know!"

[diamond14]

13. and...."Are more people going to be killed, YOU BET" (07/14/03)

just so we know...Iraq is about to explode from a $70 Billion 'slog' into a $157 Billion dollar "slog"....and that 'slog' will go on for the 'long haul'....

here's another rummy classic (01/07/2003), DOD briefing
rummy was talking about the draft in Vietnam....so all young men now will know how it works, once it gets approved....

...."sucked into the intake, trained for a period of months, and then went out, adding no value, no advantage, really, to the United States armed services over any sustained period of time, because the churning that took place, it took enormous amount of effort in terms of training, and then they were gone."


all young men should be at the March in DC or SF...you can still get ticket for buses.....save your own life/limbs....
http://www.InternationalANSWER.org

[librechik]

15. Rummy "leaked" it himself--here's a link

"... what I see in the USA Today story is this: "Three members of Congress who met with Rumsfeld Wednesday morning said the defense secretary gave them copies of the memo and discussed it with them." This is not how you handle a confidential internal memorandum, is it, if you don't want it to see the light of day."

http://www.isthatlegal.org/archives/2003_10_19_isthatlegal_archive.html#106684727306378912