8 car bombings in 12 hours. But..."the war's over...we won!"

The world according to Rummy:

Rumsfeld: US not losing Iraq war

Rumsfeld defended the administration's policies in Iraq
Donald Rumsfeld has said the US is not losing the Iraq war and it would be a mistake to set a timetable for American troops to leave the country.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&e=2&u=/nm/20050623/pl_nm/iraq_usa_dc

Rumsfeld rejects notion Iraq war is a 'quagmire'
By Will Dunham
Thu Jun 23, 4:58 PM ET



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday rejected a senator's assertion the Iraq war had become a quagmire, but warned Iraq's government not to delay political developments such as drafting a consTitution.

During a tense Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Army Gen. John Abizaid, who as head of Central Command is the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, declined to endorse Vice President Dick Cheney's assessment that Iraq's insurgency was in its "last throes."

Abizaid said the insurgents' strength had not diminished and that more foreign fighters were coming into Iraq than six months ago. "There's a lot of work to be done against the insurgency," Abizaid said, adding, "I'm sure you'll forgive me from criticizing the vice president."


"This war has been consistently and grossly mismanaged," Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), a Massachusetts Democrat, told Rumsfeld. "And we are now in a seemingly intractable quagmire."

"Our troops are dying. And there really is no end in sight. And the American people, I believe, deserve leadership worthy of the sacrifices that our fighting forces have made, and they deserve the real facts. And I regret to say that I don't believe that you have provided either," Kennedy added.

"Well, that is quite a statement," Rumsfeld, flanked by top U.S. commanders, responded. "First let me say that there isn't a person at this table who agrees with you that we're in a quagmire and that there's no end in sight."

"The suggestion by you that people -- me or others -- are painting a rosy picture is false," Rumsfeld.

"The fact is from the beginning of this we have recognized that this is a tough business, that it is difficult, that it is dangerous, and that it is not predictable," Rumsfeld added.

Kennedy asked Rumsfeld, "Isn't it time for you to resign?"

Except that Rummy said that the Iraqis would throw flowers in the streets to welcome our soldiers.

December 09, 2004"That's The Way Rummy Likes It"
So said FOX News' Megyn Kendall on FOX News Live Without Alan Colmes, parroting the spin of "Senior Defense Officials" on the tough grilling the US troops gave Donald Rumsfeld yesterday during his visit to Kuwait. "He likes to get tough questions and he takes those questions back to the Pentagon and tries to get answers for them."

Right-oh, Megyn. I'm sure it was Rummy's love for answering tough questions that prompted him to ignore the army's opposition to his invasion plan and force General Eric Shinseki into retirement after he told Rummy that several hundred thousand troops would be needed to control Iraq after the war. But then your job, Megyn, is not to question official statements but to repeat them and offer them at face value. Otherwise, you might end up like Shinseki, I suppose. Why be right when you can be employed at FOX News?

Obviously, substitute hosts Rich Lowry and Ellis Hennican had the same convictions as Kendall. Neither of them saw any BS worth mentioning when they played the clip of Rummy saying, "Everyone was taken by surprise by the breadth and depth of the insurgency of the resistance," In fact, it has been widely reported that the professional soldiers (Shinseki included) that Rumsfeld chose to ignore foresaw exactly that. See for example, Winston-Salem Journal. This baloney comes from a man who Bush says he wants to keep during his second term. But that wasn't remarked upon either.

Rumsfeld said, again without skepticism from any of the FOX on-air "News" staff, "You go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want or wish to have." Oh, really? Is Rummy saying that the war was so pressing we couldn't wait for the armored Humvees that now can't be produced fast enough? I thought it had been proven that Sadam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction? What kind of a high-handed answer is that to give men and women risking their lives in a war zone that he underestimated and oversold? Unfortunately, the FOX audience will never know. These are questions that were not asked, much less answered.

Reported by ellen at December 9, 2004 12:52 AM |

I suppose that could be considered dangerous and unpredictable.

Well, unpredictable anyway as wenow know.

The New Statesman | 23 June 2003 issue

Iraq - the issue we have chosen to forget

The law of inverse proportions applies to Iraq. The greater the death
toll, the less we in Britain seem to care. Each report of violence, each new
piece of evidence of pre-war miscreance by our politicians produces the
same shrug of the shoulders. And yet nearly six months after elections
that were supposed to herald a new era, that were (very briefly) seized upon by a cheerleading clique as "vindication" of the Blair-Bush 2003
adventure, the situation deteriorates on a number of fronts.

After a short lull in February and March, in which attacks on coalition
troops dipped to "only" 35 a day, the violence is once more rising
rapidly. It takes many forms and has many effects; it perpetuates a sense of lawlessness and fear; it confines occupying US troops mainly to their barracks; it further undermines the fledgling political process; it
prevents meaningful economic activity; it makes a mockery of the more
sanguine predictions of a winter of troop reductions and early
withdrawals.

By far the biggest casualties are Iraqis, particularly those who have enlisted in the security forces. As the Americans training them readily admit, the recruits have applied not out of the goodness of their
hearts, but because in most parts of the country it is the only way to earn a living. And now the Iraqi government, under instruction from
Washington, is poised to make matters worse with a plan for huge cuts in the public sector. Iraq has been told that it has to reduce public spending under a debt-reduction scheme sponsored by, you've guessed it, the
International Monetary Fund. Given that the public sector accounts for about a half of the jobs anywhere in the country, any cuts will exacerbate social tensions.

In the sweltering heat of an Iraqi summer, the suffering continues,
with intermittent energy supplies, widespread health problems (including
malnutrition among children) and a growing lack of safe drinking water
and sanitation (40 per cent of Baghdad households report sewage on their
streets). More than two years after the US rolled into Baghdad, it is a
dismal stock-take for the Pax Americana.

Both sides are involved in a war of attrition, a war without end. US
forces, now supported by British warplanes, make sporadic attacks on
insurgent strongholds of devastating magnitude but dwindling
effectiveness.

The near destruction of Fallujah won them a few months of relative
quiescence, at the expense of an estimated 700 deaths. Recently, it
seems the insurgents have regained a foothold in the city. The aim of
Operation Lightning around Baghdad and Operation Spear by the Syrian border is to "pacify" troublesome areas. The result of these actions is to stoke anger and increase the pool of young suicide bombers from which the various terrorist groups can now pick and choose.

The Americans long ago gave up any pretence at a hearts-and-minds
strategy.
Apart from the odd "spontaneous" conversation with a shopkeeper for the
cameras, with heavy reinforcements at the ready, the US confines itself
to brute force. About 60,000 Iraqis are now said to be held in detention
centres, with fewer than a third of the detainees registered. The others
have simply disappeared, with their relatives unable to contact them.

Military commanders are planning to relocate troops from Iraq's towns,
moving them to four giant blast-proof bases. But, as the recent attacks
on targets next to Baghdad's government and security "green zone" testify, nowhere is safe.

For the first time in a while, Iraq is beginning to flicker on the US
political radar. A steady stream of documents in recent weeks has shown
the extent to which Tony Blair and his advisers accepted in the summer of
2002 that George W Bush had committed to war, and how they set themselves the task of making the facts fit the political exigency, even though they knew that the Americans had made no preparation for a "protracted and costly" occupation.

The revelations have received considerable coverage in the serious
segments of the US press. In the UK they have barely registered. On 30 May, the New Statesman disclosed "spikes" of bombardment by the British and US air forces designed to provoke Saddam Hussein into war nine months before actual hostilities began. With a few honourable exceptions, most UK media have done Blair's business for him. They have decreed the general election as the cut-off point for Iraq and decided that readers and viewers have "moved on".

Conspiracy? Laziness? Or, perhaps, the unfortunate reality is that in
our minds we have raised the bar so high that only the most heinous acts or revelations have an effect. It seems that we are all unshockable now.

http://www.newstatesman.com/nsleader.htm

c.i. : re throwing flowers : well, the iraquis have been throwing something at the american soldiers. you can't blame rumsfeld that those things being thrown are not flowers; apparently the iraquis haven't been listening to his advice, shame on them !
(i noticed that general abizaid isn't quite as enthusiastic as his esteemed leader any more. have to wonder if the general will be looking for early retirement ?)
(i also noticed that this is a pretty one-sided discussion; where has the "enthusiastic" group gone ?). hbg

Yeah, those (chicken little) generals makes me sick; they support what their boss is saying to congress, and too afraid to lose their retirement benefits. This country has really gone down the shethole.

I heard one say, "I agree with the secretary." They're the ones that are supposed to be leading our army, navy, air force and marines. Makes me want to puke!

c.i. : i guess that general abizaid(isn't he sort of "top dog" in iraq ?) was not at the same meeting as secretary rumsfeld. seems to me that either they did not co-ordinate their answers - because they were rather different re. insurgency - or the general is looking for early retirement. hbg

(p.s. i noticed that henry kissinger is working as an "adviser" to the chinese. perhaps henry can be persuaded to help out in iraq too; i understand that he runs one of the largest consulting firms. i'm sure he can handle one more client !)

You noticed that too, heh? Really funny; a general saying, "I agree with the secretary."

I am very much afraid that the posters are correct. The war in Iraq is unwinnable. Bush and the war monger Republicans have erred. The cost is much too great.

It is a closely guarded secret that Bush and teh Israelis have conferred at Camp David. The Israelis have let the President know that the loss of life in Israel is intolerable and that they are going to cede the land to the Palestinians. The Israelis have been promised a huge tract of land in Nevada--Senator Reid notwithstanding.

Yes, suicide bombers finally have won!!!!

Just like the Kamakazis did in World War II.

CLAIM: "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended." - President Bush, 5/1/03

CLAIM: The war "could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld [2/7/03]

CLAIM "We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. . . . I think it will go relatively quickly... (in) weeks rather than months." - Vice President Cheney [3/16/03]



Sounds like it ended a long time ago.

Would someone PLEASE let the throes of insurgents know they can go home.

squinnyy, How these yokels survived this long is a mytery of politics. Incompetence is rewarded.

But , squinney and Cicerone, don't you know? Haven't you heard? We ARE withdrawing from Iraq because of the car bombings.
See the New York Times tomorrow!!!!

Actually, this article from the NYT seems like interesting news from Iraq:


June 24, 2005
Iraqis Tallying Range of Graft in Rebuilding
By JAMES GLANZ
BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 23 - Allegations of widespread corruption have dogged the Iraqi government since the invasion in 2003, when billions of dollars for reconstruction and training began pouring into the country. Many programs had far less impact than expected, but persistent rumors that money was being siphoned by corrupt officials were largely impossible to pin down.

Now, an office originally set up by the American occupation to investigate corruption in Iraq has accumulated the first solid estimates of the problem. The results are likely to fuel the most pessimistic concerns over where the money has gone.

The abuses range from sweetheart deals on leases, to exorbitant contracts for things like garbage hauling, to payments for construction that was never done.

Since it began doing business in earnest last July, the office, now run by the Iraqi government and called the Commission on Public Integrity, has looked into more than 814 cases of potential wrongdoing, producing 399 investigations that were still open at the end of May. So far, arrest warrants have been issued for 44 Iraqi government employees.

The open cases include investigations into several ministries in the government of the former prime minister, Ayad Allawi, and warrants for two of his ministers, said Ali al-Shabot, spokesman for the commission, who provided the data during interviews this week.

The cases touch not just the executive branch but sprawl across provincial and city governments. Mr. Shabot declined to give extensive details on individual cases, citing pending litigation. But a check with some agencies that have sent complaints to the commission disclose some apparent rackets that would not surprise anyone familiar with governmental corruption in the west, especially big-city corruption.

In one case, said Mazin A. Makkia, head of the Baghdad City Council, the cost for a garbage-hauling job shot up fivefold in one year, even though the original contract was already far overpriced. In cases involving American money, Mr. Makkia said, the council is looking into what appear to be phantom rebuilding projects - expenditures that have left a paper trail but no trace on the landscape of the city.

"It's so clear where the money goes," he said, smiling wearily.

But beyond suggesting that contractors and city officials had enriched themselves, Mr. Makkia said he would not point fingers until the investigations were completed.

The commission, formed by the former chief American administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III, is legally allowed to investigate governmental corruption as far back as 1968. But many of the most prominent cases concern the Allawi government, prompting the former prime minister to claim that political bias is at work, a charge the commission stoutly denies.

"We are not targeting the ex-prime minister," Mr. Shabot said. "It's not true and it's incorrect."

Other cases reported, especially in a nation whose health-care system is stretched far beyond its limits, raise eyebrows even among the most cynical observers of official graft. In Kut, a city in the south, an official is accused of taking kickbacks in a case involving a public hospital that was improperly leased to a well-connected private cooperative for 1,000 Iraqi dinars (about 70 cents) a year, said Abdul Jaleel al-Shemari, the deputy health minister.

Yet another involves possible overpricing and incorrect technical specifications on a large shipment of ambulances from Canada, Dr. Shemari said. The two former cabinet officials in Dr. Allawi's government are also suspected of manipulating contracts of various kinds.

"They've wasted the public money," said Mr. Shabot of those officials, whom he identified as the former minister of labor, Layla Abdul Lateef, and the former minister of transportation, Louay Hatem al-Eris. "Misuse of authority," Mr. Shabot said, ticking off the charges. "Misusing their post for personal interest."

Ms. Lateef, who had to submit to a police raid on her house, declined through a relative to comment. Mr. Eris was believed to be traveling abroad and could not be reached.

The former housing minister, Omar al-Farouk al-Damluji, said in an interview that he was also the target of an investigation by the commission and he professed his innocence.

In past statements that were often little noticed at the time, the head of the commission, Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, has also hinted that Dr. Allawi's ministries of defense, interior, electricity and health may be investigated. The issue of corruption was brought to Western attention this week during an international meeting in Brussels, when Hussain al-Shahristani, the influential deputy speaker of the National Assembly, said that corruption had reached "disastrous proportions" since 2003 and that some countries had been unwilling to send financial aid as a result. Dr. Shahristani made his comments to Reuters.

Few Iraqi officials deny that corruption at some level is a fact of life in their government. Even Dr. Allawi concedes that when he was in office, he ordered corruption investigations into three of his own ministers after receiving complaints.

All three of the ministers are among those that have been mentioned as targets or potential targets of the commission, Dr. Allawi said in an interview. But he said he had insisted that the investigations be secret, unlike the practice at the commission, which has occasionally spoken freely to the Arab press.

Dr. Allawi said that during his tenure, he was appalled to learn of the commission's investigation into Mr. Damluji from a radio report. Then, after he stepped down, there was the raid on Ms. Lateef's house.

"Do you know what they did?" Dr. Allawi said. "They sent police to break into her house. You know, it reminded me of Saddam's days. And her neighbors, and most of them are ministers, they came to her rescue."

Dr. Allawi, a secular Shiite politician and member of the opposition in a National Assembly dominated by a Shiite party with a heavy clerical influence, insists there is more than a slight political tinge to the commission's work. But as an independent body, the commission did not change personnel with the arrival of the new government, possibly weakening that claim.

Mr. Shabot also points out that the commission can only investigate allegations and collect evidence, ultimately referring criminal cases to the courts. Many cases originate with inspectors general in the ministries and are sometimes sent back to the same officials if an administrative rather than a criminal punishment is called for. Nearly 130 cases have been handled in that way, Mr. Shabot said.

But Dr. Allawi and his supporters question the assertion that there is no bias. While the makeup of the commission has not changed, a number of inspectors did come in with the new government, said Nesreen M. Siddeek Berwari, the public works minister under both Dr. Allawi and the current government. She says those officials have shown political bias in their work. The new inspector in her own ministry is a Shiite closely linked with the new government, said Ms. Berwari, a Kurd who is under no suspicion of wrongdoing.

The new inspector has so far focused almost exclusively on cases involving Sunni Arabs and Kurds, she said, illustrating what she sees as a larger problem with the commission.

"I'm afraid that the current cases are politically motivated," Ms. Berwari said. "The new question - how uncorrupt is the public integrity office?"

This administration is really good at spending our tax dollars in Iraq while they worry about social security at home.

I knew it. Halliburton must be involved. We cannot leave Cheney, who is making Billions, out of the impechments. This corruption must end. Before you know it the Republicans will be nearly as corrupt as the Democratic machine in Chicago.

And then where would we be?

c.i. : i notice that you are preaching to the converted ! hbg

This one sounds so similar to what we have in the US; it seems Iraq learns and practices American-style democracy to the letter.

"The cases touch not just the executive branch but sprawl across provincial and city governments. Mr. Shabot declined to give extensive details on individual cases, citing pending litigation. But a check with some agencies that have sent complaints to the commission disclose some apparent rackets that would not surprise anyone familiar with governmental corruption in the west, especially big-city corruption."