Goalposts
October 11, 2004:
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday that the United States could begin to withdraw some troops from Iraq beginning early next year, if newly trained Iraqi security forces can shoulder more of the burden.
February 5, 2005:
The American military has set a target of December for handing over responsibility for security to Iraqi army and police units, says a classified document being circulated among senior officers.
The proposal envisages that after the planned election of a five-year parliament in December the American military would withdraw from patrolling, starting a gradual pull-out from the country.
...the deadline illustrates American confidence that the development of Iraq's security forces is proceeding as planned.
June 18, 2005:
The United States will settle for "nothing less than victory" in Iraq, President Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address.
July 27, 2005:
The United States hopes to sharply reduce its forces in Iraq by the middle of next year if all goes according to plan, its top commander on the ground said on Wednesday.
August 19, 1965:
"I believe the following significant and timely editorial which appeared in today’s issue of the New York Times and which discusses our involvement in Vietnam merits wide attention. I concur in the conclusion expressed therein that the people of the United States must know not only how their country became involved but where we are heading."
-Illinois Congressman Donald Rumsfeld entering a New York Times editorial into the Congressional Record.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday that the United States could begin to withdraw some troops from Iraq beginning early next year, if newly trained Iraqi security forces can shoulder more of the burden.
February 5, 2005:
The American military has set a target of December for handing over responsibility for security to Iraqi army and police units, says a classified document being circulated among senior officers.
The proposal envisages that after the planned election of a five-year parliament in December the American military would withdraw from patrolling, starting a gradual pull-out from the country.
...the deadline illustrates American confidence that the development of Iraq's security forces is proceeding as planned.
June 18, 2005:
The United States will settle for "nothing less than victory" in Iraq, President Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address.
July 27, 2005:
The United States hopes to sharply reduce its forces in Iraq by the middle of next year if all goes according to plan, its top commander on the ground said on Wednesday.
August 19, 1965:
"I believe the following significant and timely editorial which appeared in today’s issue of the New York Times and which discusses our involvement in Vietnam merits wide attention. I concur in the conclusion expressed therein that the people of the United States must know not only how their country became involved but where we are heading."
-Illinois Congressman Donald Rumsfeld entering a New York Times editorial into the Congressional Record.
posted by The Cunning Realist at Wednesday, July 27, 2005
21 Comments:
Some great quotes in there.
Hmmm, interesting find on Rummy!
You are becoming more and more like Billmon with these types of posts.
Rumsfeld is a liar and a criminal. In a just society, he would be given a fair trial and then sent to prison.
I remember a few months ago when Rumsfeld was on Face the Nation and Thomas Friedman asked him some question about Iraq and as Rumsfeld offered up the bullshit line of the week, Friedman sandbagged him with a Rummy quote from six months earlier that totally contradicted what he was saying at that moment. And he kind of shrugged and smirked as if to say, "So what?"
The fact that Rumsfeld still holds his position at the Defense Dept. tells you everything you need to know about the Bush Administration.
And TCR, you will be able to post the same thing in a year, then two, then three. The same thing.
We are NEVER leaving.
I rather liked the following snip:
Rumsfeld said the following in a speech on the House floor: “Accurate judgment is predicated on accurate information. Government has an obligation to present information to the public promptly and accurately so that the public’s evaluation of Government activities is not distorted. Political pundits speak of the ‘credibility gap’ in the present administration. Indeed, this appellation is so widespread that it has become a household word.” [Congressional Record, 90th Cong. pg A792, 2/21/67]
Saddam Hussein will be back in power in Iraq by this time next year...
owenz:
I am guessing that in your comment:
"Those of us in the reality-based community might be outrated, but the rest of America will be just fine."
you meant to use the word "outraged" (?)
Unfortunately, even as a typo, your comment has, sadly, all too much relevance as is.
They'll start a pull-out, but after the 2006 elections (hey I thought Bush told us we couldn't talk about exit time tables because it aids the terrorists, oops, extremists) Bush will say not yet.
Beside, why would we be leaving when we are building permanent military bases?
In a 2003 NYT article, Senior officials said '"a long-term military relationship with the emerging government of Iraq, one that would grant the Pentagon access to military bases and project American influence into the heart of the region."'
The whole reason we started the Iraq war (or at least one of the many reasons given) was to influence the middle east. If we are trying to "influence" (makeup your own, "influence what") the region, why would we leave?
They'll bring the troops home (except for those stationed in our nice shiny new military bases) because we've moved on to the next phase. No longer are we fighting the Global War On Terror, terminology which implied that we'd have some kind of military to fight it with, which we won't.
Nope -- we're now onto the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism (G-SAVE).
Think I'm kidding? (I wish I wasn't)
Read this
Daily Show: Bush declares victory over the phrase "war on terror". Click on WMP for Windows media player, or QT for Quicktime. Catch Rumsfeld tripping over the new PR slogan.
ah Rummy, the internet comes back to haunt ye...
The way I see it. Even after we leave , there is going to be fights to have the bases eliminated, which means, the fight will continue as long as there will be a presence of foreigners in the Middle East in general and in particular Iraq. Bin Laden and his allies will not rest until all foreign bases are out of the middle East. And let's not forget the most virulent of all extremists "The Wahabis" in Saudi Arabia who are financing these
forces and are training the next generation of fighters and haters.
Spencer Ackerman (formerly Iraq'd) had an interesting post on 7/19
http://www.tnr.com/etc.mhtml?pid=2739
Too much to summarize/post but pulled a snip from an Ignatius WaPo article :
Pessimists increasingly argue that Iraq may be going the way of Lebanon in the 1970s. I hope that isn't so, and that Iraq avoids civil war. But people should realize that even Lebanonization wouldn't be the end of the story. The Lebanese turned to sectarian militias when their army and police couldn't provide security. But through more than 15 years of civil war, Lebanon continued to have a president, a prime minister, a parliament and an army. The country was on ice, in effect, while the sectarian battles raged. The national identity survived, and it came roaring back this spring in the Cedar Revolution that drove out Syrian troops.
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