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Today in Rumsfeld's World

By TChris, Section Other Politics
Posted on Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 08:55:24 AM EST
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by TChris

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld found it "strange" to be asked to swear to tell the truth to investigators who wondered "how his department came to nearly squander $30 billion leasing several hundred new tanker aircraft that its own experts had decided were not needed." Rumsfeld is evidently unfamiliar with procedures that require honest responses to questions. No suprise, then, that Rumsfeld responded by citing "poor memory, loose office procedures, and a general distraction with 'the wars' in Iraq and Afghanistan." Typical of Rumsfeld's evasive answers:

"I don't remember approving it. But I certainly don't remember not approving it, if you will."

Meanwhile, the PBS series "Frontline" airs a report tonight that relates the triumph "of Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld over the administration's internal war skeptics." This review suggests that the report could have been subtitled "How Dick and Don Rolled the CIA and State Department and Got Us Into This Mess."

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    Today in Rumsfeld's World | 11 comments (11 topical)
    Re: Today in Rumsfeld's World (none / 0) (#1)
    by desertswine on Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 09:24:00 AM EST
    He also said... "I don't know what I knew then, compared to what I know now. . . . I am not able to go back and say . . . what did I know at a certain moment back in that period." Isn't it comforting to know that we've got the reincarnation of Casey Stengel running the DOD? Rumsfeld's a head-case.

    Re: Today in Rumsfeld's World (none / 0) (#2)
    by Jlvngstn on Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 09:34:53 AM EST
    Sounds to me like "i was for the war before i was against it".

    Re: Today in Rumsfeld's World (none / 0) (#3)
    by Dadler on Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 09:37:35 AM EST
    You could never find enough tar and feathers to cover these two pasty-faced Machiavellis. Not even if you had a duck farm and a blacktop factory. "Men" of such unquestioned sociopathy and dysfunction, incapable of even the most childlike self-criticism, seem to exist in worlds designed for one reason: to protect their delusion and denial from glimpsing reality. What will it TAKE to get the words accountability and responsibility anywhere near them? Answer: the people demanding their metaphorical heads.

    Re: Today in Rumsfeld's World (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 09:45:50 AM EST
    Rummy is pond scum. Is there something in the Republican water fountains that causes the waters of forgetfulness to flow? The Goddess Lethe is working overtime in the Republican corridors for the last 40 years now. (while not forgetting Clinton's contribution, either).I wonder if we should make testing for Alzheimer's mandatory when these decrepit thugs declare for government jobs?

    Re: Today in Rumsfeld's World (none / 0) (#5)
    by scribe on Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 09:48:46 AM EST
    Excellent line:
    Not even if you had a duck farm and a blacktop factory.
    They have been so insulated from even the prospect of having to account for their actions that, I opine charitably, they have little or no grasp of reality. When reality is whatever you say it is, and your minions will do what is necessary to prevent you from being disabused of that fantasy, it is inevitable Rummy (and Deadeye, for that matter) will surely believe it. In so many words, one could make a good argument these guys are certifiable. That's the downside of living in a bubble.

    Re: Today in Rumsfeld's World (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 10:25:35 AM EST
    Rumsfeld doesn't recall and then recall's. That's the same way a Law enforcement officer testifies when being cross examined in a court of law.Expect for the fact is Rumsfeld is never on trial therefore there is truth to the accusations but nothing will happen to him so he flaunts his superiority over and above and comes out looking like Mr. Clean. How convienent Bush will probably give a speech real soon filling in the parts that Rumsfeld remembers therefore sticking up for his buddy while more heads get chopped off in Iraq. Oh well looks like Rumsfeld will be taking credit for the next Al-Qaeda capture.

    Re: Today in Rumsfeld's World (none / 0) (#7)
    by squeaky on Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 10:28:27 AM EST
    scribe-Have you forgotten the postsrtucturalist appropriation that our leaders have cherrypicked from certain french intellectuals?:
    "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality--judiciously, as you will--we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."
    link

    Re: Today in Rumsfeld's World (none / 0) (#8)
    by scribe on Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 11:23:02 AM EST
    Well, squeaky, I'd like to see these f's try to stand up to a proper cross-examination. It's pretty f'g hard to sell a jury that reality is what you say it is. Not that I'll ever get to see that.

    Re: Today in Rumsfeld's World (none / 0) (#9)
    by squeaky on Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 11:31:57 AM EST
    Not that I'll ever get to see that
    Yes the clever bast*rds edited the jury out of the script.

    Re: Today in Rumsfeld's World (none / 0) (#10)
    by Punchy on Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 12:27:41 PM EST
    "I don't remember approving it. But I certainly don't remember not approving it, if you will." Does saying sh*t like this really get you out of a legal mess? Employing some ridiculous obfuscation mixed with non-denial denials and covered in non-committal acceptance of nothing will let you skate? How does the interviewer keep a straight face thru all this?

    Re: Today in Rumsfeld's World (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 06:13:51 PM EST
    Squeaky, they have a word phrase that defines yur paragraph....it's called social-dawinisms.....definition of: we will re-word and re-define what we are saying so many times over so many years thet yu dumb clucks....read poor dumb middle class clucks.....will believe anything we say.....hey we learned from tha best.....Hitler's rise to power in tha 30s......Hell's Bell's Prescott Bush and Hariman Bank and Trust were very heavily involved in financing Germany's re-armament and ifn tha war hadn't started Dec 7, 1941, Senator Truman (was he a Senator - damn this CRS) and his Commission were just about ready to Hang 'Em High! But then a Yale Bonesie came into FDR's office and said...."We need these guys now" There's thet pesky Rules Issue agin.

    Today in Rumsfeld's World | 11 comments (11 topical)