Reporter To Rumsfeld:"I sorta can’t believe these words are coming out of your mouth 10 years later"

[kpete]

FRI MAY 17, 2013 AT 01:27 PM PDT
Kai Ryssdal asks Rumsfeld some of the questions we've all wanted to ask
by Kalil

Kai Ryssdal, mild-mannered reporter for NPR APM's Marketplace, sat down with Donald Rumsfeld to discuss his new book, "Rumsfeld's Rules", a guide for 'effective leadership' (required reading for anyone who wants to know the fastest way to lead downhill). As soon as Rumsfeld walked through the door, Mr. Ryssdal tore his shirt off, revealing the yellow and red 'S' emblazoned on his muscular chest.

..............

Some good excerpts:

Ryssdal: It’s easier, you say, to get into something than it is to get out of it. And I, I can’t help but wonder where we would be in this country today if you guys had been thinking of that ten years ago.

Rumsfeld: I thought of that when I was President Reagan’s Middle East envoy and we had 241 Marines killed at Beirut (in 1983), at the airport. And I concluded then that the United States has to be careful about putting ground forces in because we’re such a big target. And I also over the years came to the conclusion over the years that the United States really wasn’t organized, trained and equipped to do nation-building. So if you think of Afghanistan…

Ryssdal: …Yeah, wait, hang on a minute. I sorta can’t believe these words are coming out of your mouth, ten years later. So this was on your mind as Iraq was burbling up?

Rumsfeld: Absolutely.

Ryssdal: And yet here we are.



Ryssdal: I do wonder whether you read Robert McNamara's memoirs when they came out. Obviously, the secretary of defense during Vietnam.

Rumsfeld: Yah, I have not. I served in congress during that period.

Ryssdal: Hmm, alright, well, here's why I asked. You know, that was, that book was widely seen as an apology for his role in Vietnam, and I looked in this book, uh, pretty hard, for any rule that you might have had about apologizing, and I couldn't find one.

Rumsfeld: ...And? What's your question?

Ryssdal: Did you ever think about apologizing?

Rumsfeld: Well, my goodness, as Napoleon said, "I've been mistaken so many times, I don't even blush for it anymore."

MORE & audio:
http://www.marketplace.org/node/92156/player/storyplayer
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/17/1209872/-Kai-Ryssdal-asks-Rumsfeld-some-of-the-questions-we-ve-all-wanted-to-ask

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. Rumsfeld is like what Nazi war criminals would be like if they were never prosecuted

Godwin's law me or whatever. I don't care. Had the Allies not prosecuted, jailed, and/or executed Nazi war criminals, they would behave in the exact manner that Rumsfeld behaves, with arrogant and unaccountable "mistakes were perhaps made" bullshit that still seeks to convince you that power is the act of making history and is not accountable in any way. Rumsfeld is absolute trash. He should be in a prison cell.

[Scuba]

8. +1

[Ikonoklast]

12. As a German general officer captured by the Soviets, Von Rumsfeld would have happily turned

coats and helped set up the Stasi.

How's that for Godwin?

[Diclotican]

19. Ikonoklast

Ikonoklast

i suspect Rumsfeld - if he had been a general in the German army in WW2, and who was captured by the russians, would have been a nice turncoat - and maybe even given a job in the new army - to defend the new state.. Many german officers in the east did that after the war - as many did it in the west.. Maybe out of a necessarily to have some experienced officers in place to others, more trustworthy could be given command... I doubt the russians would have trusted Rumsfeld enough to be put in charge of building up organizations like STASI.. They might as well have understood, that given enough power - he could turn against his new masters - and it was best to keep in away from that power..

It is rumored - that even officers of SS or SD, was recruited by the STASI as interim officers for the new security organizations - after all the SS and SD had experience in state Security... But it is rumors - as it have never been really proven that member of the SS was given much power in the new east german state.. We know that Heinrich Himmler in his grand delutions belived that after the war - he might be given a new lease of life - as head of security for the allied forces in Germany - after all - he and his SS had managed to scare germans for 12 years - and had a knowlegde about how to make germany safe that no one else had... When that failed - he managed to kill himself with poison... To most members of SS dismay...

Diclotican

[AnotherMcIntosh]

20. You're right, of course.

[zeemike]

25. Fuck Godwin's law...you are absolute correct.

Same MO...and same results.

[toby jo]

34. Dead on.

[Solly Mack]

38. Well said.

[Democracyinkind]

39. In fact, the criminals we let off and subsequently employed

mostly ha exactly that attitude..."mistakes were made"...

[alcibiades_mystery]

40. "Things were very confusing in the war..."

"The partisan threat was real..."

"These things were mostly decided at higher levels..."

"These things were mostly ad hoc at lower levels..."

Etc., etc., etc.

The insipid responses of the Nazi bureaucrats and our own Bush-Cheney bureaucrats line up in most ways.

[mountain grammy]

42. Well said! The criminal Secretary of War and his criminal bosses.

[awoke_in_2003]

47. +1. nt

[Chaco Dundee]

54. hand him over.

Rumsfeld,and not only Rumsfeld should have long been handet over to iraqu and been prosecutet under iraqui law.

[MrMickeysMom]

58. Absolutely damned right...

That sums it up.

And, the entire Bush-Cheney team should join him.

[MNBrewer]

60. Oh, but the nation "had no appetite for it" some here on DU say

Letting those war criminals go was the first big error of the Obama administration.

[malaise]

66. +1,000 n/t

[Baitball Blogger]

2. Hey, what's the problem? It's not like Rumsfeld is a member of a minority group

who would have actually had to pay for making a comment like, "I've been mistaken so many times, I don't even blush for it anymore."

[lumpy]

6. People who go though life without an ounce of integrity don't blush.

Rumsfeld is fettered with a criminal mind.

[PatSeg]

3. They just won't shut up and go away!

Totally shameless.

There is an upside though. At least people can't forget what a disaster the Bush years were if they keep popping up and reminding us.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. NPR kicks Rumsfeld's ass. Something I thought I'd never witness...

[Xipe Totec]

5. Forget the puppet; who's the puppeteer?

Who decided to give this assclown some airtime?

[byeya]

7. Most cogent question of the day!!

[Bluenorthwest]

9. The actual answers are Pelosi, Obama and Holder the primary barriers to investigation

and prosecution of this criminal. DaVinci said 'he who refuses to punish evil commands it to occur'.
I agree.

[Xipe Totec]

10. I seriously doubt that Obama is paying for this asshole's mike. nt

[DonViejo]

28. He's on a publicity tour for his new book...

presumably his publishing house is paying for the tour.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

21. And not Harry Reid as well?

[awoke_in_2003]

48. In fairness...

and I cannot stand Harry, but investigations start in the house. Bash him for filibuster reform and I will be right there with you.

[sulphurdunn]

23. Who bankrolled his book?

[emulatorloo]

29. It will be at the Dollar Store soon enough.

Good question, so many big pockets.

[sheshe2]

11. Kai Ryssdal, kicked his ass!

Amazing, and surprising, interview from NPR!

Thank you kpete!

[kpete]

14. I tried to add

REAL Reporter to my headline, but i did not have room

peace, kp

[sheshe2]

18. That doesn't matter, kpete..

Your post and link says it all!

[LuckyLib]

50. Yes! My thought exactly. A REAL journalist who stopped him in his tracks and

said, "Say, what?"

Wish we had more of 'em!

[pangaia]

13. I heard this interview.

Last edited Sat May 18, 2013, 09:37 AM - Edit history (1)

I was driving home from work. The only time I had ever heard this shit speak about anything was during the 'dark period' in interviews.


But last night...I mean he sounded just.. I mean.. just stupid. Like a man who never thought of anything. It was almost worse than listening to the Minnesota moran. I was really stunned. I almost drove off the road. Then I started yelling at the radio at a stop light and a woman in the car next to me must have thought I was nuts..

He didn't sound evil the way Cheney is really and knowingly evil.. just.. totally oblivious to what he had done, oblivious to himself, oblivious to reality...
Where Cheney is a truly evil fuck. This guy is a poster child for the stupid fuck.

[bullwinkle428]

37. I was in the car as well when I heard this, and had about the same reaction as you did!

K&R.

[No Vested Interest]

49. He'll be 81 in July

Age sometimes takes its toll.

[pangaia]

52. I doubt that is his problem, however.

[uponit7771]

59. +1

[tiny elvis]

15. Well, my goodness

Did you ever think about apologizing?

No.

ol' 'shit happens' rummy

he should have quoted hitler

let us godwin the fuck out of this thread

[RainDog]

16. k&r n/t

[spanone]

17. fuck rumsfeld. a boil on the ass of america's history

[Zoeisright]

22. Rumsfeld is still alive, huh?

Rats.

[burnodo]

31. There are things that we know that we don't know we think we know

and those unknown knowns are known only through known unknowns

[danbeee46]

24. War Criminal

"And I concluded then that the United States has to be careful about putting ground forces in because we’re such a big target. And I also over the years came to the conclusion over the years that the United States really wasn’t organized, trained and equipped to do nation-building."

And this is the guy who said, "You don't go to war with the army you want, you go to war with the army you have."
Jail time is appropriate.

[CrispyQ]

43. +1

I'll never forget the army comment. So much arrogance.

We are a nation of laws. One set for the elite & another set for the rest of us. They profited greatly from the war & continue to profit with speaking engagements & book contracts. And the nation looks forward.

Welcome to DU.

on edit: I see you've been around for awhile.

[mwooldri]

26. Kai Ryssdal of American Public Media's Marketplace. *NOT* NPR.

Just because a program is aired on a NPR affilated station doesn't make it a NPR show.

That said, Kai did a pretty darned good interview.

[pangaia]

41. I don't think I have ever heard anybody on any radio station

question any right wing shit the way Ryssdal did. Maybe I am missing something. But I could not believe my ears that he was actually giving it to that little turd right between the eyes.
Imagine Diane Rheim doing that? HA !!

[mwooldri]

62. Talking of Diane Rhem...

I don't think I have ever heard her make or host a confrontational interview. I do find some of her shows quite interesting, but never ever confrontational. My personal pet peeve is with her voice... it is my personal opinion that her voice is not easy on my ear. I do understand she has a medical condition that makes her voice the way it is.

Diane Rehm is a DC Public Radio legacy. I respect her as such, and I hope she continues broadcasting in what ever capacity she wants to do so.

Now if I want a confrontational interview... http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00r2912 - enough said.

[pangaia]

64. I also like Diane Rheim and respect her a great deal.

I was just kind of using her as an example. As interesting as I find NPR to be, they seldom, as far as I know, go after any really serious political topics. It's usually the old 'equal' time and false equivalency thing. ALTHOUGH, I have heard her interrupt people who are getting a little gaga. :&gt

[MH1]

63. I only get to hear the snippet of Marketplace in the morning, and Kai isn't on that anymore

But I always liked him. I've seen others at DU say they didn't care for him, but for a business show I thought it was ok, and I swear I noticed him work in a sly jab from time to time.

[truebluegreen]

27. Unbelievable.

Well, my goodness! I'd give a lot to see this asshat pay for his "mistakes" but I'm afraid my imagination fails to contrive a proportional punishment.

[Roland99]

30. Fucking sociopathic neocon war criminal!

[They_Live]

32. your forgot

narcissistic sycophant.

I've just shortened it down to calling him a "horrible ghoul", to save time.

No conscience in that void. No soul.

[DallasNE]

33. That Is What Questioning Is Supposed To Look Like

But everybody was speaking with such certainty 10 years ago, even when there was a mountain of evidence to the contrary. A good question for Rumsfeld would be "did he ever read Hans Blix report he prepared for the UN". Had he done that he would have known for certain how wrong he and the rest of the Bush's were from the beginning. Something that I have never been able to understand is how 100% of what the Bush team thought they knew about Saddam was wrong. 100%. Except for Shinseki and Larry Lawrence and they were both fired. And Rumsfeld doesn't even blush about that fact. What a shameful man.

[Initech]

35. This asshole is appearing in my town next week.

Like a shit stain on the bottom of the toilet, the BFEE refuses to go away.

[agent46]

36. Herr Rumsfeld

[URL=/][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[timdog44]

44. All these assholes

coming out and either trying to change history or say "gee maybe I would/should have done it differently.

[progressoid]

46. What a horrible horrible person

Assuming he's actually human.

[Utopian Leftist]

51. Figures . . .

He has time to read Napoleon but not McNamara.

One imagines he got around to Mein Kampf, as well.

[watoos]

53. Naomi Klein devoted a portion of the Shock Doctrine to Rummy

Remember the bird flu that was going around? Dead birds were turning up everywhere. It's coming to America. Turns out that Rummy was a big shot in the pharmaceutical company that made Tamiflu. We was asked to divest his stock before the US decided if it was going to purchase massive amounts of Tamiflu. Rummy refused, but instead said he would step out of the room when discussions of purchasing Tamiflu came about. Turns out we indeed did buy massive amounts and Rummy pocketed something like 246 million because of the deal.
He would have been a good snake oil salesman, he's good at it.

[blueknight]

55. fucking prick

he should be getting sexually abused in prison. hopefully the bastard will die a very painful death someday

[coldmountain]

56. First time I ever wanted to give kudos to Kai

[hibbing]

57. "burbling up"?

Hi,
I find that wording very odd. Like the invasion and occupation of Iraq was some natural phenomenon, really weird. Oh, and of course none of these conscious less war criminals will ever apologize in fact, they always say they would do the same thing.

Peace

[mzteris]

61. Comparing himself to Napoleon?

Good lord, he's more delusional than I thought!

[California Expat]

65. late in the interview

"...if intelligence were a fact, it wouldn't be intelligence."

[Botany]

67. Well, my goodness, ..., "I've been mistaken so many times, I don't even blush for it anymore

"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."

......
And somewhere in D.C. today repugs will talk about the IRS and Benghazi.

[Ganja Ninja]

68. Some people should be hanged for their crimes ...

and some people should be hanged simply to be rid of them. This guy qualifies on both counts.

[Grins]

69. Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to. (Mark Twain)

Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to. (Mark Twain)