'This is war,' Rumsfeld told Bush [wash times]

[truthisfreedom]

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040223-012306-4708r.htm

'This is war,' Rumsfeld told Bush

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's determination to kill terrorists and transform the military is detailed in "Rumsfeld's War" (Regnery Publishing Inc.), the new book by Rowan Scarborough, defense reporter for The Washington Times. Exclusive excerpts begin today.
    
    
    Donald H. Rumsfeld sat in a vault-like room studded with video screens and talked with President Bush as the Pentagon burned.
    "This is not a criminal action," the secretary of defense told Bush over a secure line. "This is war."
    The word "war" meant more than going after the al Qaeda terrorist network in Afghanistan, the fault line of terrorism. Bush said he wanted retaliation.
    The setting was the Pentagon's Executive Support Center, where Rumsfeld held secure video teleconferences with the White House across the Potomac or with ground commanders 10,000 miles away.
    The time was 1:02 p.m., less than four hours after terrorists steered American Flight 77 into the Pentagon's southwest wall.
<snip>

[JaySherman]

1. He knew! He knew! He knew!

He had the battle plans drawn already! Ruthless bastard! :mad:

[bluestateguy]

2. War

We went war in Afghanistan and did not finish the job. That country is a basket case. We declared victory to early--which would not be the last time this Administration would do that--and became preoccupied with Iraq. If they have more wars planned in other countries they can count me out. I shall not participate.

[leesa]

13. Hello? We bombed a country for ten months to catch a handful of

alleged criminals. What happened on 9-11 was a criminal action, you don't bomb countries for the acts of a few criminals. When one of our home-grown terrorists plants a bomb in Paris, will you feel it is justified to have Europe carpet bomb us for ten months???

THINK.

[indepat]

16. No, they would not be justified, but were they as heavy-handed and had

as much military superiority as we, carpet bombing might well be an option.

[tabasco]

23. Hello. We had just cause to invade Afghanistan.

But not Iraq. Al qaeda was camped out there and training with the blessing of the Taliban. The poster you responded to is correct.

[sweetheart]

30. It was unecessary, and Osama would be in custody today...

had we taken him and then used covert means to put the taliban down.

They were prepared to hand him over.

The war was heavy handed, has achieved just another broken state.

Well geesh, we had just cause to destroy another country and fuck
over all their people.

Imagine if Russia used military threats to get america to turn over a russian terrorist suspect, and then launched an all out war because we refused.... your logic is not reciprocal... when it is
reciprocal, your whole line of argument falls apart.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

34. We had "just cause" because we were told we did?...

Think about who told us this in the first place, and then think about how many lies they've told us since then. Even the FBI told a congressional committee in 2002 that they couldn't be sure of the identites of the so-called hijackers. And how is it that six of the hijackers attended military schools in the U. S.?

Still want to believe Al Qaeda was responsible? Were the Taliban responsible? Were the innocent Afghani civilians responsible?

Still want to believe we had "just cause"?

THINK.

[Occulus]

3. wow

BIG mistake to let this slip:

"Rumsfeld's instant declaration of war,"

The Secretary of Defense is not the authority denoted under the Constitution that is invested with the power of declaring war. That power lies with Congress and Congress alone, and for very good reason- the exact process we're seeing right now. This exact situation, these morally reprehensible yet politically expedient military actions against not one but two nations, is precisely what 'seperation of powers' is intended to prevent.

In other words, our military must never be put in charge of declaring or orchestrating a war. War and its management must lie beyind the authority of those who wage it.

All this drip drip stuff, though, mught not lead to an investigation until * is out of office. I can only hope.

[Bridget Burke]

9. Rumsfeld is not "the military"

True, he did actually served. But his Navy stint was between Korea & Vietnam. I believe he was quite active on the Navy wrestling team. He's never seen a war.

I remember that quite a few highly placed military were not in favor of invading Iraq.

[Occulus]

21. Oh, I know that

but, in his mind, he apparently thinks he's all of the military, Congressional authority, and all others involved, all rolled into one.

"Rumsfeld's War," indeed.

[Snow]

28. Isn't Scretary of War - excuse ne, Defense - head of the

military, albeit a civilian, and albeit bush is commander-in-chief?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

35. Rumsfeld is part of the organization that took control of the...

...centers of the U. S. Government in December 2000. Therefore, the government no longer operates the way it once did.

They can do anything they please, and have done so for more than three years.

[Oilwellian]

26. Let's also not forget

The military shouldn't be allowed to provide intel to support a war, and dismiss our traditional intel sources. The Pentagon's OSP did just that.

[2004Donkeys]

4. Why is this so surprising?

Everybody knew we were going to war on 9/11.

[ConsAreLiars]

6. only a moron

or a fool would believe that the 9/11 terrorist attacks justified war any more than the bombing of the the federal building in Oklahoma City called for war. Unfortunately, your president is both a moron and a fool, and those that lead him are worse than that.

[Bridget Burke]

8. Apparently, some knew before 9/11

They really needed a galvanizing "2nd Pearl Harbor" sort of event.

They let it happen.

[htuttle]

14. But, not everyone knew we were going to war on 9/10...

...except for a few people in Washington.

[Journeyman]

5. Certainly no rush to judgment there. . .

n/t

[waldenx]

7. Bush replied:

"no shit, dumbass...we made it happen."

[Khephra]

10. There was a Rumsfeld press conference

before 9/11 that I was watching. At one point in it, he went off about how we didn't know what would be happening in the next few months in Asia. He started foaming at the mouth and acting really hostile. It was really freaking weird.

I've been trying to find the transcript for it ever since, but to no avail.

[nodehopper]

20. Hmmm.

I remember reading at a bunch of 9-11 detailing what happenned that day websites that Rummy was talking to the press and right as he was talking about terrorism and how a terrorist attack was imminenent the plane crashed.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. If Rummie knew at 1:02 PM that this was war

How come he didn't know shit at 8:45 AM (approx) when he was told by Victoria Clark that the first tower had been hit? Why did he just continue on with the meeting he was preciding over as if a jet flying into the WTC in NYC was no big deal? Why did he sit on his hands and do nothing until after the Pentagon was hit?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. Rummy was telling his military commanders in the Pentagon to prepare...

...for attacking Iraq minutes after the airliner crashed into the Pentagon.

[BigDaddyLove]

19. Actually, he was helping wounded people out of the building......

But don't let that get in the way of your fantasies.

[bobbyboucher]

25. Talk about fantasies!

If the Bushies told you the sky is green and the grass is red you'd probably change all your paintings and digitally enhance all your photos to bring them up to date with your newfound realization that the sky is green and the grass is red.

FYI, they are pathological liars. They would tell you anything to get you to be a unquestioning drone. Look around you, it works like magic. Don't forget the mirror.

[underpants]

15. How many arrests has the US made related to 9/11?

:shrug:

[htuttle]

17. Arrests? Thousands

Indictments? One -- Zacarias Moussaoui. And they might have to let him go.
Trials? Zero
Convictions? Zero

Osama bin Laden was never even charged for 9/11 -- only for the Cole or embassy bombings, IIRC.

[underpants]

18. Thousands? The prisoners at Gitmo have not been arrested

they are being "held".

This is as I understand it.

Yes Moussaoui is the only one indicted and he was in jail ON 9/11.

[fjc]

22. Regnery Press = right-wing publishing arm.

These guys are as opposed to the democratic culture in America as are the people we're allegedly at war with.

[JoFerret]

24. Sounds like total puffery

and Rummy-worship.

[Cocoa]

27. yes, this is fiction

I bet there are a lot of dramatic movie-like scenes in that stupid book.

[berry]

29. Where was *Bush during this teleconference at 1:02pm?

Oh, I suppose they have secure video-teleconferencing capability on AF1... Or was *Bush already in Louisiana by then? Something seems wrong about the timing here. And in this excerpt they only say Rumsfeld can communicate with the WH and with "ground commanders" (whatever that means).

But I haven't gone to look at the washtimes article yet. Indeed, this book is a propaganda effort--but probably it could be sifted for more lies, and then analyzed to figure out why they felt the need to lie in each case.

All this propaganda and all the lies also serve a less-than-obvious purpose--to make the opposition spend huge amounts of time countering them. Unfortunately, we have no choice but to spend time this way, but not forever, one hopes. This credibility gap --> chasm consoles me that people are recognizing the lies for the lies they are.

ON EDIT--I just read the whole exerpt. WOW! It is FULL of ammunition for attacking the whole agenda of this sick regime. Please everybody--go read the whole article. It's disgusting, but we do need to know what and how these creeps think. They're going to keep publishing exerpts--I wonder how to read the whole book without buying it.... I think they have no idea how repulsed most non-neocon readers will be.

[Sgt. Peppers]

31. to many coincidence's don't you think.

Columbo would have a field day with this stuff.

[dArKeR]

32. Bush 'wanted war in 2002' - Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1154473,00.html

"On February 16 2002, Bush signed a secret national security council directive establishing the goals and objectives for going to war with Iraq, according to classified documents I obtained," Mr Scarborough wrote, in an account of the "global war on terrorism" as seen from the office of Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

36. The groundwork for war in the Middle East was laid when the PNACers...

..stated that the American people needed "another Pearl Harbor" to galvanize them into action.

[Manix]

33. ..a frightening tale of a warmonger in action.

nt