Rumsfeld on Surprise Visit to Baghdad

[cal04]

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Iraq on Thursday as the United States struggled to quell criticism over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American military guards.
The embattled secretary, traveling under tight security to a country where more than 700 U.S. troops have died since last year, landed at Baghdad airport and later began meetings with senior U.S. military officers in the capital.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3710327.stm

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Iraq (news - web sites) on Thursday as the United States struggled to quell criticism over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American military guards.


The embattled secretary, traveling under tight security to a country where more than 700 U.S. troops have died since last year, landed at Baghdad airport and later began meetings with senior U.S. military officers in the capital.

Rumsfeld denied on a 15-hour flight from Washington that the Pentagon (news - web sites) was trying to cover up the scandal at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. "If anybody thinks that I'm (in Iraq) to throw water on a fire, they're wrong," he told reporters aboard his aircraft.

"We care about the detainees being treated right. We care about soldiers behaving right. We are about command systems working," he added.


Other U.S. defense officials said the sudden trip by Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, chairman of the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, was triggered by the recent publication of photographs of U.S. military guards humiliating naked Iraqi prisoners.


"This is a terrible tragedy. We're not going to ever say it's not," said Myers. But "I think we absolutely have the high moral ground" in Iraq, he told reporters.

He was accompanied by Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and some of the Pentagon's most senior lawyers.

They planned to meet the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez (search), and other senior commanders.



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20040513/ts_nm/iraq_rumsfeld_dc

[ps1074]

1. the whole administration is in damage control mode

eom

[saigon68]

13. THE CRIMINAL RETURNS TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME

Maybe Lynnde shoud have come along to give rummy lessons in leash holding.

[TahitiNut]

28. Can't trust electroninc communications to be "off the record"

He's gotta talk face-to-face to be sure there's no record. "Plausible deniability" can't tolerate the chance of recordings of any kind.

Let's remember that, in the Chain of Command, Sanchez reports directly to Rumsfeld who reports to Bush (on Cheney's lap). Myers is on staff (advisory) to DimSon (that's what "Chief of Staff" means).

Honest command protocol encourages "AVO" (Avoid Verbal Orders) but Rummy and DimSon rely on F2F verbal exchanges for "off the record" deniability.

[yardwork]

56. Thank you for posting this!

This is absolutely why he is going in person. To give Verbal Orders to destroy evidence.

Those bleeping bleeping rats.

[aquart]

2. You mean, he got off the tarmac? He left the airport?

O Brave Rummy!

Did you bring a planeload of body armor?

[ze_dscherman]

3. The Iraqis will be happy about this

And the troops on the ground will be sooo pleased to protect him.

[AnnitaR]

4. You have to be fucking kidding me??????

(posted this on the other thread too, but it bears repeating)

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:
:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

Gee, Rummy you were at that prison once before! Too damn bad you couldn't give two shits about what was going on back then!

Gotta admit these assholes are good at getting the press!

Maybe someone will tie a leash around his neck and parade him naked through the prison!

[ze_dscherman]

5. "I think we absolutely have the high moral ground"

Myers - what an unbelievable POS. This kind of haughtiness is what may destroy the U.S.

:puke::grr::puke::grr::puke::grr::puke::grr:

Or, as to quote the Jewish painter Max Liebermann, when the Nazis took power in Germany:

"I can't eat as much as I want to puke."

[wtmusic]

He thinks so, absolutely

Certainty like that is VERY reassuring

[primavera]

46. Tells you something about his thinking though, doesn't it?

That he considers the fact that he personally believes us to still have the moral high ground to be somehow meaningful, even though the rest of the world plainly does not share that perception suggests that morality for him is an absolute, which can still be righteous even were every other person on the planet to oppose that view. There's a word for that mindset and it's called zealotry.

[wtmusic]

47. To me it just sounds like he's trying to convince himself

of something he doesn't believe. No conviction whatsoever.

[Just Me]

51. That "high moral ground" statement stunned me, too.

And, I can't even post my thoughts at this moment except to say that we have some very evil people running this country. God help us.

[primavera]

53. Doesn't it make you wonder how they sleep at night?

It just takes my breath away to listen to old Rumsferatu continue to drone on about how this is just a few bad apples. As more and more cases of torture are revealed, it's just a few more bad apples. Now that it's coming to light that we've been doing this all along in Gitmo, it's just a few more bad apples, never any reflection on him or the administration he serves, oh no, it's all somebody else's fault, why, the entirety of the armed forces could come to be considered "bad apples" and it would never reflect on him or his policies in the slightest!

And Repukes have the audacity to claim that Dems don't support the troops? Excuse me, but I don't see any Dems trying to faust responsibility for their decisions off onto the troops.

[tabasco]

58. Visions of "They Live"

Rumsfeld in full-reptile mode grinning his maniacal grin for the newsreel cameras, with a selected crowd of gung ho supporters. God, I hate to see these bastards use the military for their propaganda. Now, the whore media will show Rumsfeld and Myers being greeted by an adoring military crowd. Makes me want to :puke:

[Just Me]

63. Using/abusing our military for propaganda purposes makes me wanna

:puke: too!!!

[Piperay]

6. Seriously I thought this was a joke

that by accident I had gone into the Lounge instead of Breaking News, can't believe that ass actually has gone there. :wtf:

[maddezmom]

7. wonder why they brought the Pentagon lawyers?

[lumpy]

65. Pentagon lawyers are calling the shots

and are now using the Geneva Conventions to cover up the evidence. Their advice is to discontinue releasing videos/pictures of the 'abuse' since it isn't allowable under the Convention rules. Bushco has 'abused' so many of the tenets of the Geneva Convention one wouldn't know where to begin enumerating them.

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Must be too hot in DC today?

Or is Rummie just another criminal wanting to revisit the scene of his crimes?

[Don_G]

9. Maybe He Needed To Go To A Place

For a few days where "his" control of the press is absolute?

[nodehopper]

24. for some reason I thought

you were going to say Where Everybody Knows His Name,

But then I realized that's true of everywhere in the world right now.

[0007]

10. Puke

[opihimoimoi]

11. Most likely to get first hand info. from the civie and Intel people

shown in one the photos. The Guard(scheduled to trial) is fingering a couple of higher ups that ordered the photo sessions caught on a photo from an unexpected source on the second floor. He will make sure they come to the trial as mat witnesses.(per CNN)

This will bring down the whole bag of shit to the fan.

[Jacobin]

12. Criminal returning to the scene of the crime

What a scumbag. Heat in Washington too much for ya, ya lying sack of shit?

[ze_dscherman]

14. BBC ticker says he's visiting Abu Ghraib

No link yet

[Shopaholic]

16. If this administration got any more transparent

they'd be invisible! Do the American people not see this for what it is--a shameful publicity stunt!:grr:

[dbt]

15. Another plastic turkey for the troops.

"We care about the detainees being treated right. We care about soldiers behaving right. We are about command systems working," he added.

Since WHEN?

:puke:
dbt

[Andrushka]

17. "Welcome to Baghdad again, sir!"

Rummy: "Why, thank you. Actually, we have brought a turkey for you to place as a decoration in the mess hall. I think General Myers brought it."

Colonel: "Thank you, sir!"

Rummy: "First, with respect to the..."

Myers: "We did not bring it."

Rummy: "Oh, my."

Myers: "Yes, oh, my is right."

Rummy: "It was all prepared!"

Myers: "Yes, it was, indeed."

:crazy:

[Ilsa]

18. My first laugh of the day...

Thanks, that's was good!

[myrna minx]

41. Lol...thanks...I needed a good laugh.

:hi: Welcome to DU.

[BiggJawn]

19. How may virgins did it take?

To fill the tub for this Ghoul to take his rejuvenating blood bath? He wanted it fresh and warm this time,thus, the trip...

[frank frankly]

33. quite true

i also agree with the previous post that points out there will be no record of face to face conversations.

perhaps they are fortifying their limited nuremburg defense...

[myrna minx]

42. LOL! Is Rummy a direct descendant of Elizabeth Bathory?

:shrug: Hmmm...

[fryguy]

20. apparently this administrations solution to everything is

tax cuts and surprise visits to Iraq.....

:puke: :argh: :puke: :argh: :puke: :argh: :puke: :argh: :puke: :argh: :puke: :argh: :puke:

[BLUEBOY]

21. Does any one have photo shop?

I have a great idea for a nice photo of Rummy in the prison. :-)

[PATRICK]

22. Glossies no longer enough

Attache case stuffed with Viagra, an 8Megapixel SONY digital camera, and select files, Secretary of Offense Rumsfeld arrives at the prison and takes his seat behind a peephole looking out on the day's activities.

Next stop: the men's prison.

[TryingToWarnYou]

23. Makes you wonder what he saw in the other photos

that made him come over on short notice....

[Jack Rabbit]

25. Interesting

From the BBC piece:

Mr Rumsfeld told reporters that, while he was willing for all such pictures to be released, lawyers were advising against it on the grounds that such images could be construed as degrading to the prisoners - and thus be in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
"At the present moment, I don't know anyone in the legal shops in any element of the government that is recommending that," he said.

All of a sudden Rummy like the Geneva Conventions. If he can use them to say it ties his hands and keeps him from releasing the pictures that would further embarrass him, he likes the Geneva Conventions.

He doesn't like them so much when they tell him that torturing POWs and other protected persons is forbidden, but if they can keep him from making the evidence against him public, he likes them.

[Cocoa]

26. "Don" is beloved among the Iraqi people

He really bonded with them a year ago, with his "Address to the people of Iraq"

http://www.dod.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20030430-secdef0138.html

Rumsfeld: Hello. I'm Don Rumsfeld, the American secretary of Defense. I am delighted to be able to visit Baghdad and Iraq, your country, to witness the liberation of the country. The American people share your joy and pleasure that the tyranny that was here is gone. We've watched you embrace your freedom: pulling down statues of Saddam Hussein, worshipping freely for the first time in decades, debating the future of your country, and even raising your voices in dissent on some occasion, but without fear of torture or death.

more...

[lebkuchen]

32. Thank you for posting that

It's a keeper

[Sparkle]

27. Did he bring a plastic turkey with him?

[ze_dscherman]

29. He knows no shame: Rumsfeld visits Abu Ghraib prison

Embattled US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has arrived at Abu Ghraib prison, scene of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3710327.stm

[BLUEBOY]

30. I say reenact the Torture to give him the full effect...

and use him as the detainee! Don't worry Rummy it's only abuse not torture now bend over A@#hole. :hurts:

[ze_dscherman]

31. Maybe Rush will play some surprise fraternity prank on him there n/t

n/t

[mulethree]

67. yess put him in a stress position for 12 hours

and see if he still finds it more humane than other forms of torture

Kind of like using a rubber hose instead of a whip, same pain just no permanant marks.

[DFWJock]

34. Suprise!!!

New leashes and hoods for everyone!! Woo Hoo!!!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

35. No Donald..we all know this admin prefers to throw gas on fire

then pretend they treated us to a fireworks show and we are all just a bunch of ingrates who don't realize everything you have done for us.

[wtmusic]

36. Such humility

Myers: "We're not going to ever say it's not <a terrible tragedy>." So noble of you to TELL THE FUCKING TRUTH!! COMES WITH THE JOB ASSHOLE!!

[DU GrovelBot]

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[nolabels]

55. Hey there Mr. Grovebot ! So nice of you to make it here

&imgrefurl=http://users.jagunet.com/~disrael/weekly030806.htm&h=745&w=600&sz=323&tbnid=Hkz74xObswUJ:&tbnh=139&tbnw=112&start=1&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dplausible%2Bdeniability%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

I Will Survive
Why Bush (probably) won't dump Rumsfeld.
By Fred Kaplan
Updated Friday, May 7, 2004, at 3:49 PM PT
(snip)
Rumsfeld said nothing at today's hearings to exonerate himself. Quite the contrary. He admitted that he'd failed at one of his most important jobs—to keep the president informed of important matters. "I failed to recognize how important it was to elevate to a higher level," he said. Asked when he first told the president about the reports of torture, Rumsfeld replied, "I don't know." There were "thousands of things" that came up to his level in the Pentagon, and it was hard to say that this should be one of the few to bring to the president's attention.

Even now, the secretary seems to miss the point. He appears to think the issue is not the torture but the photographs. He didn't tell the president because, as he put it, "The problem at that point was one-dimensional. It wasn't three-dimensional. It wasn't photographs and video." At several points in the hearings, he talked about the unique problems posed by "the information age."
(snip)
http://slate.msn.com/id/2100201

[Andrushka]

38. Rummy inspects Abu Ghraib

Oh my.

[lebkuchen]

39. He's not there on a morale visit, that's for sure

The 1ID is very unhappy w/Rummy right now.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=22151

R&R slots for 1st ID troops cut by nearly 85 percent through mid-June

Following a query from Stars and Stripes last Friday, the task force was unable to make a spokesman available to discuss the impact of cutbacks on units other than 1st ID. But according to an article in the latest edition of the Desert Voice — an Army command publication circulated on bases in Kuwait — the total number of R&R slots available to all troops was cut from 470 per day to 85 per day for May 1-June 15.

The article also said instead of flying troops home on chartered aircraft, they will be given tickets for commercial flights. When charter flights do resume, the stateside hub will shift from Baltimore to Atlanta. Dallas also might become a hub.

The 1st ID’s share of R&R slots is 612 for the full six weeks, or fewer than 14 per day. It expects to receive its full 80 slots per day beginning June 15 and continuing through Nov. 30 — when the division’s R&R window closes — according to the memo. Soldiers may not take R&R during their first three months or last two months in Iraq, according to Department of Defense policy.

The division had hoped to send most, if not all, of its soldiers home for the 15-day leave. The May and June reductions now mean only about 65 percent will get it, the memo predicted.

[ramapo]

40. Maybe a reunion with Saddam?

Update that old handshake photo.

[dArKeR]

43. 'Caring' Rumsfeld roars into Iraq - IOL

By Charles Aldinger

Baghdad - US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Iraq on Thursday as the United States struggled to quell criticism over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American military guards.

The embattled secretary, travelling under tight security to a country where more than 700 US troops have died since last year's invasion, landed at Baghdad airport and later began meetings with senior US military officers.

Rumsfeld denied on a 15-hour flight from Washington that the Pentagon was trying to cover up the scandal at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

"If anybody thinks that I'm (in Iraq) to throw water on a fire, they're wrong," he told reporters aboard his aircraft.

http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=qw1084438981149B262&set_id=1

[jeanmarc]

44. Can Iraq get a restraining order on visits from the neocons?[nt]

[Q]

45. "Detainees"?

- They just don't get it. ( Or maybe they do). There is a (Bush*) declared 'war' on terror. Anyone captured in that 'war' must be considered a prisoner of war. Calling them detainees is an insult to all those who think the Geneva Convention is there to protect ALL prisoners. If they didn't want to abide by international law...they should have never called it a war.

[NickB79]

48. Is Rummy gonna have a "accident" while over there?

First thought that went through my mind is that they're sending him off to die as a martyr and fall on his sword, literally.

[ze_dscherman]

49. Reuters: Rumsfeld Flies Into Eye of Iraqi Storm, Sees Jail

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld flew into the eye of the Iraqi storm on Thursday and denied his surprise visit was a publicity stunt to repair the damage from a scandal over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

SNIP

During his half-hour tour of the site in an armored bus, most of the 3,000 prisoners kept in razor-wire compounds looked on impassively, but some shook fists or gave thumbs-down signs.

"We told ourselves that the right thing to do was to come out here and look you folks in the eye," Rumsfeld told U.S. guards in the prison mess hall after meeting Major General Geoffrey Miller, the new commander in charge of jails in Iraq.

"In recent months the things that happened at this base happened under our responsibility and it has been a body blow for all of us...Don't let anyone tell you that America is what's wrong with the world because it's not.

"We will get through this tough period, no doubt about it."

http://news.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5134520

[MadHound]

50. Sorry Rumbum, but your actions belie your words

"Rumsfeld denied on a 15-hour flight from Washington that the Pentagon (news - web sites) was trying to cover up the scandal at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. "If anybody thinks that I'm (in Iraq) to throw water on a fire, they're wrong," he told reporters aboard his aircraft."

Sorry, but the personell he brought on the trip show up Rummy's words for the lies they are, to wit "He was accompanied by Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and some of the Pentagon's most senior lawyers."

This is a CYA mission, pure and simple. Get the lawyers together with the perps so that everyone can get their story straight before the next wave of photos is released. I know that the misadministration would love to keep those pics under wraps, but they know as wwell as I do that in this day and age of electronic information they can't. The photos were shipped home, emailed around the world, put into the hands of friends and family. How long before some enterprising ISP director goes through his machines and pulls out some images to put on the web? Or a money strapped relative sells that CD of pics to the National Enquirer?

It is not a matter of if anymore, it is simply a matter of when. Thus, Rumbo heads off with the top cadre of lawyers to play CYA for himself and the rest of Bushco before the shit starts hitting the fan.

[Bridget Burke]

52. They always complain about lawyers....

"Frivolous lawsuits" and such.

But they're the first ones to get "lawyered up" when they're in trouble.

[diamond14]

54. PHOTO: rummy needs more fresh blood (the vampires photo)

thanks to monkeyfister at
www.bartcop.com

[goclark]

57. Phony photo op!

I caught the end of the phony Town Hall Meeting.
This is my take on it..

Rummy trying to look happy
Troops behind him had this new "casual look." Usually they are standing at attention like Nazis.

The troops in the back drop appeared, to my eyes, to only contain one minority. He looked Asian. The quick shots that I got looked like a sea of White.

Was not able to see those in the upper deck that did not have the benefit of a mike. I hope like hell that those in the balcony were not the Minority soldiers. Usually they put at least 2 highly visible African Americans that are clapping on cue.
Because I am African American I am very sensitive to the way my people are used/abused by this administration.

With all the billions of $$'s that we have spent on this war, are they trying to tell me that they would schedule a Town Hall meeting without microphones that work!?

That is sooo PHONY it makes me puke!

And, if that is an indication of the value that they place on our soldiers that is the tip of the ice berg. The "clapping on demand" responses are not reality. You can't tell me that the questions were not plants.

[demlandslide2004]

59. Rumsfeld new about it all

I can't wait for this trash to resign.

[Merlin]

60. It'll Play Like Garth Brooks In The Red States.

That's the opinion of my son who's a correspondent in Asia and just sent me this:

Pop,
Gives me no joy to say it, but you gotta hand it to Rummy, that sonofabitch. This surprise trip and hoo-ah! town hall meeting with the boys and gals in uniform, nauseating as it is, is a tactical master stroke. It'll rightly be ridiculed by the Dowds and Krugmans among us, but it'll play like Garth Brooks in the red states. Probably the single smartest play he could have made under the circumstances, and he's the weasel to make it.
J

[fryguy]

61. does no one at camp smirk read anymore?

"I've stopped reading newspapers," Rumsfeld quipped to the troops here. "You've got to keep your sanity somehow. I'm a survivor."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20040513/ap_on_re_mi_ea/rumsfeld_iraq_21

[BLUEBOY]

64. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil!

Chimpy's master plan...

[fryguy]

71. see no evil and hear no evil

but they sure do speak nothing but evil....

[Corgigal]

62. Rummy

Rummy and company are bring over a butt load of cash because the soliders who have the duplicate pictures on disk don't trust the Govt check. They trusted the Govt before when they joined the reserves and sure as hell don't now.

[arwalden]

66. No Pictures Posing With A Fake Plastic Turkey?

[killbotfactory]

68. Are they gonna strip him naked and ride him like a donkey?

Maybe sodomize him with a chemical light? You just know Rummy's into that kind of stuff.

[Kool Kitty]

73. Oh, good God. Now I have to wash my brain out

with lye soap. What an image.

On a heavier note-shouldn't this son of a bitch have made this journey in January, when he first "heard" of the abuse? (I put "heard" in quotes, because I believe they knew all about this way before January of 2004.)

[ignatius]

69. The Toledo Blade won a pulitzer prize last month for exposing

war crimes in Vietnam. The Tiger Force, an elite unit, had 18 members who were found to have tortured prisoners, raped women and killed civilians. No one was court martialed and the secretary of defense at the time was....drum rolllll...Donald Rumsfeld.

Read it and weep.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0419/turse.php

[daleo]

70. Maybe he is there to congratulate some people

On a really well done black op. He wants to make sure they get rid of the knife, though.

OK, I am kidding. But I am kidding on the square.

[The Stranger]

72. An excellent move, Mr. Rove.

You got him out of D.C. and feigned taking the brunt of the criticism by going to the prison itself. The hearings and testimony and calls for his head now seem so far away.

Very well done indeed, Mr. Rove.

[Jack Rabbit]

74. To the Abu Ghraib inmates who gave Rummy thumbs down

:thumbsup:

[dArKeR]

75. `Rummie' heads into eye of storm - TT

REUTERS , BAGHDAD
Friday, May 14, 2004,Page 1

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Baghdad yesterday, flying into the eye of the storm over Americans torturing prisoners that has sapped Washington's credibility in Iraq.

Hours after US lawmakers viewed "sadistic" new photographs of US troops torturing Iraqis, the embattled secretary met Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the US commander in Iraq, and Major General Geoffrey Miller, the new head of US prisons there.

It was not clear whether he would visit the nearby Abu Ghraib jail itself, where seven military police reservists are charged with sexually and physically tormenting detainees.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2004/05/14/2003155382