A quote by rumsfeld that should get a bit more air time

[Toots]

"Democracy, we know, is messy and needs tidying up a bit when we don’t like the results."

He was speaking of Iraq but it doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to think how they feel about our Democracy here at home..

[kittenpants]

1. "oops, did I say that out loud?"

OMG, when did he say that one?!

[derby378]

2. Does Diebold ring a bell?

Along with ES&S, Sequoia, etc.?



http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3969238247

[glaucon]

3. Link?

...please?

[Toots]

4. From a speech by Ron Paul

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3452511

Ron Paul said rumsfeld said this, I don't have the actual quote but I believe Ron Paul and have never caught him in an untruth.

[NashVegas]

5. I'm Reminded of Another Saying

"Democracies never war against each other."

The implications are interesting, aren't they?

[derby378]

6. No Rumsfeld quote yet, but check out Bremer

This might help:

http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/2004/tr20040223-0483.html

Bremer: You come at a good time in the political transition which is really gaining quite a lot of momentum now. We're in the process of working with the Governing Council to finish up the transition law which we'll finish by Saturday.

It's one of a series of major steps towards full Iraqi sovereignty and democracy over the next year and a half as laid out in the September 15th agreement which provides for this transition law to get finished up the end of February, sovereignty will be returned to an Iraqi transitional government on June 30th, and we will then have at least three elections next year according to the November 15th agreement. An election for a constituent assembly, ratification of the constitution that assembly writes, and then elections by the end of next year.

My sense is there's a lot of momentum behind this desire for democracy here. We have had town hall meetings, selections of provincial councils, meetings of women's associations, human rights associations, NGOs, going on all over this country. There's a real thirst for democracy out there.

I had a very interesting meeting with the Baghdad City Council yesterday and you could just hear how much people are anxious to move forward. They're curious about it, they don't understand all what we mean by democracy, but there's a real interest in it. I think it's an important message that this thrust is really very strong right now.

Anyway, you're here at an interesting time.

Questions?

Q: Do they know what democracy is, and what are you doing to try to explain it to them? It's kind of a messy thing, sort of not working as planned.

Bremer: Democracy is messy. I mean, at the Baghdad City Council yesterday. What's tidy is dictatorship. We did that here, and that's gone and they're glad it's gone. Now we have democracy and it's untidy, it's complicated. When you have a process of finding a transitional government by June 30th and you can't do elections as the U.N. has concluded, you're thrown back on a variety of different complicated ways to get that transitional government chosen.

But if you look at the polls, and polling is still primitive here, poll after poll you'll find 85 percent say we want democracy right away or we want democracy. They say democracy means, interestingly, not just majority rule but protecting minority rights. The polls show for things like freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, you will find over 90 percent in one poll we have supporting those things.

So if you think of democracy in terms of the fundamental rights that democracy protects, there's quite a strong understanding of that. I think in accordance again with the outline of the November 15th agreement, we'll find a strong bill of rights, as we would call it, written into this transitional law that shows there's a real understanding of these elements of democracy. They haven't experienced it but they understand the elements.



http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3969238247

[Freedom_from_Chains]

7. Well Bush said that he thought a dictatorship was ok,

as long as he was the dictator.

So what else would you expect from the rank and file?

[derby378]

8. Heeeeeeere's Donny!! (CNN)

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/04/11/sprj.irq.pentagon/

"Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things," Rumsfeld said. "They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things. And that's what's going to happen here."

Looting, he added, was not uncommon for countries that experience significant social upheaval. "Stuff happens," Rumsfeld said.



http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3969238247

[cliss]

9. Well, this sounds just like RumsFailed.

No surprises here. "Free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes.." Really?

Then why did Paul Bremer shut down Al-Sadr's small newsletter which was critical of the US occupation? Which subsequently caused riots and a seething population in Iraq.

What RumsFinished means here, of course, is that free people can do whatever they want. As long as the US is overseeing them, that is.