Rummy re: Iraq: "It's winnable and doable"

[sabra]

http://newsblaze.com/story/20061016104812tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Stories.html

<snip>

Rumsfeld shared the sentiment a wounded Marine at the National Naval Medical Hospital in Bethesda, Md., offered him over the weekend. "If the American people will only give us time, it will work," Rumsfeld said the Marine, an embedded trainer with the Iraqi army, told him. "I see that it is working," the Marine said.

"It's winnable and doable," Rumsfeld said of the Iraq conflict, but he offered no projection about when the United States will begin bringing its forces home.

"Conditions on the ground will determine (the timetable for drawing down the force in Iraq)," he said. "A timeline benefits the enemy, because all they have to do is wait us out."

Rumsfeld emphasized important benchmarks toward that goal, with Iraqis getting to the point where they can provide their own governance and security. He called Iraq's reconciliation process "critical" for its government to get the degree of support it needs.

[Eurobabe]

1. Rummy's got shit for brains, he's been smoking too much crack lately.

n/t

[SpreadItAround]

2. Cue the O RLY? owl

[Hippo_Tron]

3. Sorry Rummy, you go into an election with the Iraq you have...

Not the Iraq you wish you had.

[caledesi]

7. That is great, HT! nt

[gratuitous]

4. And Plan B when those "benchmarks" don't materialize?

I mean, other than blame the people who said your scheme is neither doable nor winnable. What's your contingency plan, Mr. Rumsfeld, for when those "benchmarks" aren't achieved, or when the forces against reconciliation turn out to be more powerful than the forces for reconciliation? Because reality on the ground sure doesn't seem to be trending in your favor right now.

[SharonAnn]

11. Then why hasn't he WON IT and DONE IT?

[Crankie Avalon]

5. He repeats a wounded Jarhead's wishful delusion but ignores the Generals

...who actually have the experience, acumen, and most importantly the most complete picture/information about what is going down over there?

The words of some poor, simple, maimed-for-no-good-reason grunt who has the understandable need to believe his sacrifice was for something worthwhile Rumsfeld is happy to exploit but military analysts whose business it is to be unemotional, rational, and as fully informed of the whole situation as possible when finding solutions to problems (e.g., to either get out or put in much more troops rather than "stay the course"/more of the same) Rumsfeld doesn't bother with.

If Rumseld had any honor, he wouldn't be able to look that wounded Marine in the face, let alone to keep exploiting him.

[Hubert Flottz]

6. "Six Weeks...Six Months at the most!"

SURE!

[Disturbed]

9. Of course a War Criminal would say that.

Rumsfeld Shouldn't be Fired, He Should be Indicted
by Matthew Rothschild

“Secretary Rumsfeld has publicly admitted that . . . he ordered an Iraqi national held in Camp Cropper, a high security detention center in Iraq, to be kept off the prison’s rolls and not presented to the International Committee of the Red Cross,” the report noted. The Geneva Conventions require countries to grant the Red Cross access to all detainees. “

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0418-24.htm

Recently it has been found out that even more detainees were "ghost detainees". The fact that Rumsfeld has not been charged speaks volumes. If Congress wishes to garner any respect they should move forward with Impeachment Declaration of Rumsfeld.


Further Evidence Rumsfeld Implicated in War Crimes
Please read this important post by Marty Lederman, Army Confirms: Rumsfeld Authorized Criminal Conduct.

Here's a key section, but there's more:
The Army's charges against Jordan reflect the view, undoubtedly correct, that the use of forced nudity or intimidation with dogs against detainees subject to military control constitutes cruelty and maltreatment that Article 93 makes criminal. It doesn't matter whether they are or are not "torture," as such; nor does it matter whether the armed forces should be permitted to use such interrogation techniques: As things currently stand, they are unlawful, as even the Army now acknowledges.

But then how can we account for the actions of the Secretary of Defense and his close aides?

On November 27, 2002, Pentagon General Counsel William Haynes, following discussions with Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz, General Myers, and Doug Feith, informed the Secretary of Defense that forced nudity and the use of the fear of dogs to induce stress were lawful techniques, and he recommended that they be approved for use at Guantanamo.
(The lists of techniques to which Haynes was referring can be found in this memorandum.) On December 2, 2002, Secretary Rumsfeld approved those techniques for use at Guantanamo -- and subsequently those techniques were used on detainee Mohammed al-Qahtani.

In other words, the Secretary of Defense authorized criminal conduct.

...

Today's Army charge under UCMJ Article 93 against Lt. Col. Jordan -- for conduct that the SecDef actually authorized as to some detainees -- demonstrates that Rumsfeld approved of, and encouraged, violations of the criminal law.

http://www.discourse.net/archives/2006/04/further_evidence_rumsfeld_implicated_in_war_crimes.html

[Nolo_Contendre]

8. The bastard didn't kill enough people in SE Asia 3 decades ago

He's trying to make up for lost time in SW Asia before he dies and burns in Hell.

[malaise]

10. What a fugging lunatic

To the fugging Hague in chains for close to 659,000 deaths.

[subterranean]

12. Source: U.S. Department of Defense

This story is pure Pentagon propaganda. I wouldn't be surprised if the anecdote about the wounded Marine is completely fabricated.

[Cobalt-60]

15. Any anecdote from them is a fairy story

If you can't locate the marine in question, they made it up.
Indeed I wouldn't believe these people if they said the sun was up.

[bdamomma]

13. how much more time Rummy, you sick bastard.

we would like to give you time in a jail cell.

[Avalux]

14. Sure the marine told him that.

And using those two words together - "winnable" and "doable" is nonsense ("doable"??). MEMO TO RUMMY: there is no military solution to Iraq. :banghead: