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Rumsfeld and O’Reilly in shootout over Iraq War
Examiner ^ | March 4, 2011 | Marc Schenker

Posted on 03/04/2011 4:02:18 AM PST by Suvroc10

Rumsfeld and O’Reilly in shootout over Iraq War. On his tour to promote his new book, “Known and Unknown,” and also defend his handling of the Iraq War, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made an appearance on the O’Reilly Factor last night. In a wide-ranging interview that covered Afghanistan, the Secretary’s experiences, and the Iraq War, Rumsfeld did his best to defend his involvement and planning with regards to Iraq, but O’Reilly was having none of it. The Factor host essentially gave Rumsfeld hell on the issue of his apparent failure to be more forthcoming with the American public regarding the possibilities of what could go wrong in the Iraq liberation. In response, the former Secretary absorbed all of O’Reilly’s bluster and returned it in kind, only in a more cool and effortless manner.

(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Military/Veterans; Politics
KEYWORDS: 1greatestcolumnever; blogpimp; iraqwar; oreilly; rumsfeld
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To: Huck

You can’t blame Rumsfeld for that expenditure. Rumsfeld was only the Defense Secretary, the war was agreed to be Congress and the President. Moreover Rumsfeld is a “fight lean” man.

And it wasn’t $1T over budget on any account. The cost is closer to $500B $1T. That’s over 8 years and is much less than the 3 years of “stimulus”.

Personally, speaking from many historical precedents, I’d have liked if we could have paid for the war from the Iraqi Oil revenues. I think that by doing so, by running those oil fields we would have more peace there, not less. We are more honest then they in paying out, our honesty and fairness would be peace-makers. But that seems to have been a President Bush-State Department decision to turn over the fields to the Iraqis. Again, not Rumsfeld.


21 posted on 03/04/2011 5:44:08 AM PST by bvw
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To: Huck
The cost is closer to $500B than $1T. And the original estimates of projected war and occupation costs in 2003, extrapolated over eight years would be about $250B.
22 posted on 03/04/2011 5:46:39 AM PST by bvw
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To: Huck

Oh crap! Had to double check to make sure I hadn’t stumbled onto DU or KOS.


23 posted on 03/04/2011 5:47:16 AM PST by Just A Nobody ( (Better Dead than RED! NEVER AGAIN...Support our Troops! Beware the ENEMEDIA))
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To: bvw
extrapolated over eight years

Of course Rumsfeld and Cheney et al were saying at the time they doubted it would take more than 6 months.

24 posted on 03/04/2011 5:50:01 AM PST by Huck (Antifederalist Brutus was right!)
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To: bvw

On the clip with O’Reilly, the figure is “almost 1 trillion dollars.” Rumsfeld didn’t dispute that number.


25 posted on 03/04/2011 5:53:13 AM PST by Huck (Antifederalist Brutus was right!)
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To: Huck

You are very shortsighted. Did it occur to you that if they are halfway around the world practicing democracy they may not come here to practice Sharia?


26 posted on 03/04/2011 5:56:39 AM PST by Josephat
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To: Josephat
they may not come here to practice Sharia?

LOL. Yeah, that's a big concern of mine. Iraqis moving to New Jersey and practicing sharia.

27 posted on 03/04/2011 5:57:51 AM PST by Huck (Antifederalist Brutus was right!)
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To: Just A Nobody

O’Reilly did a good job. Probably the only guy on FOX who gave Rumsfeld a tough interview. And he got some interesting stuff out of him, like where he says he had a whole list, before the war, of things that could go wrong, but that the American people didn’t deserve to know what those things were.


28 posted on 03/04/2011 5:59:17 AM PST by Huck (Antifederalist Brutus was right!)
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To: Recon Dad
Iran should have been our target.

30 years ago.....

29 posted on 03/04/2011 6:04:25 AM PST by Thermalseeker (The theft being perpetrated by Congress and the Fed makes Bernie Maddoff look like a pickpocket.)
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To: Suvroc10

BOR who?


30 posted on 03/04/2011 6:06:18 AM PST by bmwcyle (It is Satan's fault)
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To: Huck

It should be.


31 posted on 03/04/2011 6:06:18 AM PST by Josephat
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To: BfloGuy
we thought it had WMD

Until someone comes forward and details what was in the convoys of hundreds of trucks that went to Syria saying that there were no WMD's in Iraq is pure speculation. 4000 TONS of partially enriched uranium was transported to Y-12 in Oakridge from Iraq. There was an article in the Chattanooga newspaper about it. They guy who spilled the beans got fired and now that article is nowhere to be found. I saw the satellite photos of 1500 truck convoys, Russian truck convoys, heading west out of Iraq before the invasion. Now, those photos are nowhere to be found on the net. Hmmmmmm?

32 posted on 03/04/2011 6:12:22 AM PST by Thermalseeker (The theft being perpetrated by Congress and the Fed makes Bernie Maddoff look like a pickpocket.)
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To: Huck

Hard to dispute ANY cost estimate. The books of government are horrible.


33 posted on 03/04/2011 6:13:04 AM PST by bvw
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To: Josephat

That’s hilarious.


34 posted on 03/04/2011 6:16:55 AM PST by Huck (Antifederalist Brutus was right!)
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To: Huck
"like where he says he had a whole list, before the war, of things that could go wrong, but that the American people didn’t deserve to know what those things were"

That's a bold and mean lie. Rummy would never say the American people don't deserve to know anything. The clue to the sensible listener is that Rummy had a list of "coulds", not "woulds". Executive decision making, any decision making, is full of could-bes. It's proper not to fill the hyper-reactive news channels with "what-ifs".

Truth is folks can AND SHOULD figure out many what-ifs for themselves. Without waiting for "experts" to tell them.

35 posted on 03/04/2011 6:19:50 AM PST by bvw
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To: Josephat
You are very shortsighted. Did it occur to you that if they are halfway around the world practicing democracy they may not come here to practice Sharia?

No, because democracy is not compatible with islam. Islam is not only a religion but it is a form of government so unless the religion is wiped out the problems it causes can never be fixed.

36 posted on 03/04/2011 6:23:52 AM PST by Lady Heron
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To: Huck

Is it? Did you know that a US judge ruled that a man was not guilty of raping his wife because his religious law (Sharia) allowed it. Today a 13 year old California girl is safe from her family that was packing her off to Pakistan for an arranged marriage. In our system of government that is child traficking and a crime. In theirs it is perfectly acceptable. In our age of political correctness do we dare tell them that if they want to practice Sharia law they had best leave? No way. So we will have creeping Sharia, just as Europe, and it will have devastating effects, just as in Europe.


37 posted on 03/04/2011 6:28:46 AM PST by Josephat
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To: BfloGuy
It was capable of fomenting terrorism and, of course, we thought it had WMD.

It did, one even used stupidly in a road side bomb against the troops, stupidly because it was not set off in the air so chemicals could mix. There are lists of those found, maybe even a book. Personally I do not know the magic number of WMD's that must be found before it is acknowledged that there were weapons found seeing how only one of these weapons can cause mass casualties but he I am not the MSM.

38 posted on 03/04/2011 6:30:43 AM PST by Lady Heron
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They never guaranteed that we’d only be in Iraq for any length of time. They talked about the war length, but not the post-war. They didn’t have to.


39 posted on 03/04/2011 6:37:31 AM PST by Politics4US
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To: Huck

Do you know what is going on in Afghanistan? The public is not getting the details on that war either but is O’Reilly yelling at anyone over that?

It was a Chris Matthews syle iterview with yelling and not giving the Rumsfeld a chance to answer - even told him he didn’t have time to let him aanswer but then proceeded to ask him more questions. Rumsfeld had to ask him please let him answer the questions.

Its ok to ask hard questions but no need to be totally rude and obnoxious.


40 posted on 03/04/2011 7:21:19 AM PST by tirednvirginia
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