Posted on 10/04/2004 3:11:11 PM PDT by conelrad
Big Story Weekend with Rita Cosby. 10/3/04. 12:14 to 12:18 AM and 12:21 to 12:26 AM EDT.Rita Cosby interviewed Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on topics ranging from the violence in Iraq to the draft to Osama bin Laden. The transcript is available at FOX News. Some highlights:
Stationing Troops in Iraq:
COSBY: How would you describe the situation today in Iraq?
RUMSFELD: The level of violence has gone up in anticipation of the elections and we expect it will stay up during this period for the rest of the year between now and the Iraqi elections in January. A free, democratic Iraq is something that is exactly what the terrorists and the extremists don’t want. It would harm their goals for that part of the world in a very serious way, so they’re going to do everything they can to try to prevent it and we’re gonna win. The extremists are gonne lose.
COSBY: Mr. Secretary, do you think we will always have troops over in Iraq in some shape or form, even just a small portion?
RUMSFELD: Oh, I really don’t think that ...
COSBY: You think we’ll have a total elimination of US troops?
RUMSFELD: Well, let me put it this way. We want to go in and be helpful and leave. That’s basically the American way.
(For information that gives a different slant on “permanent” US presence in Iraq, go to14 “enduring bases” set in Iraq: Long-term military presence planned-Chicago Tribune March 23, 2004 and this from globalsecurity.com: Iraq Facilities: “The U.S. Army's top general said 28 January 2004 he is making plans based on the possibility that the Army will be required to keep tens of thousands of soldiers in Iraq through 2006. Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, told the House Armed Services Committee of the United States that ‘for planning purposes" he has ordered his staff to consider how the Army would replace the force that is now rotating into Iraq with another force of similar size in 2005 - and again in 2006’.“ Another more recent article on this topic is available at Christian Science Monitor, 9/30/04)
On the Draft:
COSBY: Let’s set the record straight. Is there any effort to reinstate the draft?
RUMSFELD: Oh my goodness, no. I’ve seen a couple of people on Capitol Hill - Democrats in the House and Democrats in the Senate have introduced legislation - I don’t believe there’s any Republican support for it up there, and I am dead set against it. There is no need for a draft in the United States of America. We have no problem - none - in attracting and retaining the people we need and my view is that anyone who’s talking about the draft very likely in this context may very well be making mischief. I just can’t imagine reinstating the draft.
COSBY: Mischief for political reasons?
RUMSFELD: I have no idea.
COSBY: Do you question the timing? Maybe it’s being put out there pre-election as a scare tactic?
RUMSFELD: Oh, I’m not supposed to get into politics.
COSBY: What do you think though?
RUMSFELD: I think I’m not supposed to get into politics.
(A special skills draft has been reported on in the past. Go to Special Skills Draft' on Drawing Board. We now have a stop-loss policy in place that is, in effect, a back door draft, extending tours of duty for the National Guard members.)
On the Iraqi insurgency:
COSBY: How critical is success in Iraq to the rest of the world?
RUMSFELD: Oh, it's enormously important. Think of having a democratic country in that part of the world, with that set of neighbors, and the wonderful influence it would be on the other countries and the people in those countries.
COSBY: What if Iraq explodes and turns into this worst-case scenario, civil war? What does that mean for the region?
RUMSFELD: No one sees any sign of civil war in that country at the present time. There, obviously, used to be worries about it, and there have been ethnic conflicts in the past. But at the moment, that isn't the risk. The risk is that the terrorists and the extremists and the people who are running around chopping off people's heads and killing innocent men, women and children will take over that country. And imagine a country ruled by people who go around chopping off people's heads. That's a dark future. The Taliban rule is a perfect recent example of what Iraq would look like.
COSBY: Did you anticipate the insurgency would be as bad as it is right now?
RUMSFELD: No.
On Osama bin Laden:
COSBY: Zarqawi, I understand — I've been told that maybe we've put a big dent in that network around him.
RUMSFELD: We have in the last month or two. My guess is that the coalition forces probably have killed 1,500 Iraqi insurgents and a reasonable fraction of Zarqawi's senior people.
COSBY: How come here we have the best military in the world. The guy's out there parading on videotapes, involved in these horrible beheadings. How come we can't find Zarqawi?
RUMSFELD: We have people on the FBI's most wanted list for 10, 20 years, in the United States. It's like finding a needle in a haystack. It's very hard to do. The United States military wasn't organized, trained and equipped to go out and do manhunts. That's an FBI job. That's a police job. That's the kind of thing that law enforcement does. So, suddenly we're in the 21st century, and suddenly that's a need. And we find a lot of them.
COSBY: Osama bin Laden, there has been some reports lately — our Bret Baier did an interview with a gentleman at CENTCOM, a general, who suggested that bin Laden may be dead. What do you think?
RUMSFELD: Oh, goodness. You know, we have not seen him on video since 2001. December, I think. We don't know for sure he's alive, because we haven't seen him. Our assumption is he is alive. My further assumption, mine, as opposed to the agency's, is that if he is alive, he would like to be on video. And for some reason he's not.
COSBY: But you still believe he's alive?
RUMSFELD: I think he's very likely alive.
COSBY: Is he sick, maybe?
RUMSFELD: I don't know. He — there's some — for some reason he may not want to be on a video. (End excerpt.)
Thanks for posting this. I can't stand listening to Rita Cosbys whistle when she speaks.....
Sorry! Rummie was also on Hannity today.
That's a mighty scary picture. The face of the democrat party, Kerry, Clinton and Kennedy.
The Newshounds site bills itself as "We watch FOX so you don't have to."
Anybody?
It made me so mad when I heard her ask this. Do we still still have troops in Japan? Yes. Germany? Yes. Korea? Yes. Kosovo? Yes. Serbia? Yes. Saudi Arabia? Yes. Kuwait? Yes. Yemen? Yes. Afghanistan? Yes.
What is so doggone important about knowing when troops will be out of Iraq? They will be there as long as it it is in our national interest to have them there.
Rity Cosby is a dunce. She asks a question, Rummy answers, and she asks the same question. Reminds me of the lawyer one-liners? "When she died, what was her gender, male or female?"
Spot on. Rita's researching, resoning and deductive skills are that of a fourth grader.... no intention to insult fourth graders.
COSBY: Do you question the timing? Maybe it’s being put out there pre-election as a scare tactic?
RUMSFELD: Oh, I’m not supposed to get into politics.
COSBY: What do you think though?
RUMSFELD: I think I’m not supposed to get into politics.
LOL good on you, Mr. Rumsfeld!
Why We Are at War in Iraq and Afghanistan
I received this in an Email today. Author unknown to me.
The other day, my nine year old son wanted to know why we were at war. My husband looked at our son and then looked at me. My husband and I were in the Army during the Gulf War and we would be honored to serve and defend our country again today. I knew that my husband would give him a good explanation.
My husband thought for a few minutes and then told my son to go stand in our front living room window. He told him: "Son, stand there and tell me what you see?"
"I see trees and cars and our neighbors houses." he replied.
"OK, now I want you to pretend that our house and our yard is the United States of America and you are President Bush."
Our son giggled and said "OK."
"Now son, I want you to look out the window and pretend that every house and yard on this block is a different country" my husband said.
"OK Dad, I'm pretending"
"Now I want you to stand there and look out the window and see that man come out of his house with his wife and he has her by the hair and is hitting her. You see her bleeding and crying. He hits her in the face, he throws her on the ground, then he starts to kick her to death. Their children run out and are afraid to stop him, they are crying, they are watching this but do nothing because they are kids and afraid of their father. You see all of this son... what do you do?"
"Dad?"
"What do you do son?"
"I call the police, Dad."
"OK. Pretend that the police are the United Nations and they take your call, listen to what you know and saw but they refuse to help. What do you do then son?"
"Dad, but the police are supposed to help!" My son starts to whine.
"They don't want to son, because they say that it is not their place or your place to get involved and that you should stay out of it," my husband says.
"But Dad...he killed her!!" my son exclaims.
"I know he did...but the police tell you to stay out of it. Now I want you to look out that window and pretend you see our neighbor who you're pretending is Saddam turn around and do the same thing to his children."
"Daddy...he kills them?"
"Yes son, he does. What do you do?"
"Well, if the police don't want to help, I will go and ask my next door neighbor to help me stop him." our son says.
"Son, our next door neighbor sees what is happening and refuses to get involved as well. He refuses to open the door and help you stop him," my husband says.
"But Dad, I NEED help!!! I can't stop him by myself!!"
"WHAT DO YOU DO SON?"
Our son starts to cry.
"OK, no one wants to help you, the man across the street saw you ask for help and saw that no one would help you stop him. He stands taller and puffs out his chest. Guess what he does next son?"
"What Daddy?"
"He walks across the street to the old lady's house and breaks down her door and drags her out, steals all her stuff and sets her house on fire and then...he kills her. He turns around and sees you standing in the window and laughs at you. WHAT DO YOU DO?"
"Daddy ..."
"WHAT DO YOU DO?"
Our son is crying and he looks down and he whispers, "I close the blinds, Daddy."
"My husband looks at our son with tears in his eyes and asks him... "Why?"
"Because Daddy .....the police are supposed to help ... people who need it .... and they won't help .... You always say that neighbors are supposed to HELP neighbors, but they won't help either ... they won't help me stop him ... I'm afraid .... I can't do it by myself. Daddy ..... I can't look out my window and just watch him do all these terrible things an do nothing ..so ....I'm just going to close the blinds .... so I can't see what he's doing ........ and I'm going to pretend that it is not happening."
I start to cry.
My husband looks at our nine year old son standing in the window, looking pitiful and ashamed at his answers to my husband's questions and he tells him, "Son."
"Yes, Daddy."
"Open the blinds because that man .... he's at your front door... WHAT DO YOU DO?"
My son looks at his father, anger and defiance in his eyes. He balls up his tiny fists and looks his father square in the eyes, without hesitation he says: "I DEFEND MY FAMILY DAD!! I'M NOT GONNA LET HIM HURT MOMMY OR MY SISTER, DAD!!! I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM, DAD, I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM!!!!!"
I see a tear roll down my husband's cheek and he grabs my son to his chest and hugs him tight, and cries. "It's too late to fight him, he's too strong and he's already at YOUR front door son.....you should have stopped him BEFORE he killed his wife. You have to do what's right, even if you have to do it alone, before......it's too late." my husband whispers.
THAT scenario I just gave you is WHY we are at war with Iraq. When good men stand by and let evil happen is the greatest EVIL of all. Our President is doing what is right. We, as a free nation, must understand that this war is a war of humanity. WE must remove evil men from power so that we can continue to live in a free world where we are not afraid to look out our window. So that my nine year old son won't grow up in a world where he feels that if he just "closes" the blinds the atrocities in the world won't affect him.
"YOU MUST NEVER BE AFRAID TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT! EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO DO IT ALONE!"
Be proud to be an American. Be proud of our president. Be proud of our troops. Support them. Support America.
So that in the future our children will never have to close their blinds.
"The liberty we prize is not American's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity." George W. Bush
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