Troops fear Rumsfeld's exit will end their Iraq mission

The Times ^ | November 10, 2006 | Martin Fletcher

[pollywog]

MadIvan,
YOu said it so well!!! I am heartsick over Rumsfields' resignation.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

But don't bet on Bush kissing up to the Dems. Much of what he's saying is p.r. to look like a graceful loser. The fight against these people will come later. But sometimes you have to snatch a small moral victory from the jaws of defeat by looking like a big man ready to take your lumps and to accept your losses.

So you honestly think Bush will pull a Clinton circa post mid-term 1994, when he also looked into the camera but then proceeded to triangulate?

I don't think it's going to happen. If it walks like a duck...

[MadIvan]

I'll be even more blunt. The people who voted Democrat are selfish morons. They have no idea how this looks abroad: over here, it looks like a collapse in American will to fight the War on Terror. Over here, it looks like America is going to cave in to endless, nauseating rounds of "diplomacy" while Kim Jong Il and the lunatics in Iran prepare the nuclear bombs. It is the death knell of any hope of being able to crush the threats before we have to pay an even greater price in blood to rectify the matter.

The troops know. They are motivated, bright, among the finest any nation could hope to have. They've been stabbed in the back by voters at home that let Katie Couric do their thinking for them, or just were grumpy about Bush because they don't like his smirk, or actually believed that nice Jon Tester won't turn out to be a raving moonbat.

My job as a British right winger is now more difficult because any future military endeavour with America is going to be a tougher sell. The Left will throw at me, "Why should we fight, considering how the Americans left Iraq?".

All this was preventable, avoidable - if that voter in Montana (and elsewhere) understood the consequences of voting Democrat. They are dire. And we've only just begun.

But we will get through this. Just the road gets longer all the time.

Regards, Ivan

[Frank Sheed]

This was posted on Hugh Hewitt today as a link. Please note it is SATIRE. I wish that were not so....

The Rumsfeld Interview

A Large Regular was lucky enough to score a few candid moments of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's time yesterday after the historic announcement of his resignation was made.

ALR: Mr. Secretary - thank you so much for taking this time on what I'm sure is a difficult day. Can I ask if you are perhaps feeling a little bitter at the President right now?

Rummy: I always have time for my friends Chris. As far as feeling bitter towards the President - goodness no. I serve at the pleasure of the President and have offered my resignation a number of times. If truth be told - I'm a little bit in awe. I mean I don't think I've seen such a fine piece of political Jujitsu in my whole time in public service.

ALR: Political Jujitsu? I'm sorry Mr. Secretary but I don't follow you.

Rummy: Nobody saw this move coming yesterday. Nobody was prepared. It was a brilliant shifting of weight. Yesterday was supposed to be the Democrats big day. They were all going to wear new suits and dresses and give speeches congratulating themselves and talking about how they were going to fix the country. Instead all the news programs spent that time speaking about my resignation and today all the print media will be talking about me and my successor. The Democrats can't even complain because they have been practically begging for my resignation. By the time this dies down - nobody will want to look at their new suits or pretty dresses and they sure won't want to hear their flowery speeches because the time would have been well past that. The bonus is that the Main Stream Media doesn't even see how they were used. Brilliant move by the President.

ALR: But Mr. Secretary are you saying your tenure as Secretary of Defense was ended simply to control news cycles?

Rummy: Goodness no. When all is said and done I will be the longest serving Secretary of Defense in history. All Secretaries of Defense step down. This just happened to be the right time for me and if the President was able to time the announcement to take the wind out the sails of some blowhards well then that's just gravy. The important thing to me is that our brave men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are honored and protected and I think this resignation helps with those ends.

ALR: Again Mr. Secretary I apologize but I don't follow your reasoning.

Rummy: Well Chris you understand the process involved here correct? It will be a few months before Bob Gates even gets his confirmation hearing. The administration will be able to use the confirmation hearings and my farewell tour to reinforce the case of what we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

ALR: Mr. Secretary can you elaborate on that a little more?

Rummy: Sure Chris. You see between now and the confirmation hearings I will be going back to Iraq on several occasions. The media normally just covers bad news from Iraq but this time they will have no choice. They will have to get soldiers reaction to my resignation and how they feel about their mission in Iraq. A great percentage of the soldiers really believe in their mission and the American people will see that. Oh and the confirmation hearings are a trap for the Democrats. You'd think they would have learned from the Justice Roberts hearings but I guess not.

ALR: Can you share with us what you foresee happening at the confirmation hearings?

Rummy: Oh its going to be great theater. The back seat drivers will finally have to go on record for what they think is the best course instead of always complaining that we just missed a turn.

ALR: It sounds like you are actually looking forward to the hearings?

Rummy: Yes. Very much so. You see most of the complaining from the Democrats has fallen into two camps. Either they think that I haven't listened to my generals and that hundreds of thousands of more troops are needed or they advocate a running away from Iraq except they keep calling that strategy "redeployment". The hearings will put those people on the spot to explain exactly where they stand. Do they want to cut and run or do they plan to budget for hundreds of thousands of new troops? Can you picture Ted Kennedy stuttering his way out of that?

ALR: I think I'm starting to get it. The hearings are normally about a candidate's qualifications but nobody will be checking Bob Gates resume. Instead they will be pumping him for what he thinks about you and the job you have done in Iraq.

Rummy: Exactly. You know the President wasn't going to select a successor who was either going to cut and run or add hundreds of thousands of new troops but by the Senator's questions we get to see where they stand. When it comes time to vote on Bob Gates by that time his confirmation will be a referendum on the war. A vote for Bob Gates will be a vote for staying the course. A vote against Bob Gates could be spun as a vote that keeps me in office longer and to many on the left I'm the ultimate bogeyman. Its a lose-lose for any Democratic Senator who plans to run in 2008. And the funny thing is as the hearings are going on just remember that the Democrats practically begged for this to happen.

ALR: Thank you so much Mr. Secretary for explaining the situation. And I hope you enjoy your retirement you have certainly earned it.

Rummy: Oh Chris my retirement is still a long way off. By the way - do you think people will realize this was satire?

posted by chris @ 7:58 AM Comments (33) | Trackbacks (2)

[MikeA]

We'll see won't we? But it's a little too soon for anyone to be claiming they know what Bush will do. I think a bunch of post-election happy talk which is always typical of the losing side in an election necessarily indicates where the chips will fall. This "can't we all get along" stuff is all p.r. to keep from making a bad situation even worse by heaping a lot of bad p.r. on you and looking like a sore loser the day after your party took a drubbing. No, a smarter politician knows how to pick his fights and to bide his time. The time for confrontation will be later. The day after losing an election you just look like a pathetic, petulant child who can't hack it if you launch into your opponents. And you basically tell American voters they're idiots, which of course they are, but it's not a wise way to be remembered in terms of your legacy.

I'm not saying I know this is what Bush is going to do, make nice now and then re-group to come back and fight another day, but it's what a savvy politician would do and he's a savvy politician.

Indeed, while so many of you were losing your minds over Bush saying he could go along with a minimum wage hike, you totally missed Bush laying the groundwork for how he'll fight that one. In his next sentence he said it would be coupled with tax breaks for small businesses to make it affordable. I don't see Democrats going along merrily with that one.

So let's just all calm down and wait to see what happens instead of writing the future as if it's already history.

[MikeA]

I DON'T think a bunch of post-election happy talk which is always typical of the losing side in an election necessarily indicates where the chips will fall.

***DON'T*** I meant to say

[SJackson]

I hope the people who voted Democrat are bloody well satisfied. Well done on demoralising some of the best and brightest, you prats.

Don't forget our "true conservatives" who stayed home.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

----------------------------

[jazusamo]

Well said.

[unspun]

They shouldn't have voted for Webb, with those Virginia absentee ballots.

[rangerX]

As one of the guys that wore a black beret back when it was earned, not issued, my opinion of Shinseki is that he was an absolute Clinton ass kisser, and also incompetent to go along with it. His insistence on issuing a black beret to every guy and girl in the Army totally pissed off the Ranger community, just to make everyone feel good. Of course, he was going to issue black berets made in China. What a sorry POS. He couldn't lead his way out of paper bag. When he dies, I'll go piss on his grave.

[PatriotGirl827]

Wow. That was nice. And very appropriate.

[Laverne]

IMHO, There will be no change of policy, just a change in rhetoric. Listen to the dems today, they DO NOT want to withdraw (except for the idiot Murtha). The Bush/Cheney/Rummy policy on Iraq will continue and it will be victorious. Rummy knows he was the lightening rod, his disappearance from the public view (which won't happen until next year anyway) will make only a difference of the face of the spokesman (and of course the Pentagon press briefings won't be nearly as much fun to watch).

[sarasmom]

Well OK, but have you sworn a solemn oath to do so?

Those of us who have so sworn, and will, urinate on Carter's grave, want to know.

LOL!

[samtheman]

In my opinion, the first order of business is to keep a close close eye on anything the dems do [slipping things in bills especially] to cut appropriations from our Military. That also means keeping an eye on the 'heads' of various Defense departments and branches who are waiting to slip the knife in and stop many of the changes to modernize our forces.

Ruth, you've just done an excellent job of describing one of the most important duties of President Bush in the next 2 years. That's exactly what he's got to do, "keep an eye on" those who want to "slip the knife in".

But is he going to do that? He never really did battle against the RATS when he had both houses of congress on his side. Does it look to you like he's going to start doing battle with them now?

Look at this:

More important--and this is what's intriguing about the Gates nomination--Gates is a member of the Iraq Study Group, a panel chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker, a Republican, and former Representative Lee Hamilton, a Democrat. The bipartisan commission's mission is to assess the situation in Iraq and propose policy options. Baker has already said that he believes a strategic shift is needed in Iraq and that his commission will produce specific recommendations in this regard. (The commission is reportedly considering different versions of disengagement, among other ideas.) Baker picked Gates to be on the commission, presumably with knowledge of Gates' thinking on the subject. Thus, it's no stretch to see Gates as an envoy (or a sleeper agent?) of the commission assigned to (or planted within) the Bush administration. Given other possible choices for the Pentagon job ( Joe Lieberman?), it's somewhat heartening that Bush has invited into his Cabinet a non-neocon who has been working with Baker to find a way out of Iraq.

(From: Hooray for Robert Gates? by a leftist "journalist" who is peeing his pants with excitement at the possibility that Bush himself is now ready to cut-n-run.

I'm not making this stuff up, Ruth, and Grampa Dave. If there's anybody we need to "keep our eye on" right now, it's the Commander and Chief himself.

If Bush cuts out of Iraq and leaves the job undone, then all those soldiers really did die for nothing. That will be bad. That will be worse than bad.

[Terpfen]

Like you, I know it is a powerful clue and it's not the tragedy our troops think it is.

Exactly what is this "clue" supposed to tell me?

[Gator113]

This entire moment in our history is sickening.

[Terpfen]

Patton was never Army Chief of Staff.

[WOSG]

"Bush cuts-n-runs from Iraq because the RATS tell him to. "

I haven't seen that at all.
I like Rumsfeld and I am sad to see him go, but Bush's
'cave' as you call it will enable the discussion to focus more on what needs to happen going forward and less on the divisive calls by the Democrats for his resignation and criticism of the past performance. This is 'turning a new leaf'.

"Now that's ugly. Very ugly indeed. If it happens. Which it looks like it will. Why else bring in a Scowcroft buddy?"

It's a different view than Rumsfeld/Cheny but I doubt any of these would tolerate the worst-case Vietnam scenario, like the leftwing Democrats will.

[do the dhue]

because the RATS tell him to.

He had a mandate to go act like a Conservative after the 2004 Election.

If he caves and starts acting like a rat, I'll have a very hard time ever trusting another Republican again.

And I don't want to hear any smack about me bashing Bush. I never wavered, faltered, tired, or failed for six years. I am not the one who is changing. He is the one who is trying to belly up to the bar with the Commie traitors. And if he can not stand up for himself, then how can I?