Rumsfeld calls Iraqi leader a `world-class liar,' a danger to the world

Yahoo-AP ^ | 6/10/02 | Robert Burns

[Hipixs]

Mon Jun 10, 4:06 PM ET

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

MANAMA, Bahrain - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is a "world-class liar" who is trying to fool the world into thinking he has no interest in weapons of mass destruction, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told U.S. troops Monday on this island nation in the Gulf.

Addressing several hundred sailors and Marines at U.S. Central Command headquarters, Rumsfeld left no doubt he believes Iraq is pursuing stocks of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in defiance of U.N. resolutions that ended the 1991 Gulf.

In emphatic tones, the defense secretary noted a public assertion by Saddam's government that it has no weapons of mass destruction and is making no effort to acquire them.

"He's lying. It's not complicated," Rumsfeld said.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry in Baghdad issued a statement Sunday asserting the government has neither made nor possessed weapons of mass destruction in more than a decade.

"Iraq has said on many occasions that it is not concerned with entering the mass destruction weapons club. ... We left it in 1991," the official statement said. The reference was to the six-week-long Persian Gulf War.

"If you want to know a world-class liar, it's Saddam Hussein," Rumsfeld told the troops, who gathered in a courtyard, fans stirring the sticky night air.

Earlier Monday, at a news conference in Kuwait, Rumsfeld said the Iraqi claim cannot be trusted.

"It is false, not true, inaccurate and typical," he said.

"They have had an active program to develop nuclear weapons," Rumsfeld said. "It's also clear they are actively developing biological weapons" and used chemical weapons against their own Kurdish population in the 1980s.

Without saying it explicitly, Rumsfeld left a clear impression that he believes the United States may take pre-emptive military action against Iraq.

Vice President Dick also cited Iraq as a threat in making a case Monday for an active U.S. attitude toward countering terrorism. President George W. Bush, who spoke of "pre-emptive action when necessary" in a graduation speech this month at the U.S. Military Academy, plans to formalize the "strike-first" policy this year when he presents his first national security strategy to Congress.

In Kuwait and Bahrain, Rumsfeld met with senior government officials, including Kuwaiti Defense Minister Sheik Jabir al-Mubarak and his Bahraini counterpart, Gen. Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Khalifa.

Rumsfeld said he invited Kuwaiti government representatives to meet with a dozen Kuwaitis who are among the more than 300 Taliban or al-Qaida fighters captured in and held prisoner at a U.S. Navy base in Cuba.

Rumsfeld told reporters the Kuwaitis' meeting at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would have two purposes: to glean additional intelligence from the prisoners and to determine "if there is any law enforcement interest" in them.

It marked the first time Rumsfeld has acknowledged publicly the nationality of Arabs held at Guantanamo Bay and specified how many of any specific nationality are imprisoned.

[Hipixs]

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US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld meets US troops aboard the destroyer USS Carney Monday, June 10, 2002 at Salman Port in Manama, Bahrain. Rumsfeld on Monday dismissed claims by the Iraqi government that it has no nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and is making no effort to acquire them. (AP Photo/Ali Fraidoon)

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Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, right, talk to unidentified U.S. military personnel on board the USS Carney (DD64) Monday, June 10, 2002 at Mina Salman (Salman Port) in Manama, Bahrain.(AP Photo/Ali Fraidoon)

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Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld talk to U.S. soldiers and media on board the USS Carney (DD64) Monday, June 10, 2002 at Mina Salman (Salman Port) in Manama, Bahrain.(AP Photo/Ali Fraidoon)

[Hipixs]

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[mystery-ak]

Tell us what you really think Rummy!....I just love this guy!

thanks for your pings

[OldFriend]

Rummy's just so shy about expressing himself!!! Doesn't want to offend.....so much like former Secretary of Defense William Cohen...................

Keep that in mind when you start bitching about our beloved President not doing the things YOU deem so important!

[D-fendr]

"Vice President Dick also…"

Cheney can be blunt, but…

[mystery-ak]

I think you have me confused with someone else....Im a BushBot......?

[OldFriend]

I definitely did NOT mean you at all........just the general cranks who constantly complain about everything under the sun.

Forgive the confusion.......as you can tell I am a bush-bot and proud of it!!!

[swheats]

straight talk up front and unfraid--this is what our military needs. None of that cloudy, passive talk of appeasement.

[mystery-ak]

LOL....sorry misread your post, you weren't addressing me....the former DOD.....

[WIMom]

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[eFudd]

Rummy's just so shy about expressing himself!!! Doesn't want to offend.....so much like former Secretary of Defense William Cohen...................

Keep that in mind when you start bitching about our beloved President not doing the things YOU deem so important!

Last time I checked, Bush was not Rumsfeld.

[swheats]

Thanks WIMom for your dedication. May FR live forever.

[OldFriend]

So you think Rumsfeld would have been picked by Gore......or any other demonrat?

[tet68]

First, we are going to fly over Saddam like a big ass eagle.
Second, we are going to blast him into the stone age.

[Valin]

"No, the axis-of-evil idea isn't thought through -- but that's what I like about it. It says to these countries and their terrorist pals: "We know what you're cooking in your bathtubs. We don't know exactly what we're going to do about it, but if you think we are going to just sit back and take another dose from you, you're wrong.
Meet Don Rumsfeld -- he's even crazier than you are."
Tom Friedman

I just love this quote about Rumsfeld.
He looks like he's having fun.