Posted on 12/10/2001 5:55:18 AM PST by TADSLOS
Vice President Dick Cheney gave a rare interview last week to U.S. News Chief White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh. He spoke by phone from what aides said was a secret, secure location. Cheney talked about his former mentor, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and other issues. Excerpts:
On Rumsfeld's image.
The babe magnet. For the 70- year-old crowd.
Why "Rummy" is effective.
Obviously, his experience counts for a lot. . . . Second, I'm trying to think how to say this. It's his sort of "no BS" attitude. He is, in private, just as straightforward and aggressive as he is in public. If he sees something he doesn't think makes sense, he'll immediately call somebody on it.
Rumsfeld's personality.
Don is never bashful about taking on anybody. . . . You need a couple of people in every administration who are very direct and who will go to the president and tell him exactly what they think, not what they think he wants to hear. We were joking the other day. He'd raised hell about something in a meeting in the Situation Room. Some subject had come up, I can't remember what it was, and he had gotten very direct and blunt and pounded on the table a couple of times. Everybody sort of sat there and listened to this, and [it] got quiet. But they should have seen him 30 years ago when I went to work for him, before he mellowed out.
On Rumsfeld's critics.
His thinking has evolved over the years. . . . In terms of the criticism that came earlier, my view was that the people who were griping were the ones who were opposed to change. . . . I never bought the criticism that somehow he was a relic of the past.
The war against terrorism. I think it's going very well. . . . The Taliban is pretty much history. . . . But we've still got work to do in terms of rounding up the al Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden, clearly. And that may take some considerable period of time, but we'll keep at it until we get it done. . . . You've still, in the final analysis, got to go get the bad guys and eliminate the terrorists.
On President Bush's plan to allow military tribunals to try suspected terrorists.
I think there's been a bit of a hysterical reaction out there to it. And it's unjustified. . . . I don't mean to beat up on the press, but there's sort of a visceral reaction anytime somebody says "secret." But if you're in the intelligence world, secrecy is a very important thing . . . and a military tribunal is a valuable option for the president. . . . One of the strongest arguments for this approach is the fact that to get to conviction we have sometimes in the past, I think, compromised intelligence sources and methods. And Osama bin Laden has gone to school on us. He can look at those earlier trials [related] to the World Trade Center bombing in '93, and they learn how we operate, and they then adapt their procedures and processes so we no longer have access to information we would have had access to if they hadn't been able to figure out what we were doing and how we were doing it.
*sigh*
And *Double sigh*
I have a ways to go before I see 70.
He really doesn't look like a sex machine,,,,, it's something else,,, maybe it's the "directness" our VP was talking about. Rummy just seems to be ready to get down to business.
Hummmmm, *thinking this probably means he knows nothing about foreplay*,,,, But I'll bet he's a good cuddler,,,, that's the most important thing.
As an 'experienced Older Woman', I think it's his self confidence,,, has nothing what so ever to do with traditional sex appeal. (Sorry, Rummy, if you're Lurking)
And *Double sigh*
LOL, IowaGranny, I agree (and he's old enough to be my DAD-LOLOLOLOL!!!!!)
I think it's that he's such a strong person and so honest, that we know he's doing his best to protect us.
Plus, the fact that he's quite handsome doesn't hurt either -- and I'm a little more than half his age. ;-D
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