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Rumsfeld: 'The President's Assertion Does A Disservice To The Truth'
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Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld released a combative statement in response to President Obama's speech on Afghanistan last night. Here's the full text:
"In his speech to the nation last night, President Obama claimed that 'Commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to deal with the reemergence of the Taliban, but these reinforcements did not arrive.' Such a bald misstatement, at least as it pertains to the period I served as Secretary of Defense, deserves a response.""I am not aware of a single request of that nature between 2001 and 2006. If any such requests occurred, 'repeated' or not, the White House should promptly make them public. The President's assertion does a disservice to the truth and, in particular, to the thousands of men and women in uniform who have fought, served and sacrificed in Afghanistan."
"In the interest of better understanding the President's announcement last night, I suggest that the Congress review the President's assertion in the forthcoming debate and determine exactly what requests were made, who made them, and where and why in the chain of command they were denied."
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mans_best_friend
December 2, 2009 1:24 PM
Rumsfeld?? Who is he again?? Oh, yeah, I remember now. The war criminal.
Next.
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Minne sconsin
December 2, 2009 1:32 PM
Hell hath frozen over - Rumsfeld and I agree on something:
GREAT idea! I think the GOP would be happy to participate in a bipartisan fashion in this review of the command decisions made in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Game on.
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bluesplashy
December 2, 2009 1:57 PM in reply to Minne sconsin
yess!!
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CT Voter
December 2, 2009 2:01 PM in reply to Minne sconsin
Second.
But I gotta say that Rummy calling something a "disservice to the truth" is rich.
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tiowally
December 2, 2009 4:28 PM in reply to CT Voter
To be fair, if anyone is an authority on disservice to the truth it is War Criminal Rummy. He taught Dickhead Darth, you know.
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Michael A
December 2, 2009 2:48 PM in reply to Minne sconsin
Third.
I would add to the inquiry war crimes investigations of the big three, the king, dummy, and darth vader.
Let's get on with it and put these criminals in jail. I know, I know the trials would give them a political platform to spew their lies and distortions, like the terrorist trials in New York, but I think the nation can handle it.
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Powkat
December 2, 2009 1:45 PM
Does the inability to admit error develop AFTER a person turns Republican or do those who cannot admit error automatically become Republicans?
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
December 2, 2009 3:01 PM in reply to Powkat
I hates me some PNAC mofos as much as anyone, but fairness compels me to note that Republicans don't exactly have a monopoly on that trait. Granted, they've got a lot more market share, however.
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CN
December 2, 2009 3:35 PM in reply to Powkat
Shorter version: All Republicans may be liars, but not all liars are Republicans.
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storm
December 2, 2009 1:48 PM
maybe it isn't a lie that there is no longer any evidence to refute mr rumsfeld.
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Redshift
December 2, 2009 1:50 PM
Spoken like a true Bushie. "I cannot recall" can never be proven false, even under oath.
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dswx
December 2, 2009 2:16 PM
As absurd as Rummy's comment is, you can bet any amount that someone like Jake Tapper, David Gregory or George Stephanopolous will be the first to obediently kowtow to do Rummy's bidding by asking the administration to produce such documentation. Which is exactly how the Repubs play the game, knowing they have pawns in the MSM to do their work for them and make it a headline story when it should be nothing of the sort. Especially from despicable person like Rumsfeld. But since they do it for Cheney, they certainly will for Rummy. And you can also bet John McCain will be on the Sunday talk shows this week per usual as requested by the media who seem to think he is president, not Obama.
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Forrest
December 2, 2009 2:17 PM
Was Rumsfeld passed out in a ditch from November 2006 until March 2009? I can see how they might have forgotten that war was ever even going on in Afghanistan, but it WAS going on during that time period.
Why would he be privy to troop requests and how they were handled after he got fired for incompetence?
Also, telling commanders they're not getting any more help before they even officially ask isn't any better than denying the requests should they actually arise.
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Economides
December 2, 2009 2:17 PM
Don: "But we did deny requests for a US blocking force to stop Al Qaeda fleeing from Tora Bora."
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chimpale
December 2, 2009 2:22 PM
Well, Don, I would guess that the truth is feeling awfully relieved to be only dealt a "disservice" by Obama, as opposed to the horse-whipping, disembowelment, keel-hauling, sodomizing, and flaying that you gave it.
Nice touch, though, mentioning the thousands of men and women fighting, serving, and sacrificing. I wasn't sure you had noticed. Too bad you weren't aware of them when you could have up-armored their vehicles or when you were having a machine autograph your messages of condolence to their loved ones.
Now that you've chimed in, can we interest you in an all-expenses-paid trip to the Hague?
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Knothead Jake
December 2, 2009 2:28 PM
Hey Rummy why don't you give a call to your BFF ,Douglas "the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the Earth" Feith and you and him can talk about the good ol days. You piece of shit! Shut the hell up and go back to whatever place cockroaches like you go to after being totally disgraced. Shit, I'd almost totally forgotten about your war crimes committing ass. Sheesh.
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ilovebacon
December 2, 2009 3:04 PM
How about Rummy pulls his face out of Dick Cheney's buttocks?
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Giggidy
December 2, 2009 4:40 PM
Dear Asswipe,
You lying power-hungry chicken-hawks started an unnecessary war that will cost the lives of least 5,000 of America's finest men and women and $1,000,000,000,000.00.
You're not allowed to respond to ANYTHING. EVER. Get back in your fuckin' hole.
All the best.
The Citezenry
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Ramsgate
December 2, 2009 4:42 PM
Funny, inside the beltway, everyone "slams" everyone-else.
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Richardxx
December 2, 2009 6:08 PM
Let's see if I have this right. Inside the beltway is is the number two or three man in the hierarchy that sends out the unfortunate orders. The guy at the top can carefully distance himself ("I was unaware of...") and only other inside-the-beltway types even know who the number two and three were. No one, and especially the clueless media types who are reporting on the actions of the government, have any idea how much of the actual day-to-day administration is handled by the subordinates.
The subordinates aren't going to take responsibility nor are the media types going to ask them. They wouldn't rat out the top guy anyway. It might damage the possibilities of future employment.
So the guy at the top can claim ignorance of the whole thing, even when he set it into motion. And of course he maintains a clear conscience. Probably could even pass the polygraph since, as Rummy does, he uses such carefully parsed language.
Rummy knows exactly what he means when he says something, even if no one listening to him has a clue. I suspect that Greenspan had a similar talent, beyond his intentionally unclear and obfuscatory statements. I think Cheney has some of that talent, but he more often recognizes dangerous subjects and simply refuses to discuss them, claiming security issues. (Or Cheney sends out Liz who clearly cannot and does not know anything she was not carefully fed to speak about.)
And people claim that Byzantine politics were complex. The Byzantines couldn't hold a candle these people.
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