Jerry Tenuto: 'No need to fret - Rummy's not concerned'

, Lone Star Iconoclast

These past few weeks I had begun to wonder if the "war" in Iraq was still in
progress.

Virtually every minute of news time seemed to be dedicated to the
hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Well, I suppose if a 24-hour news channel (that only presents live feeds
about 16 hours a day) needs a real shootin' war to pull in viewers instead
of a three-year-old watered down war predicated on lies for oil rights, the
shootin' war gets the coverage.

To be perfectly honest, I've really been getting burned out on the whole
Israel versus Hezbollah tragedy. Morning, noon and night, as if nothing else
has been taking place on the Planet.

Not even so much as a runaway fiance in Atlanta.

What a pleasant surprise was in store for me today, don'cha know.

This morning (Thursday, August 3, 2006) I turned the television on just in
time to catch Hillary Clinton give Donald Rumsfeld a thorough going over,
roasting him on a spit about 18 inches above red hot coals.

The Secretary of Defense was clearly out of his league.

"Under your leadership, there have been numerous errors in judgment that
have led us to where we are in Iraq and Afghanistan," the junior Democratic
Senator from New York chided Rummy.

"You underestimated the nature and strength of the insurgency, the sectarian
violence, and the spread of Iranian influence."

Among Donny's plethora of failures Mrs. Clinton listed the lack of U.S.
troop numbers, the poor planning for stabilization following Saddam
Hussein's ouster, and the snail's pace progress in rebuilding the Iraqi
military.

Flanked on either side by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Peter Pace,
USMC, and the head of U.S. Central Command Gen. John Abizaid, USA, Rummy was
not having a real good day visiting with the Senators.

Yet, his defensive demeanor and flippant responses attempted to hide the icy
arrogance with which Rummy sends brave young Americans to senseless,
unnecessary death and dismemberment.

Had we not seen and heard this routine from Donny so many times before -- as
Sen. Clinton pointed out when she stated, "There's a track record here. This
is not 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, when you appeared before this committee and
made many comments and presented many assurances that have frankly proven to
be unfulfilled." - it's possible that the American public might buy his
pathos.

Instead of redeploying troops or reducing levels, more troops are being held
over to secure Baghdad. Troop levels are going up, not decreasing, noted
Mrs. Clinton.

Feigning hurt and surprise in response to the Senator's remarks, Rummy shot
back with his typical homespun, "My goodness."

Yeah, that'll deflect any and all critics. How can they argue with the
response their old grandpas would have given?

Then he went into his patented maneuver of asking overly simplistic
questions, then answering them himself with the only possible replies:

"Are there setbacks? Yes. Are there things that people can't anticipate?
Yes. Does the enemy have a brain and continue to make adjustments on the
ground requiring our forces to make adjustments? You bet.

"Is that going to continue to be the case? I think so. Is this problem going
to get solved in the near term about this long struggle against violent
extremism? No, I don't believe it is."

D'oh!

For the umpteenth time, the Defense Secretary indefensibly defended his
position by trying to buffalo Sen. Clinton with jabberwocky about how a
premature withdrawal would leave the fledgling democratic Iraqi government
vulnerable to attack and overthrow by anarchists, blah, blah, blah.

What nation provided troops to protect our fledgling democratic United
States Government when it was first learning to crawl?

Then it was Sen. John McCain's turn. He finally showed some impatience with
the snail's pace of the war and occupation of Iraq. The Arizona Republican
questioned both Gens. Pace and Abizaid as to whether either of them had
anticipated the extreme level of sectarian strife a year ago.

Gen. Pace admitted that he had not expected such violence to erupt. An
honest statement, yet a rather myopic view from the highest-ranking person
in our military.

Gen. Abizaid recognized that the tensions were rising, but had not figured
on such excessive violence. Despite having rarely seen a Middle East "so
unsettled and so volatile," Abizaid is optimistic that the "slide can be
prevented" and we will be successful in defeating al Qaeda, deterring Iran,
and "developing a comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict."

Sen. McCain was not so sure of this rosy scenario. He referred to our troops
as being engaged in a widespread "game of whack-a-mole": They go to Falluja
to deal with a problem; a week or two later there's a situation in Ramadi,
so the troops have to move there for a battle; then, the fight is on in
Baghdad, and on and on it goes. Wherever the insurgents or terrorists pop
up, the American troops are expected to show up.

I find these answers incredulous. At least one year ago various British news
media were reporting that civil war in Iraq was inevitable.

How could it be that the English saw it clear as day, but the Americans
didn't recognize the situation for the disaster that was looming?

Simple: Donald H. Rumsfeld and the agenda of the entire RoveBush Fascist
Regime.

One of the first things I was taught after beginning Basic Training at Fort
Campbell, Kentucky, was "Hope for the best, expect the worst." This was
reiterated time and again throughout my Army days; it wasn't a suggestion,
they were words to keep us alive. This phrase was an underlying tenet of
both leadership schools the Army put me through.

Hell, most management courses will expect one to bear this in mind.

It would serve anyone in everyday life.

Even the Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared."

Here we have the three most powerful men in our military command structure,
responsible for hundreds of thousands - millions -- of lives, and not one of
them was prepared to react to what some rag-tag insurgents might do!

By their own admission, two generals ignored the basic military tenet of
"Hope for the best, expect the worst!"

And Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld basically said to the United
States Senate, "Look, it wasn't my fault. How could I foresee these things
happening? You can't blame me."

Rummy's the damned Secretary of Defense, the same schmuck who in 1998
advised President Bill Clinton to invade Iraq! Thank gawd Clinton wasn't a
power-mad megalomaniac lunatic!

How could none of this not be the fault of anyone but Donald Rumsfeld, Dick
Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, George W. Bush and Karl Rove?
(Lest we forget William H. Rehnquist and his Federalist Supremes, along with
the other peripheral players...)

Before the end of the day, Mrs. Clinton was calling for head of Donny
Rumsfeld.

Well, not exactly, but she suggested in no uncertain terms that it would be
good for the Nation were he to resign - and the quicker the better.

"I just don't understand why we can't get new leadership that would give us
a fighting chance to turn the situation around before it's too late. I think
the president should choose to accept Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation."

Sen. Clinton continued, "The secretary has lost credibility with the
Congress and with the people. It's time for him to step down and be replaced
by someone who can develop an effective strategy and communicate it
effectively to the American people and to the world.

"I am frankly tired of hearing the same stories from the administration's
national security team. The president changed his economic team, he changed
his White House team - I think it's time for him to change his security and
defense team."

I agree with everything Mrs. Clinton said in these last few paragraphs, with
the exception of one item. She noted that Rummy "lost credibility... with
the people." I doubt that he ever had that much credibility with the
American public to begin with - nobody ever voted him into office. Hillary
was just being tactfully diplomatic.

Speaking of being diplomatic, Condoleezza has been wearing those
rose-colored glasses again, telling us there's going to be a ceasefire
between Israel and Hezbollah. That was in an interview taped earlier in the
week for airing on Larry King (not exactly) Live tonight.

The thing is, she has no idea when the ceasefire will begin... so don't hold
your breath.

Aah, to be one of King George XLIII's true believers...

Shalom, y'all.

Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator. A veteran
with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in
Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Depending
upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for
his weekly "Out Of The Blue" feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast. Visit his
blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com

Copyright (c) 2006, The Lone Star Iconoclast

Source: Lone Star Iconoclast
http://www.lonestaricon.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=393&z=51

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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson