October 09, 2003
Rumsfeld confesses : "It's beyond me"
From J.David Chadwick Dot Com :

JDC -- Mr. Secretary, I'm [J. David Chadwick]. My question is, considering that we still have troops in every area that we have conducted operations during the Clinton administration, why is this operation in Iraq viewed negatively in the press as a Vietnam- style quagmire?

Secretary Rumsfeld: Give that man an "A".

I'll tell you, it's beyond me. I just had a hearing before the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on an emergency supplemental budget. And that very day, 17 members of the United States Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, had just arrived back from Iraq. And six of them were on that committee. And they went right down the line, every single one of them, saying that what they see and read about Iraq in the United States and in the region does not compare with what they personally saw and experienced with their own eyes. These people went right down -- they were stunned by the difference between what they experienced in that country and what they saw and what they were being told in the press.

Now, it should not surprise you that the next day there was not a single word in the press about that hearing. Not one of those first eyewitness comments by seven members -- six or seven members of the United States House of Representatives of both parties -- not a single word of what they said about what was taking place in Iraq appeared, to my knowledge, in -- at least in the Washington press.

...and the article has a lot more besides. Worth reading the whole thing. Now, if he'd only left a permalink...

As for the title of this piece on the Command Post? Well, if the mainstream media had reported it, that would have been the headline. Or worse :

"Rumsfeld Confesses Iraqi Situation is Beyond Him"

"...it isn't like it's one problem, it's like that it's 24 problems, one every hour, " the Defence Secretary admitted publically.

"We've been in there for five months since the end of major combat operations." Secreatary Rumsfeld said, "... a quagmire".

A visibly emotional Rumsfeld then retreated, and refused to answer more questions. "I'm told there's time for two more questions, but I'm inclined to quit on that one." he said.

Maybe someone should remind him that a winner never quits, and a quitter never wins.

(I should make it crystal clear that the above 'quote' is not from the BBC, despite all appearances to the contrary. Just me pretending I'm a writer for the New York Times.)