Rummy on Iraq: We know for a fact that it's a violent country

[ProSense]

Presenter: Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace Tuesday, November 29, 2005 1:22 p.m. EST

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News Briefing with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace

SEC. RUMSFELD: Good afternoon, folks.

snip...

And Iraqis are struggling to overcome the legacy of the Saddam era military, which punished initiative and centralized virtually all decision-making.


Let's be clear. U.S. forces are in Iraq to help the Iraqis fight the terrorists there, so we don't have to fight them here in the United States. Indeed, amid all the questions being asked about the situation in Iraq today, consider these:


Would America and the world be better off, would the American people be safer if the United States were to abandon the effort in Iraq prematurely, allowing the terrorists to prevail, or will the American people be better (sic) if we continue to work with the Iraqi people so that they're able to gain the experience and capabilities that they need to fight and defeat terrorists in their country?


Snip...

Q Mr. Secretary, are you concerned over -- and in fact, is the United States looking into growing reports of uniformed death squads in Iraq perhaps assassinating and torturing hundreds of Sunnis? And if that's true, what would that say about stability in Iraq?


SEC. RUMSFELD: I'm not going to comment on hypothetical questions. I've not seen reports that hundreds are being killed by roving death squads at all.


We know for a fact that it's a violent country. We know for a fact that there have been various militias. We know that there have been some militias that have been Iran-oriented. We also know there's been some militias in the north that have been very helpful. The Peshmerga have been very constructive in what they've done.


http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2005/tr20051129-secdef4361.html



Does he mean there is a lot of violence in the country or that Iraq is a violent country?


Saddam centralized virtually all decision-making, but the Bush Administration paid off the Iraqi media. This is what Bush means by stay the course.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Compared to the USA, they're amateurs at violence.

Their "violence" pales in comparison to our long history of slaughter and genocide.

[iamahaingttta]

3. You don't know what you're talking about...

Just do some research some time, and find out HOW Saddam rose to power.

We're fucking pussies compared to those people!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Saddam killed millions? Like the US has?

Perhaps YOU should do a bit of research. You might start with the Indian wars, go on to the history of slavery here, push on to the Spanish American war and the subjugation of the Phillipines, add the firebombing of Tokyo, Hamburg, and Dresden, throw in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and take a look at Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Angola, and numerous others that we've murdered people in with gleeful abandon.

Compared to us, the Iraqis, and the rest of the world are mere novices at slaughter on a grand scale.

[Marr]

2. Yes, that's currently one of the "known knowns".

Just after the invasion, it was a known unknown. They were hoping for flowers and candy, but were willing to settle for control of the oil market.

Anyway, before that, the Iraqis' propensity for violence was an unknown unknown, since they didn't really give half a shit either way.

So you see we're making progress.

[0007]

6. Gee, you make it so perfectly clear. I see exaclatly where Rummy

is, knowing what the unknown is what it tis all about!

[SkiGuy]

4. Just when you think

they can't possible say anything more stupid..along comes Rumsfeld with yet another gem.

[PatrioticLeftie]

7. Oh good! I'm so glad

We finally got that highly relevant and controversial issue out of the way. Iraq is violent. Can we all agree on that? Good. Now we can get back to our lives.

[ProSense]

8. Iraq wasn't mired in violence until the US got there

What's highly controversial is how did Iraq become a hotbed of violence? Iraq today looks nothing like Iraq under the tyrannical rule of Saddam. And who can forget Rummy's little rendezvous with Saddam, who rose to power as an American ally.

[wookie294]

9. "We know for a fact where the WMDs are located"

"The WMD is in the area around Tikrit and north, east, south and west somewhat."

"We have a lot of unknowns, but there are unknown unknowns."

Time for Michael Moore to make another movie! LOL