Rumsfeld says he's surprised at war toll

[WiltedFlowerChild]

Defense secretary admits misjudging resistance in Iraq
By MICHAEL HEDGES
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld admitted Thursday that he has been surprised by the heavy toll in blood inflicted on American forces in recent days.

The pugnacious Pentagon chief, asked at a news briefing whether he had made any mistakes concerning the war in Iraq, came close to a rare admission of miscalculation, conceding that he failed to foresee the level of resistance facing U.S. forces in Iraq a full year after the fall of Baghdad.

"If someone had said, `Would you, a year ago, have expected you would be where you are at the present time?' one would not have described where we are," Rumsfeld said. "I certainly would not have estimated that we would have had the number of individuals lost that we have in the last week."


more:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2509349

[Arugula Latte]

1. AARRGGHH!

WE TOLD YOU SO, you utterly contemptible arrogant PRICK!!

[TheWizardOfMudd]

5. Dizackly!!!

A fucking monkey could see it coming.

And so did I.

[burrowowl]

2. Saw it on TV

What a lying sack of shit! Send the Fucktard Rummy over there with a rifle and no ammo, like many of our troops. We can call it: Maladministration Survival aired on all channels!

[rooboy]

3. Why do I get the mental image...

of this old bastard looking up from his newspaper and saying "well, how about that!?" and going back to reading the sports page...?

[Eye and Monkey]

4. "one would not have described where we are". Wrong. Millions predicted.

Millions of people, the world over, predicted that you would be exactly where you are today. Millions predicted that you would be equally as blinded by your hubris as you are today. Millions predicted the death and destruction that you have wrought. And millions predicted that you would not be able to extricate US troops from the quagmire you have created.

Millions. Not one. Millions. They were right, you were wrong. Pugnacious, indeed, and WRONG. Evil man, evil evil.

[JaySherman]

19. But remember...

They don't decide policy based on 'focus groups.'

[Eye and Monkey]

25. That's an awfully large focus group - includes most of the world.

Millions of people sitting in a circle, uncomfortable chairs, weak coffee during the breaks - it'd be a bit difficult to manage.

Better to listen to the peace-marchers in the streets. The signs are easily read - and they make good sound bites, too.

[BiggJawn]

22. He meant to say "None of my PNAC brothers could have desribed..."

I really think he should be indicted and tried. Doctors get disgraced and busted-down for less malpractice than this clown is guilty of.

Every day, we see morew and more the "success" of the Rumsferatu Doctrine, which states "Troops? We don't need more troops, the ones we have just need to quit fucking off and do their jobs!"

Asshole's not even fit to manage a Hot n' Now....

[Pinko Commie]

6. Oh, I see...

just surprised. Not pleasantly surprised.

[burrowowl]

7. Welcome to DU!

Rummy is a lying a$$, he knew full well what we war prostesters knew and he didn't (doesn't) give a damn ... he is making money, money, money and loves power, power, power.

[Pinko Commie]

9. Thank you

...and you don't know how proud I am to be here.

Hopefully, Rummy will soon be retired, so he can devote all his time to testifying.

[lebkuchen]

8. Toiletbush had provided the URL for that last night

Here it is. Look toward the last quarter of the videofile for his most "interesting" comments.

http://www.c-span.org/#

[Dr Fate]

10. "Suprise" as in funny hats & confetti- or "Oh Shit" suprised...

what happen to the "flowers" and "cake walks" that were to be featured at this "suprise" party...

[Eye and Monkey]

11. Neither. There are surprising surprises, and surprising un-surprises.

As we know,
There are surprising surprises.
There are things we are surprised to be surprised with.
We also know
There are surprising un-surprises.
That is to say
We know there are some things
That do not really surprise us.
But there are also un-surprising un-surprises,
The ones when we are not surprised
When they don't surprise us.

[TheLastMohican]

12. I bet Rummy didn't see this

They sure as hell don't look like Al-Qaeda, and they sure as hell are patriotic Iraqis. Something the little prick in the Pentagon doesn't get.

[nolabels]

23. The morons have turned flowers and candy into full vengeance quest

My guess is some of these generals don't even know their own military morass. Some are so far gone that they have become delusional. They even seem to basing their actions on the very disinformation that they are feeding the public


General Calls Insurgency in Iraq a Sign of U.S. Success
Political Achievements Are Cause of Uprising, Myers Says

By Sewell Chan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, April 16, 2004; Page A10

BAGHDAD, April 15 -- The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday that the deadly insurgency that flared this month is "a symptom of the success that we're having here in Iraq" and an effort to undermine the country's transition to self-government.


Asked at a news conference here whether the military had failed to counter insurgents' attacks in Iraq, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said guerrillas want to undermine several political successes, including the creation of the Iraqi Governing Council, the signing of a bill of rights and efforts by the United Nations to devise an interim government that would assume power on June 30.

"I think it's that success which is driving the current situation, because there are those extremists that don't want that success," Myers said. "They see this as a test of wills, a test of resolve against those who believe in freedom and self-determination against those who prefer a regime like we saw previously in Afghanistan, or perhaps a regime like we saw previously in Iraq."

Flanked by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the U.S. ground commander in Iraq, Myers also said the Marines were ready to resume combat in the besieged city of Fallujah because insurgents have repeatedly violated a five-day-old cease-fire
(snip)

[the Kelly Gang]

13. I just don't get were these people like Rumsfield are coming from

it's too wierd..people dying just become numbers.
Don't they even have just the tiniest little twinge of guilt ??

I mean I couldn't sleep knowing I had hurt someone badly let alone people dying because of a decision I made.

They have to be devils !!!

[scarface2004]

14. are more people gonna die..........

you bet!!! rumsfeld sneered.

[Bluebear]

15. No remorse, no regrets, no condolences....

Only "surprise". Touching!

[radfringe]

16. Flip-Flops running rampant?

ummm...errrr... what happened to the :shrug: "..people die in war..." philosophy?

meanwhile---the "cakewalk follies"

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/167778_thomas06.html
---snip---

This recalls the prescience of Gen. Eric Shinseki, former Army chief of staff, who warned before the war that the occupation of Iraq "would require several hundred thousand troops."

Shinseki was ridiculed by deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz who called his assessment "wildly off the mark."

=======

Army Strategist Criticizes Bush Administration Conduct of Iraq War
by David Wood
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0414-02.htm

---snip---
Many officers still are rankled by the treatment of former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, who last spring was sharply criticized in public by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz for suggesting the occupation would require significantly more troops than the initial war. At Rumsfeld's direction, the number was whittled back, with Rumsfeld and other senior officials arguing that "shock and awe" would collapse any opposition and the Iraqi people, as Vice President Dick Cheney said in a March 16, 2003 interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," would greet U.S. troops "as liberators."

[cleofus1]

17. and no one says a damn thing...

Where the heck do these saps get their journalism credentials? There must be a gumball machine in DC stocked full.

[bleedingheart]

18. Bzzzzz wrong... the military runs simulations on this kind of stuff

there are probably worst case scenario analysis which would have given him an idea of the possible number of causualties.
However with the Bush admin's way of selectively picking their information they may have decided not to look at those reports.

[Disturbed]

20. Snapish

Rummy was snappish and insulting to the reporters.
Maybe he senses that they don't find him as amusing as he
thinks he is.

[skooooo]

21. SURPRISE!!!!

dumb ass

[truth2power]

24. Rumsfeld is mentally ill. I've said it before.

And I think he's a sadist (clinically speaking). I've said that before, too.

:puke: