Did I hear Rumsfeld say on NPR

[MGKrebs]

that the deaths in Iraq are no big deal? It sounded like he said 300 deaths is not that out of the ordinary, the we have 300 deaths a year and we still have elections.

But it looks to me like there are 300 deaths a MONTH....in Baghdad alone. What the hell was he talking about? I can't find the quote posted anywhere yet.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5045166

[951]

1. If someone has a recording of this please post it ASAP

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. He was comparing the deaths in Iraq to the murders in cities

He said something to the effect that many US cities have that many murders in a month and more, so this isn't a big deal. My reply is "and how many of the US murders are beheadings?"

[w13rd0]

8. Not just that...

...how many are COPS?!?! Apples to oranges is what Rummy is doing. 130,000 US troops divided by casualty figures does NOT equal 5 million citizens in a US city divided by violent deaths.

[OneTwentyoNine]

11. Oh SBJ Rummy,you are truly mentally ill.....

What say one of the news networks does a poll asking Americans if they feel safer in the city they live in or fucking Downtown Baghdad.

God....


David

[Dark]

13. Also, that billion per day could put more cops on the streets. n/t

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Did I hear Rumsfeld say on NPR<< Better yet....

I heard shrub say that Kerry was showing disrespect for the new thug of Baghdad. Here is the best part... he says it's not "statesmanlike".

To that I say... how much disrespect has he shown the leader of the U.N.? How much disrespect did he show our VERIFIED allies, France, Germany and Russia?????

How many times has he just muddled through something, bullied congress, overlooked the common good, deceived the public, twisted the facts, used forged Niger documents, SUBVERTED THE ELECTION PROCESS in the U.S.??? He has the nerve to speak about statesmanship....

And he talks about whichever way the wind blows... I'll tell you, it's whatever is convenient and equitable for him at the time and everybody else be damned.

The pump don't work cuz the vandals took the handle.....

[AlCzervik]

4. He's got some balls talking about disrespecting Allawi

Bush has no respect for the people that live in Iraq, he should stuff a banana in his pie hole.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

12. This coming from a guy who has done the afforementioned AND

was willing to drop 2000 pound bunker busters anywhere and everywhere they thought Saddam was.... civilians be damned. This whole thing makes me sick sick sick... they think just because they can get a puppet regime in place that that all will be well.

For every freakin civilian that has been massacred there... there are at least 100 relatives, not to mention clans that are going to be terminally pissed about it and wanting revenge.

What do you want to bet that with our present course of action that we could be warring with Russia again in a year?? How much would you like to wager with their double talk regarding who is and who isn't a terrorist...

The Chechen thing is getting ready to bite us in the ass... fortunately there are a few people in this country who don't have their heads up their backsides and have decided to take the bull by the horns regarding the covert supporting of people who may be considered freedom fighters by us... and terrorists by others.

They have a gripe.. they see the blowback, and they organize here www.soaw.org

[BootinUp]

5. I think he left off "...by unnatural causes"

[w13rd0]

6. He used the already debunked "Brit Hume" statistics...

...that said there have been fewer soldier deaths in Iraq than in most US cities. Of course, he uses the dubious comparison of the population of Iraq as equivalent to the population of a large US city, not taking into account that we aren't talking about deaths/5 million, but deaths+injuries/130 thousand. A more accurate comparison would be to compare the number of deaths in Iraq to the number of COP KILLINGS in a US city (as there may be around 100 thousand cops for a city of 5 million). If there were 300 cop killings in a city of 5 million, I'd dare say the "liberal media" would call it astonishing. Rumsfeld is off his rocker, and he really should be called on this. Furthermore, if we compare TOTAL deaths in Iraq due to violence (bombs, war, shootings, etc) to the TOTAL deaths in a US city of equivalent size, we get something along the lines of 10 thousand (Iraq) vs three hundred...

No, Rumsferatu shouldn't just be called on this, he should be FIRED.

Ok, found some stats, Rummy is WAY off. By a factor of about 12. A soldier is 12 times as likely to die due to violence in Iraq as a police officer in a city of 5 million working the most dangerous beat in the city.

[BootinUp]

7. Just an additional thought

He forgot to mention probably that the car bombing statistics are definitely worse in eye-rack.

[Disturbed]

9. "he really should be called on this"!!!

Rumsfailed Admitted to Violating Geneva Convention

Rumsfailed admitted in public on TV that when CIA Director Tenet requested that an Iraqi prisoner be sent to a secret Afghan/US Prison that Rumsfailed did so. After four months a DOD Attorney stated that this was an illegal act. Rumsfailed then ordered that this prisoner be sent back to Abu Graihib but the prisoner was purposefully not listed at that location, also an illegal act.

Rumfailed has commted two violations of the Geneva Convention; thereby also violations of The Constitution of the USA. Recently it has been found out that even more detainees were "ghost detainees". The fact that Rumsfailed and Tenet have not been charged speaks volumes. If Congress wishes to garner any respect they should move forward with Rep. Rangle's Impeachment Declaration of Rumsfailed and also proscecute Ex. CIA Tenet.

Does the US, Govt., Congress, and the Justice Dept no longer abide by the Geneva Convention or the Constitution of the USA?

It is obvious that this is the case!.

[onethatcares]

10. they obviously don't believe they have to abide by anything.

International Law, U.N. declarations, United States Law, the Constitution. This, to me, is the scariest part of this regime. They feel they are above the law, and fukk all us peons that believe differently. I want my country back.

[MisterP]

24. they got advisory memos calling those instutions

"quaint"
Holy *@)*#$

[benddem]

14. check out

http://www.dailykos.com the link is there

[benddem]

15. sorry the link is on

http://atrios.blogspot.com/

[MGKrebs]

17. Perfect!

great. Thanks.

"Rumsfeld: Iraq Just Like US

Maybe some places in the US are too violent to allow voting too?

"We had something like 200 or 300 or 400 people killed in many of the major cities of America last year. Is it perfectly peaceful? No. What's the difference? We just didn't see each homicide in every major city in the United States on television every night. It happens here in this city, in every major city in the world. Across Europe, across the Middle East, people are being killed. People do bad things to each other."

You are one sick beast, Rummy.

If we leave, won't the killing pretty much stop? Who are we fighting? Are we killing 300 "terrorists" a month in Baghdad? Who are they? How many friggin terrorists are there?

You don't have to set a deadline Rummy. Just give us a sign. How will we know when it's time to leave? What 'criteria' are YOU using to judge our progress there?

[Elidor]

19. Shorter Rumsfeld: People kill eachother. Do I give a fuck? Golly no!

Why are you bothering me?

Pointing out the bad behavior of others is the weakest argument there is, and no justification at all.

[MGKrebs]

16. It's all marketing.

The new breed of so-called conservatives are more concerned about the 'symbol' than they are about what the symbol stands for.

Flag burning- Don't burn the flag, even though the flag is a symbol of...having the freedom to burn a flag.
Having elections where not everyone gets to vote- Going forward with the 'symbol' of democracy while destroying the very essence of it.

Nazis. Fascists.

They have already given up on democracy, they just don't think we are ready for them to admit it yet. So they are destroying the foundation and will let it crumble on it's own if they get the chnance.

I'm off to find Mussolini quotes.

[TexasSissy]

18. They really oughtta lock up Rummy. He's saying some strange

things lately (not that he didn't before).

But if I read between the lines, I'm guessing that he was speaking of what can be accomplished, as a factual matter, rather than addressing the sadness of death and that sort of thing. Sounds like he was talking about the upcoming elections. (OF course, no one in his right mind would believe fair elections could occur under the current environment....how would anyone campaign? How would anyone get to the polls alive?)

[Disturbed]

20. Would you go vote if...

there was a high chance that you may be blown up at the voting place?

Hmmm.. Absentee Ballots in Iraq not possible?

[TexasSissy]

22. Nope.

[MGKrebs]

21. Informed Comment (Juan Cole)

"Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani continues to be concerned as to whether elections will be held in January in Iraq, and whether the outcome will reflect the Shiite majority in Iraq. He is worried that the system adopted, of nation-wide party lists, favors a small set of parties, mainly expatriate. Since the six major parties listed include the two (Sunni) Kurdish parties and the largely Sunni Iraqi National Accord (primarily ex-Baathists) led by Iyad Allawi, as well as the mixed Iraqi National Congress, I think Sistani is afraid that the al-Da`wa and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq--the two main Shiite parties-- could end up with a minority in parliament.

...Allawi minimized the violence, saying that it was confined to 3 of Iraq's 18 provinces. This assertion is simply untrue, and is anyway misleading because Baghdad is one of the three Allawi had in mind! Could an election that excluded the capital, with at least 5 million inhabitants, be considered valid?

...The only areas not plagued by bloodshed are the three northern provinces controlled by Kurds. The situation in many areas, however, is unknown since journalists' travel is restricted by security fears."

And this gives me pause:

The real reason for the current plan to raze Fallujah in November or December is the hope that doing so will dramatically reduce the operational capability of the guerrillas, forestalling the Nasiriyah scenario I just mentioned. I don't think that the guerrillas are so geographically limited or concentrated, however, and very much doubt that this Carthaginian strategy in al-Anbar will work.

http://www.juancole.com/

[ThomWV]

23. That Son Of A Bitch

When I heard him make that comparison to our cities and then end up by saying "so what?" I just about went nuts. Here is so what, in the cities it is not the United States Military that is doing the killings, that is 'so what!" I was simply furious when I heard that piece.