"Are we creating more terrorists than we're killing?" (Rumsfeld asks)

[The Straight Story]

General Richard B. Myers
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Interview with Matt Gerson
The Pentagon, Washington D.C.
September 28, 2004

MATT GERSON: A question once asked by Don Rumsfeld in a memo, a confidential memo was, "Are we creating more terrorists than we're killing?" That's still a good one in Iraq. How do you assess the fact that the insurgents keep growing and Shiite and Sunni groups both seem to be on the march and on the move and the insurgency is so hard to stop, and it seems to be metastasizing or whatever. Could you talk about that?



GEN. RICHARD MYERS: Sure, I can. First of all I don't think I would agree that the Sunni and Shiite groups are on the march. With regard to the Shia, the Shia in the south, things are going reasonably well there. There is a faction of Shia led by this Sadr fellow who -- His credibility is really going down quite rapidly. He's been trying to make the Iraqi government for a voice in the political process. It doesn't look like violence is going to be able to sustain that because he just doesn't have the support of the Shia.

Of course in the north in the Kurdish areas it's also fairly peaceful right now. It's in the Triangle around Baghdad out to Ramadi, up to Tikrit and Mosul and back down, as you know, is where most of the problem is. But not in all areas.


So people shouldn't have the impression that this is some kind of grand insurgency where all Iraqis are up in arms. It's actually a fairly small portion. But I think what we're seeing is --


http://www.dtic.mil/jcs/chairman/interview_Gerson.html

[tk2kewl]

1. Gee. I always assumed that was his intention.

[The Doctor.]

2. Rumsfeld said that?

Odd... I thought that was part of the strategy.

(I'm sure he was playing coy)

[Erika]

3. Ah, was Iraq ever a threat to us?

No. Were the majority of 9/11 bombers Saudi? Yes.

So why did Bush attack Iraq and why does he invite the Saudis to Crawford?