Rumsfeld Visits U.S. Soldiers in Iraq

[zimv20]

link

MOSUL, Iraq - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, on a Christmas Eve mission to cheer up the troops in Iraq, promised them that no matter how bleak things might look at any one moment they will look back on their mission with pride.

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you have to read pretty far into this article before they mention it's a surprise visit. blair did a surprise visit recently, bush did a surprise thanksgiving visit in 2003.

have any of them gone to iraq announced? i can't recall this. (except, of course, when rumsfeld met w/ saddam in the 80s). are they that worried about the security situation?

[blackfox]

No Bob Hope?

He's probably turning in his grave as we speak...

[pseudobrit]

Rumsfeld = Iraqi Information Minister

[IJ Reilly]

I suppose one really does care about the troops, doesn't one?

[3rdpath]

after watching the footage of his visit, i would have to describe the response by the troops as lackluster at best.

he might as well have said: " you guys are doing a great job, now i gotta get my ass outta here before i'm in any danger."

[IJ Reilly]

Just so. Wasn't it at Bush's last press conference where he defended Rumsfeld as a good person who really cares? If so, he certainly has a hard time showing it. Even thought he's under attack, even by members of his own party, for sounding like a cold-hearted SOB, he travels all the way to Iraq to make this clammy statement:

"When it looks bleak, when one worries about how it's going to come out, when one reads and hears the naysayers and the doubters who say it can't be done, and that we're in a quagmire here," one should recall that there have been such doubters "throughout every conflict in the history of the world," he told about 200 soldiers of the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division at their commander's headquarters.

Brrrr.

[skunk]

I'm surprised he didn't send a double.

[solvs]

Originally Posted by IJ Reilly

I suppose one really does care about the troops, doesn't one?

If you're trying to imply Rummie cares more about the war than the troops, and he's just doing this as a show because he knows his own party is trying to scapegoat him (which I guess it isn't really, since a lot of it - though not all - is actually his fault and he is doing a terrible job)... then I agree completely.

Nice show of faith Rumsfeld, maybe if you spent more time fixing your mess, you'd need fewer photo-ops. Not that getting rid of you wouldn't be a good first step, but for some reason I have a feeling your replacement won't be much better.

[IJ Reilly]

Originally Posted by solvs

If you're trying to imply Rummie cares more about the war than the troops, and he's just doing this as a show because he knows his own party is trying to scapegoat him (which I guess it isn't really, since a lot of it - though not all - is actually his fault and he is doing a terrible job)... then I agree completely.

Nice show of faith Rumsfeld, maybe if you spent more time fixing your mess, you'd need fewer photo-ops. Not that getting rid of you wouldn't be a good first step, but for some reason I have a feeling your replacement won't be much better.

To be perfectly blunt, I think Rumsfeld cares more about himself than either the war or the troops. The man just exudes ego.

[zimv20]

my impression of rumsfeld and bush is that they're more interested in their legacies than the realities in front of them.

[blackfox]

Originally Posted by zimv20

my impression of rumsfeld and bush is that they're more interested in their legacies than the realities in front of them.

Well, that's ironic...

hope everyone had a great xmas.

[solvs]

Originally Posted by IJ Reilly

To be perfectly blunt, I think Rumsfeld cares more about himself than either the war or the troops. The man just exudes ego.

True. No wonder Bush and Cheney like him so much. Rush, O'Reily, and Hannity seem to have the same problems. To bad the humble and honest ones like Powell and McCain are being pushed out.