Posted on 08/03/2006 8:35:13 AM PDT by presidio9
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was headed for a public showdown Thursday with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld after he reversed course at the last minute and said he would testify before a Senate committee.
Clinton, D-N.Y., had criticized Rumsfeld in a letter and at a hearing Wednesday for choosing not to appear at a public hearing before the Armed Services Committee on Thursday. Clinton is a member of the committee.
The senator, who has not called for Rumsfeld's resignation, as have other Democrats, was strikingly critical of his track record Wednesday.
Before he reversed course, she wrote to him that "a public appearance before the committee is long overdue," noting it has been nearly six months since his last such testimony.
The Pentagon announced Wednesday night that Rumsfeld had changed his mind and would testify in the hearing.
After the announcement, Clinton said Rumsfeld's "11th-hour decision to reverse course and appear at tomorrow's open Armed Services Committee hearing is the right one, as the committee and the American people should hear directly from the top civilian leader at the Pentagon, the person most responsible for implementing the president's military policy in Iraq and Afghanistan."
The Pentagon announcement came as Clinton and other Senate Democrats led a new round of attacks on Rumsfeld's record in running the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
"I for one am deeply disturbed at the failures, the constant, consistent failures of strategy with respect to Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere," Clinton said Wednesday at an ASC hearing featuring a deputy defense secretary. "And I don't think that those failures can be appropriately attributed to our military leadership."
She argued that if Rumsfeld can meet senators privately, as he did Tuesday and planned to do Thursday, he should do so publicly.
"The American people deserve to see the principal decision maker when it comes to these matters that are putting our young men and women at risk," she said. "More than 2,500 of them have lost their lives. And this secretary of defense, I think, owes the American people more than he is providing."
The top Republican and Democrat on the committee, Sens. John Warner R-Va., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., had asked Rumsfeld in a July 26 letter to appear before the committee, saying they had questions about Iraq, Afghanistan and the recent violence in Lebanon between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.
The panel is also scheduled to hear testimony from Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. John Abizaid, who leads Central Command.
Clinton's own position on Iraq has drawn fire from members of the anti-war wing of the Democratic Party, some of whom argue that her 2002 vote authorizing the war and continued support for the overall mission hurt her chances as a presidential candidate in the Democratic primary in 2008.
At a press briefing earlier Wednesday, Rumsfeld suggested that complaints about his decision could be politically motivated.
"Let's be honest: Politics enters into these things, and maybe the person raising the question is interested in that," said Rumsfeld, without identifying anyone.
The defense secretary said he had testified in the past and was not reluctant to face off against some of the committee's more vocal war critics, including Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.
Rumsfeld last appeared before the committee on Feb. 7, when he and Pace were questioned about the war's strain on the military.
In the six months since, the number of U.S. troops in Iraq has dipped but now is back up to about 133,000, as part of an effort to quell the violence in Baghdad. The total could exceed 135,000 in the weeks and months ahead.
I'm disappointed there is not a live thread on this. I know Fox is carrying it. Unfortunately I can't stay to watch it. Hope Rummy slams her big.
Yes, the same Hillary who accuses the president of being "divisive" abuses a national official all to help with a primary run in'08 showing the hypocrite she is. I'm SURE Rumsfeld was quaking in his boots. He probably just found it an interesting study in abnormal psychology.
This AP story was available in about 10 different publications. I picked this one because I just loved that headline.
What a putz. Here is Clinton already acting like she is President. And acting it certainly is because this woman is not at all qualified nor suitiable by any means to be President of the US. Someday I hope the people who are for her will realize how totally wrong and unqualified she is.
"Someday I hope the people who are for her will realize how totally wrong and unqualified she is."
I hope that they realize it before she is elected..
PORTRAITURE #3 Mama and Babe
Acrylic on canvas by Sarah Irani, 1995 24"x30"
Donated by the artist
The flesh tones bring to mind the top shelf liqueurs of a border bistro. With an astonishing emphasis on facial bone structure, the artist flirts with caricature and captures features of Mamma's face which remind us of a former First Lady. The upright marionettish pose of the babe hints that the early bond between mother and child is as formal as it is familiar. Good old fashioned parental respect is at the center of this celebration of color and contour.
In reality, even if the U.S. Constitution qualifications were not met, the Liberal Judges would rule the U.S.Constitution is "un-Constitutional", just to allow for it....
I would love to hear Rummy ask her a question:...
Rumsfeld:"Madam Senator, do you have a better idea?"
I can just hear the stammering and spin coming out of Hillary!
Can you say 'Pander'? I knew you could. See the ugly senator? She just got some poll results from the base of her party. They want her to be against the war but she knows she has to be for it if she's going to win the next election. So she decided to attack a man named Rumsfeld with a lot of angry words that don't mean much, but they sure sound good on tha tee vee and AP and Reuters can print them over and over and over again. Maybe she is kind of smart.
Rummy will smack her down, verbally.
Hillary's insulting tirade went beyond partisan politics, it was blistering, out of line, and outrageous. This was Hillary aucking up to the anti-war, far left fringe, looney left.
"Let's be honest: Politics enters into these things, and maybe the person raising the question is interested in that," said Rumsfeld, without identifying anyone.
AP should have put these Rumsfeld remarks near the top of the article instead of toward the bottom to allow his view on the timing to be understood up front. But that's expecting too much journalistic professionalism from the hacks at AP.
Let's face it, this is another non-event breathlessly reported by the press. So Hilary complained, so Rumsfeld will appear before a committee to listen to the Senators pontificate. Big deal.
The mid-terms are three months away. The Dems on the ASC needed to drag the Secretary before them so they could get some good pontificating video and audio clips.
Related thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1677092/posts
Hillary attacks Rummy
"And I don't think that those failures can be appropriately attributed to our military leadership."
I don't think I could have said it better myself!! Does this mean that all the media bashing of Bush re: Iraq and Afghanistan will cease?
After all, the POTUS is the Commander in Chief, the *TOP* military leader.
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