If I were Rummy, I wouldn't want a face off with this creature!
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.
She could care less what Rummy has to say. She left the room after her tirade and Rummy said he disagreed with her characterization of Iraq. The air immediately got cooler and fresher upon her exit.
Okay, let's assume the current strategy is a failure in Iraq. That means a change of strategy, which boils down to two options: pull out of Iraq now or pound the daylights out of Iran and Syria (who are instigating & supporting the "insurgents.". What do you want to do, Hillary? Put up or shut up.
Unfortunately, no major journalist (excepting a Brit Hume) would dare ask such a question of H.R. Clinton. How about this one, Hillary: "Do you want Iran to have nuclear weapons or do you want the U.S. to stop them (because no one else, especially your precious U.N. is going to)?"
But no one holds liberal politicians accountable for their statements, and their constant criticism makes it so much harder for us to fight and win this war.
I do not consider them to be fellow citizens. Talk about a non-healable rift.
He's right .. this is just a pr stunt by Hellary
This is the worst case of arrogance and gall. This is the wife of the guy that was on the telephone discussing deploying American Troops with a Congressman while Monica was under the desk "servicing" him.
What a load of crap lady!
Hillary proclaimed that blunders had been made.
If there were blunders committed, it was that we voters in NY elected this grandstander who was for the war effort before she was against it.
Total nonsense. Everyone knows "it takes a village..."
Hey, I didn't vote for that wench! :)
Rummy should have just asked her..."Senator, just what part of stupid are you stuck on?". That would have really pi**ed the old bitc* off big time!!
If I were Rummy, I wouldn't want a face off with this creature!
You said:
"Rummy will smack her down, verbally."
I certainly hope Sec. Rumsfeld gets the chance to bring up the story that circulated around Clinton's Pentagon after our GIs were massacred in Somalia (qv "Black Hawk Down").
The story was that HILLARY had overruled the recommendation of Les Aspin (Bill Clinton's Secretary of Defense), General Powell and the field commanders in Somalia for tanks and other armor to protect our GIs before that massacre occurred. Oops!
Of course, the White House denied "any involvement" in that foolish decision, so Aspin "took the bullet" and resigned.
Strangely enough, after getting a few Presidential appointments to cushy "study groups", he had a fatal "stroke" at the ripe old age of 56.
Image courtesy of Strange Cosmos
Nah. Just tell Teddy Kennedy that you'll give him a free 5th of gin if he gives Hillary a ride to Martha's Vineyard late some night.
bookmark!
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US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld listens during hearings conducted by the Senate Armed Services Committee. Gen. John Abizaid, commander of US Central Command, warned that Iraq could slide into civil war if the sectarian violence there is not stopped.(AFP/Karen Bleier) |
I just heard her"droning"on in a VERY condescending(AND DISRESPECTFUL)manner aginst Rummy on El Rushbo's show!!She is one DISGUSTING PIECE OF SH*T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld testifies to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Iraq, Afghanistan and the War on Terror, during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington August 3, 2006. Rumsfeld was joined by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace and Army General John Abizaid, commander of the United States Central Command. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES) |
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