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Who is to blame for (1) our difficulties in Iraq, (2) the delayed Katrina response, (3) lousy relations between the US and Russia, and (4) Republicans losing the Senate?  Donald Rumsfeld, of course.  At least if you believe Robert Draper, as he writes in the June 2009 issue of GQ. "Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld has always answered his detractors by claiming that history will one day judge him kindly. But as he waits for that day, a new group of critics -- his administration peers -- are suddenly speaking out for the first time. What they're saying? It isn't...

NEW YORK — There is now enough evidence to try former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for war crimes, Manfred Nowak, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, recently told "Frontal 21," a German television program. Nowak's statement confirms what human rights and legal organizations have been saying for several years, and spotlights one of the Bush administration's most controversial decisions regarding the use of torture. Nowak's statement follows a bipartisan Senate Arms Services Committee investigation made public in December. In scathing and unequivocal terms, the investigation revealed that Rumsfeld and other high-ranking administration officials, including former National Security Adviser Condoleezza...

On the occasion of the publication of the paperback version of his book, War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism, Douglas J. Feith participated in a conference call this afternoon with a number of bloggers, including FinkelBlog. Feith served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy for United States President George W. Bush. He worked closely with the President, Vice-President and Defense Secretary Cheney in formulating US policy on Iraq and Afghanistan. Highlights from Feith’s remarks: * Even though the rhetoric of the Obama campaign was harsh toward the Bush administration on...

Reading former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s op-ed in the New York Times the other day reminded me of John Kennedy’s aphorism that success has a thousand fathers and defeat is an orphan. In this case, Rumsfeld is attempting to claim paternity for the so-called surge and the success we’ve witnessed in Iraq during the last 22 months. The problem is that the reality is at odds with what he is now claiming. It is not that some of the specific claims Secretary Rumsfeld makes in his op-ed aren’t accurate. He is right, for example, about the progress we were...

The release of another previously classified Justice Department memo on the interrogation of terrorists (here and here) has reignited the specious “torture narrative,” propounded gleefully by Bush-administration critics. The narrative holds that the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib was the direct and even intended consequence of a set of executive-branch legal opinions on the status of terrorist detainees and the president’s wartime authority. The New York Times announced in an April 4 editorial that the latest declassified memo leaves no doubt that the “abuse of prisoners” was “calculated policy” rather than “rogue acts.” “When the abuses at Abu Ghraib became...

Cannot Post due to copyright issues: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/03/17/080317taco_talk_hertzberg

Steve Scully: This is a political question in terms of how he gets the nomination, but just from what you have seen, how much support do you think he has among the base of the Republican Party? Roberta McCain: I don’t think he has any. I don’t know what the base of the Repub–maybe I don’t know enough about it, but I’ve not seen any help whatsoever. Scully: So can he then go on and become the nominee of this party? McCain: Yes, I think holding their nose they’re going to have to take him. Scully: Can you explain? McCain:...

With all due respect, this is absurd on many levels. If John McCain is nominated and loses, it is because he doesn’t appeal to enough Americans, including the base that he has repeatedly betrayed (as Thomas Sowell puts it) over a long period of time. The suggestion that McCain and McCain alone is capable of fighting this war, given his experience, seems to be the core of the concern. Let me suggest that VDH and others who make this claim are wrong. McCain never treated Bill Cohen, Clinton’s defense secretary, with the kind of personal animus he showed Donald Rumsfeld....

Rumsfeld Remarks at Churchill Dinner PATH TO VICTORY Refashioning Institutions for the 21st Century Remarks by Donald H. Rumsfeld at the Claremont Institute's 20th Annual Dinner in Honor of Sir Winston Churchill, November 17, 2007.This past year has certainly provided ample entertainment for those interested in politics. The activities of Congress and the unexpected blessing of an extra year of presidential campaigning fill our newspapers, televisions, and blogs. The problem is that this entertainment tends to focus on the petty and the personal, and seems to avoid a serious discussion of the emerging challenges our country and the next...

Editor’s Note: Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld received the 2007 Claremont Institute’s Statesmanship Award in honor of Sir Winston S. Churchill on November 17, 2007, and delivered the following remarks (as released by the secretary, exclusively to National Review Online). This past year has certainly provided ample entertainment for those interested in politics. The activities of Congress and the unexpected blessing of an extra year of presidential campaigning fill our newspapers, televisions, and blogs. The problem is that this entertainment tends to focus on the petty and the personal, and seems to avoid a serious discussion of the emerging...

President Bush has endorsed General David Petraeus's recommendation to begin withdrawing 30,000 U.S. troops from Iraq by next summer. Yet the drawdown would only restore troop levels to where they were before the surge began in January 2007. In the final months of 2006, debate in Washington centered on how fast a reduction from pre-surge levels could occur. The Iraq Study Group recommended that approximately half of the 130,000 troops then in Iraq be withdrawn by early 2008. In marked contrast to that and similar proposals, President Bush is now endorsing a step that would mean a return to the...

Most of the war hawks who stood with President George W. Bush on Iraq are gone or departing, leaving Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney increasingly without much company in trumpeting a steely resolve. And it is Cheney who stands out as the administration's foreign-policy heavy, as Bush combines his war rhetoric with overtures to Democrats who control Congress. Bush's top ally in Iraq, U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, just paid a farewell U.S. visit. The supportive leaders of Spain and Italy are long gone. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigned under pressure. World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz - one of...

In the last six years, the Department has made great strides in modernizing its forces to address the threats of the 21st century. I. WAR ON TERROR Overall: A multinational coalition has liberated 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq, with formation of representative governments and security forces. Liberated 31 million Afghans from Taliban control and destroyed Al-Qaeda sanctuary – conquering elements that successfully fought off the Soviet Union for over nine years – and stood up a Loya Jurga governing council eight months after operations began. Liberated 26.7 million Iraqis from a brutal dictatorship and turned over sovereignty of...

Rumsfeld bids farewell to Pentagon By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer 10 minutes ago Leaving office, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld bade a sometimes emotional farewell Friday, saying the single worst day of his nearly six years there was when he learned of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse in Iraq. Rumsfeld choked up briefly while recalling a woman in Alaska giving him a bracelet last August as a reminder of the sacrifices by soldiers of the Army's 172nd Stryker Brigade, who whose year-long tour in Iraq was extended by four months to help try to quell sectarian violence in Baghdad....

One day in the next two weeks there will be a departure ceremony at the Pentagon. Flags will fly, bands will play and the liberal media will calumniate. Should the president choose to add the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the other honors rendered, it's entirely possible that some newsrooms will have to bring in trauma therapists. The 527 Media will indulge themselves in one last feeding frenzy over the man they love to hate, Donald Rumsfeld. Mr. Rumsfeld will probably walk out of the Pentagon smiling at the thought of a job well done. His tenure has been colored...

In the frenzied final week of the Iraq Study Group's deliberations, co-chairmen James Baker and Lee Hamilton took time out to pose for a photo spread for a fashion magazine, Men's Vogue. This might seem a dubious decision given the gravity of the moment and their self-appointed roles as the nation's saviors. The "wise men" who counseled Lyndon Johnson during Vietnam and the members of the Kissinger Commission who tried to reshape Ronald Reagan's Central American policies did not sit for Annie Leibovitz in the middle of their endeavors. Nor did they hire a mega-public relations firm to sell their...

Crowds who paid up to $500 to hear Donald Trump speak on how to get rich instead heard "The Donald" bashing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and questioning the competence of the Bush administration. When talk of wealth turned to politics at the private class at the Learning Annex, Trump first discussed Rice. - said. "I don't care if she's lovely. I want someone who can go and make deals. She goes to countries and nothing ever happens except sound bites." Trump also talked about outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "Look at this guy Rumsfeld," Trump said. "Millions of people...

I am doing a little research but want to post this and ask Freepers for opinions and help. It concerns Donald Rumsfeld. I had an argument with my brother last night concerning Rummy, who said he should have been fired three years ago. He stated he is incompetent and a micromanager and compared him to McNamara. He based his opinions on what he has read in the newspapers – ComPost and Washington Times – over the last several years. I disagreed with him, basically saying this is a new kind of war that his critics do not comprehend. My brother...

NYT's James Risen Cheers Rumsfeld's Exit as 'Best Thing to Happen' In Long Time Posted by Tim Graham on November 13, 2006 - 14:56. Speaking as an alumnus to students at Brown University over the weekend, liberal New York Times reporter James Risen -- best known for breaking open the government's terrorist-surveillance program -- hailed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation as "the best thing to happen in a long time" and cheered that it's "sinking in" with President Bush that his foreign policy is "too radical." Risen also typically complained of how vital the New York Times is to American...

The outgoing defense secretary was too focused on transforming the military, and failed to plan for achieving political goals in Iraq. DONALD RUMSFELD had the chance to be one of the great American heroes of all time. He held office at a moment of enormous danger. He had many admirable qualities necessary for success. But like the tragic heroes of old, hubris and inflexibility made vices of his virtues, leading to his own fall and the collapse of his life's work. Rumsfeld was in many ways ideally suited to be secretary of Defense in the wake of 9/11. His experience...

Many Middle East press commentators view what they dub the "fall" of US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld as symbolic of the perceived failure of US policy in Iraq as a whole. Several predict that his resignation will be the first of many members of the Bush administration. Commentary by Sana' al-Sa'id in Egypt's AL-USBU Yes, the Bush administration is beginning to fall... The first sign of this fall is the removal of Rumsfeld, the wolf who brought defeat to America. The fall of Rumsfeld heralds the fall of the agenda of the Bush administration in Iraq. Rumsfeld is gone...

Did Donald Rumsfeld Give Questioner ‘The Bird’ at Kansas State? Posted by Noel Sheppard on November 10, 2006 - 09:48. Was it an innocent scratching of the nose, or a classic Goose moment right out of the movie “Top Gun?” I report, you decide. In a question and answer session at Kansas State University on Thursday, outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was posed the following: “If you were going to give yourself a letter grade for your performance as Secretary of Defense, what grade would that be?” As he answered, "Oh, I'd let history worry about that," Rumsfeld used his...

After returning from Iraq in 2003, I found myself preparing to leave active-duty in 2004. For some reason, I encountered several interesting articles about Donald Rumsfeld and came to be pretty impressed with the guy. I don't mean his leadership style, or his decisions or anything like that. I mean personality-wise. He's got a great bio: elected to the House of Representatives at age 29, worked his way through Washington for nearly two decades before departing for the private sector. There he turned around two companies that were failing, and by all accounts, he did so with panache. My boss...

The result of this midterm election makes me very fearful of the future for my children and my grandchildren. To me, the overriding issue of our time is Islamic terrorism. The Democrats have shown that they haven't a clue. Why didn’t most voters agree? HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF.The average sixth-year midterm election, like this year, is much worse for the president's party, which typically loses 34 seats in the House and six seats in the Senate. the Democrats picked up about 30 House seats and five to six Senate seats in a sixth-year election, with lots of seats still too close...

SALT LAKE CITY The state’s lone Congressional Democrat, Rep. Jim Matheson, is calling for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign. “Look, I’m ready to see him go,” Matheson said Wednesday during a taped debate on KTVX with Republican challenger State Rep. LaVar Christensen. While multiple Democrats called for Rumsfeld’s resignation earlier this fall, Matheson resisted. Utah is a heavily Republican state where support for President Bush and the war in Iraq runs high. “We’ve just come off the worst month, this year, in terms of casualties,” Matheson told The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday. “I think we need a...

My weblog started as an e-mail discussion group of friends about three years ago. About a year and a half ago I converted it to a blog that has a moderate-right, conservative slant on political and social issues of the day. I still e-mail my original group, which includes both liberals and conservatives, to notify them whenever I post a new article. One thing I have noticed that has become very clear: the liberals in my group have stopped making (usually opposing) comments on my posts. I still get plenty of comments from conservatives and from liberals who just happen...

The President had a very busy Saturday attending a rally and visiting the troops, he also rang St. Louis Cardinals' owner Bill DeWitt to congratulate him on his team's five-game win over the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 World Series and also participated in a video teleconference between the White House and Baghdad, talking with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki As is there normal practice the President and the first lady attended church on Sunday. Today the President attended 2 rallies one in Georgia and one in Texas returning this evening to the White House. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld...

Products Site Content Five Years Later: Are We Any Safer? John Lehman Proceedings, September 2006 Discuss in the eForum. Timeline: Major Islamic Extremist Attacks A former secretary of the Navy and member of the 9/11 Commission identifies the real enemy in the current war and assesses progress. GREG E. MATHIESON According to the author (left)-here, with fellow 9/11 commissioner, Washington attorney Richard Ben-Veniste (right)-the commission's report on the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks and its recommendations for what the United States should do to prevent such attacks from happening again have been largely ignored. Are we winning the war? The...

New revelations that White House aides tried twice in the past two years to persuade President Bush to fire Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld fueled a caustic election-season debate yesterday over the president's wartime leadership and underscored divisions within his administration. The White House tried yesterday to dismiss the significance of Woodward's assertions, while Democrats eagerly seized on the book to bolster their campaign attacks five weeks before midterm elections. Coming days after the partial release of a National Intelligence Estimate concluding that the Iraq conflict has spread the "global jihadist movement," the latest disclosures kept the focus on the...

Today the President was in Florida attending GOP fund raisers, he also thanked the Senate for Agreement on Pending War on Terror Legislation and also visited the Tampa Bay Buccaneers team's training camp in Tampa, Florida. He then returned to Washington. The First Lady and Pakistan's first lady Begum Sehba Musharraf take part in the launch of a new website, Gift of the Indus: The Arts & Culture of Pakistan at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addresses the United Nations Security Council meeting on the Middle East Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of...

In a recent commentary, former New York Mayor Ed Koch - a Democrat with at least half a brain (which makes him the leading intellectual light of his party) - asked rhetorically, "Why do so many Americans refuse to face the fact that our country is at war with international terrorism?" Because they're liberals? During the Spanish Civil War, as the climactic battle for Madrid approached, Nationalist leader Francisco Franco told a reporter: "I have four columns marching on Madrid and a fifth within the city ready to rise at my call." Franco's comment gave rise to the World War...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Saddam Hussein rejected overtures from al-Qaida and believed Islamic extremists were a threat to his regime, a reverse portrait of an Iraq allied with Osama bin Laden painted by the Bush White House, a Senate panel has found. The administration's version was based in part on intelligence that White House officials knew was flawed, according to Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, citing newly declassified documents released by the panel. The report, released Friday, discloses for the first time an October 2005 CIA assessment that prior to the war Saddam's government "did not have a relationship, harbor...

The Foreign Secretary spoke his mind on the Middle East — and became a target in Washington WHEN JACK STRAW was replaced by Margaret Beckett as Foreign Secretary, it seemed an almost inexplicable event. Mr Straw had been very competent — experienced, serious, moderate and always well briefed. Margaret Beckett is embarrassingly inexperienced. I made inquiries in Washington and was told that Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, had taken exception to Mr Straw’s statement that it would be “nuts” to bomb Iran. The United States, it was said, had put pressure on Tony Blair to change his Foreign Secretary. Mr...

Earlier this week the President visted Iraq and we we saw many photos and news reports also saw the American and Iraqi cabinet speaking to each other via video conference. One of the photos showed the Secretary of Defense giving a thumbs up and I could not help but think that this man was showing great joy and in a way must have felt vindicated regarding his actions and decisions relating to the Iraqi situation. The MSM and his political foes have attacked him without ceasing or simply ignore what he is doing and one wonders whether most Americans are...

by Mark Finkelstein May 22, 2006 In one fell segment, Chris Matthews pulled back the curtain and revealed his view of America's foreign policy intentions as fundamentally pernicious. For him, the United States in Iraq is no better than a 'colonial master.' Matthews' guest on this evening's 'Hardball' was John Batiste, one of the former generals calling for Donald Rumsfeld's removal as Secretary of Defense. The topic at hand was the failure to anticipate the insurgency with which we have been been faced in Iraq. Describing the miscalculation, Matthews said: "It's like the British coming in to New York at...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Faced with growing pressure from Southern states, the Bush administration wants the military to come up with ideas to help solve security problems along the U.S. border with Mexico. In back-to-back moves this week, the Pentagon began exploring ways to lend support at the Southern border, while the House on Thursday voted to allow the Homeland Security Department in limited cases to use soldiers in that region. At the Pentagon, Paul McHale, the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, asked officials to offer options for the use of military resources and troops -- particularly the National...

ARLINGTON, Va. — Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker on Wednesday criticized retired generals who have come out against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other defense leaders, calling their comments “unfortunate” and “inappropriate.” “I was retired, and you didn’t see me doing it,” Schoomaker told reporters during a Washington press breakfast. “If I thought what these officers were saying was true, I would not be here.” Schoomaker suggested that if the generals were so unhappy with their civilian masters, they should have left their jobs in protest. “I think we have a responsibility, while we’re in uniform, if we...

Today the President visited Louisiana and Mississippi to view how re-construction work is coming on in the areas affected by Hurrican Katrina. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have morning meetings at the US Embassy Annex in Baghdad. Secreatary Rice then travelled to Sofia for a NATO foreign ministers meeting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld attended a Commmand Post Exercise seminar in Baghdad Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

WASHINGTON - Everyone is saying that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s days are numbered, thanks in part to increasing calls by some former generals for Rumsfeld’s resignation. But Rumsfeld was hired by George W. Bush to do precisely what he has done to the consternation of the generals who are now coming out to complain about him. When President Bush brought Rumsfeld back to the Pentagon, the president told him to shake up the Pentagon, to transform it from the Cold War structure and culture that it was stuck in to a new force with strategies that could respond to...

Today the President talked to the press on the South Lawn after a visiti from four governors who visited Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait on the South Lawn, they had breakfast at the White House along with Secretary of State and Secretary of Denfense. White House Spokesman Scott McClellan announces his resignation which will take affect in the next 2 - 3 weeks after his replacement has been installed. Karl Rove has given up his policy role in order to concentrate more on to focus more on political affairs The President Bush later delivered remarks on the American Competitiveness Initiative at...

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday that journalists covering the Iraq war no longer want to be embedded with U.S. military units because they viewed American troops as "the other side."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday that journalists covering the Iraq war no longer want to be embedded with U.S. military units because they viewed American troops as "the other side." In an interview Monday with EIB Radio host Rush Limbaugh, Rumsfeld noted that "far fewer journalists . . . have stepped up to become embedded" compared to the early days of the war. The defense chief recalled: "I asked one reporter about that, and there was kind of the impression left that, 'Well, if you got embedded then you were really part of the problem instead of part of...

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should withhold federal funds from a California college given the failure of the college to ensure the safe presence of military recruiters on campus, the Secretary was advised by a public interest law firm in a letter released today. According to news reports, military recruiters were forced to flee yesterday from a University of California Santa Cruz job fair because of a raucous mob. Mountain States Legal Foundation advised Rumsfeld that the college’s actions violate the Solomon Amendment, which requires that colleges permit military recruiters on campus or lose all federal funds. UC Santa Cruz...

  Tony Snow is back and better than ever! You can find out more information about the line-up, stream Tony's show, find local radio stations as well as other fun stuff off his website. CLICK HERE and follow the "Listen Live" link to stream the show which runs from 9 AM est to noon.moongriffon.com streams the show every day from 3:00 to 6:00 PM (EDT). WKRC airs Tony’s show on the web from 9-12 EST. Another way to hear Tony’s show is by streaming it at 7pm CST on klif.comYou can also listen to Tony on WGTX  live, in...

The President spoke on healthcare savings plan in Bridgeport, Conn as he departed from the the White House he made a statement on immigration. Yesterday Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice mets with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the State Department. Today she appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to discuss atomic energy cooperation agreement with India Yesterday Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld attended Caspar Weinberger funeral, very few photos have been released. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher also attended. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

The President, First Lady and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spent the weekend at Camp David. Today the President attended a a Naturalization Ceremony at the Daughters of the American Revolution Administration Building in Washington. This evening the President attended a Fund Raiser in Washington for Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spent the weekend at Camp David returning to Washington to take part in the Sunday Talk Shows. Today she attended the signing of Millennium Challenge Compact between U.S. and Armeni at the State Department Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld toured and paid his respects at...

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld brushed off calls for his resignation and said he had no plans to step down. "I'm hard at the job, working hard, and getting up every day and thinking what we can do for the troops and the wonderful people who serve our country," he told reporters ... Rumsfeld also was asked about a New York Times column by Maureen Dowd, who said Rumsfeld was being treated at the White House as "an eccentric uncle." "If you believe everything you read in Maureen Dowd, you better get a life.

Today the President attended a meeting about Immigration Reform in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. He also signed legislation to authorize the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment to the products of Ukraine Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni at the State Department. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (R) and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Edmund Giambastiani Jr. briefed the media at the Pentagon Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

NEW YORK, March 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Though by most accounts secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are friendly, the 72-year-old Defense chief may not be taking his partially eclipsed status very well. Though he has given no sign he might depart early, rumors have flown for weeks that Rumsfeld could leave after the quadrennial defense review expected by the end of 2005, report Senior Editor Michael Hirsh and Washington Bureau Chief Daniel Klaidman in the March 14 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, March 7). Among those said to be eying Rumsfeld's post is newly retired...

The President speaks at the National Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in Washington. After that he returned to the White House and signed the USA Patriot and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005 This evening the President spoke at the Georgia Republican Party's annual President's Day Dinner Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill Thursday, March 9, 2006, to testify on funding for the Iraq war Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk Former Presidnent Bush is in Portugal to attend the new...